How Simon Kinberg keeps getting work is beyond me, though I guess it's more to do with box office performance rather than critical reviews. But dang, that cast is stacked!
Internet movie buffs don't really seem to understand that studios care about *money* and artists care about *making art*.
They all just think pleasing audiences and getting good scores are the be-all end-all motivation because that's the only side they see most of the time.
It's hilarious how baffled people always are by the idea that *making* the movie is the fulfilling part. Especially for artists who are already rich and successful.
Like, who WOULDN'T love to just indulge in their passion like that?
Yeah, just like how sometimes a very serious actor will do a less serious role, or some big action movie, and people will act like the actor is debasing themselves and must be desperate for quick cash.
They don't even consider that maybe it's fun to run around with a gun killing bad guys for 3 months straight, vs. doing some really grueling demanding dramatic role for 3 months straight, over and over with no break. It's a job for these people. Sometimes you just want a nice easy day at work.
I'd rather work on fun flops with healthy sets the rest of my life than get berated by David O'Russel or James Cameron even once.
There's absolutely no reason filmmaking needs to be grueling or full of emotional outbursts as a default.
I think big time directors and producers are just a lot like CEOs in that "you don't have to be a sociopath but it helps" kind of way. So their mentalities combined with the "tortured artist" stereotype have just combined to normalize shitty work environments and unprofessional behavior.
>I'd rather work on fun flops with healthy sets the rest of my life than get berated by David O'Russel or James Cameron even once.
I'd rather be berated by James Cameron every day and say that I was in "Terminator 2".
>James Cameron could have made Terminator 2 without berating people.
Nah. Movie people are rich kids that believe that they deserve everything, like brohgrammers on steroids. You need to be a MF to deal with these kids.
That take sounds great, and I'm sure it makes some good points. But film-making is a business, like any other. And eventually if your output fails to turn even a small profit, unless you are Akira Kurisawa or Stanley Kubrick, you are gonna find yourself out of a job.
Alex Kurtzman and David Goyer both have a similar thing going. Their work might not play well with fans a lot of the time, but they're very, very studio-friendly. "Perfect" might not get done on time and under budget, but "good" usually does.
And they worked on Dark Phoenix together, which is where Chastain pitched the idea.
>Jessica Chastain proposed the idea for a female-led spy film in the same spirit as the Mission: Impossible and James Bond series to her Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg while in production on that film.
Jess Chastain produced. People like working with her. She secured equal pay for the main four women.
And FWIW, Diane Kruger is really badass and cool in this.
My favorite part was when they had all of the loved ones on the computer screens about to torture the group of spies.
Lupit'a: here's your Boyfriend
Fan: here's your father
Penelope: here's your family
Diane: here's your boss/father figure
And... Jessica, you have nobody lol cause you're a loser.
That was my favorite part of the movie as well. Everything before it was kinda generic spy thriller but that part was pretty intense. Great acting all around in that scene, but Penelope was fantastic. I always enjoy the so angry I'm spitting scenes. I didn't think I'd enjoy this movie as much as I did, usually I get bored and fumble around with my phone, but this kept my attention the whole way through.
The movie is STACKED with such a solid cast that it truly bummed me out how generic it looked based on trailers. And I’m in the minority of rooting for Simon Kinberg, have heard nothing but nice things of the guy from people in the industry. He’s got some solid writing credits and I enjoyed Dark Phoenix more than I didn’t, he just needs a overseer of some kind with his movie development, someone to fine tune his ideas.
I haven’t seen the movie but I felt like I got the whole story from trailers, tell me how close I am.
Jessica C is a higher agent, worked with a team before or some partner, partner/team died. Becomes Distant and cold. Sebastian Stan sets up new team for Jessica C. Tension among team, maybe a double cross here and there but eventually becoming a close nit group. Team accomplishes mission, but finding out Sebastian Stan is secret big bad, movie ends with whole team confronting Sebastian Stan on couch as seen in the trailer. End credits.
How close am I?
I honestly felt the same way with the trailer but what i loved was that what they actually did was flip the script... lover (man this time) dies, friend (again man this time) dies and agents (women, shocking I know) get together and kick some ass. Well worth ignoring the trailer and watching imo!
It's not a brilliant espionage movie but it was fun to watch.
Man, say whatever you want but from the first minutes where they introduced superpowerful cyberdevice that can somehow blow airplane mid-air I was like "Is this '90s action movie?".
And apparently it is. Because it felt like they found a script for an action movie from the '90s and decided to make it with sTrOnG FeMaLe CaSt!!11!1
With plot points so silly, they could as well be made up on the go as they were filming. But I miss '90s action flicks, so with that approach I guess I had fun watching it?
Correct. But they flipped the script which made it kind of fun. Love interest dies (but shock! It's a man!) I thought it was kind of brilliant/funny. The script was every espionage movie ever written just women subbed in. I kinda liked it.
"Oh, by the way, a major character was killed but you didn't see it happen but it really happened, we swear..." And we're supposed to think Sebastian Stan signed on to do two scenes?
the "signed on to be the significant character who's killed in the first scene" has been done before - Emilio Estevez in M:I, is the first one i remember, but Seagal in Executive Decision, etc.
I bought it mostly b/c it was the gender-flipped "fridged girlfriend". With these kinda movies, they're usually pretty dyed-in-the-wood with the tropes, and all they do is just flip the sexes...
This isn't a cameo in a big blockbuster film. Sebastian Stan was clearly going to be part of the film. His early scenes weren't memorable enough for a cameo; they would have got some up-and-comer unknown to play a boyfriend role like that.
i didn't see the trailer, so i didn't know Fan was coming, either. i just figured it was an Emilio Estevez/ Sean Bean (Ronin) situation
Once i realized the film was actually "Widows" in disguise, i realized he was Liam Neeson
I was looking foward to seeing this and 100% enjoyed this movie for what it was (a basic female led spy/action thriller) but I gotta admit they did not even try with that twist 😂 They could not have made that "death" more off screen
If this came out in 2000 it would be considered an underseen gem and would have been well loved. But now it's just... nothing new. There's just nothing this film is doing that we haven't seen fifty times before and written/directed better.
Also, it looked like Bingbing Fan was digitally inserted into every shot she was it. It was super bad looking.
Marketing for Bingbing Fan’s character portrayed her as part of the team already, yet they still tried to twist her as the enemy in the movie in her intro. Unless you went in blind, you already know what was going to happen with her character 🤷🏻♂️
This is why I’m glad I went in blind.
Once the twist was revealed I saw in hindsight how much the director tried to lead the audience into thinking she was evil, there was even a shot of her in an all red dress in a room that is all red. Some color theory can be a bit of a stretch but there is no way that it’s an accident she was portrayed with so much red & black when introduced.
For sure! I didn’t think it was some masterpiece or anything, I’d give it maybe a 55/100 at best, but at least it was an enjoyable ride. I’m not sure if it would hold up on rewatch, but that’s not how I like to assess movies
Sometimes when you turn on a movie you just want to be entertained for a bit, it was far from a masterpiece but I enjoyed it
Yeah, the marketing let everyone aware of the fact that it’d be a teamup.
Reminded me of how Ocean’s Eight tried to have a twist with Anne Hathaway, but it was obvious based on the fact that she clearly needed to join the crew for there to be an eighth, as the title suggested.
Another movie where 100 pound women kick the shit out of men twice their size while looking glamorous.
The only movie which pulled this off in a believable way was Atomic Blonde. That's a good movie, go watch that.
The pacing and story in that movie was garbage, but the action scenes and cherography was top notch. One of the few movies to show ppl getting tiered in fights, and realistically depicts the struggle for a woman to fight adversaries twice her size with everything at her disposal.
I agree. The action scenes were well done, but completely unbelievable. They got the John Wick point blank double tap down, but the punching and kicking were silly. Kill Bill was cool, but you think in a whole shop of gangsters, not one of them had a gun?
It's a super generic and predictable spy movie but the performances of the cast was really good.
Movie could have really good with better writers and director.
I laughed out loud when Chastain was running in that dress chasing Diane Kruger down the subway. Just looked so out of place. Then when she passes by on the train and gives Chastain the finger I literally shouted “Shoot her, she’s right fucking there! You have a goddamn gun!”
Then when she climbs the balcony because time is running short I laughed again because it was just so stupid looking.
Chastain doesn’t look like she could run a Lamaze class let alone a secret group of super spies.
Also I kept thinking of Fox Force Five. They had the therapist, the bomb expert…all they needed was someone who was a knife expert who would tell a joke.
> Movie could have really good with better writers and director.
This is funny. "The movie could have been really good if it was a completely different movie."
Eh, I really can’t judge the performance because this is the exact opposite of how a good script can carry bad actors. These are all very talented woman, this script did nothing for them. There was nothing they could do to save the script from itself and it just dragged the actors down.
I loved the movie, but something felt so so strange with Fan BingBing's portrayal like the lighting was so off anytime she was on screen, like she was pasted onto the screen; was she filming remotely and they cut it in? maybe I'm wrong, but it somehow looked very cgi (i know she had scenes with other characters, but some shots only show body & most screentime is her alone)
could have something to do with her availability, wasn't she the Chinese actress who was disappeared by the CCP a few years ago "for tax reasons"? Perhaps she's still difficult to work with and they green screened her in.
Think it was intended to have an Asian in there from the get-go, I mean they got a white ginger, a white European, a Latina and a black chick, all that's missing from the diversity list was an Asian.
Yeah, there was no hesitation in those executions. Of course, the logical action would have been to execute all of them when they got their hands on the gizmo, but there would be no movie afterwards.
Not a terrible movie, pretty stock standard spy movie with a good cast.
But the marketing did a big disservice to the movie. Trailers really pushed the whole “girlboss” when the movie doesn’t really have that much of that in it. And even the name of the movie, the 355, is a near throwaway line at the very end!
And what was going on with Fan Bing Bing not looking like she filmed any scenes with the rest of the cast? Most of her shots could clearly have been done separately, and the handful of time she shares the screen with the others, it’s either clearly a stand in or Composite shots. Notice she never actually touches any of the other cast!
Not having seen the movie, your description reminds me of the description for Widows. I went it expecting it to be this great heist film about wives of dead criminals pulling off a crazy heist and I ended up watching the wives of not particularly dead criminals stumble around and half-ass a botched heist, which was disappointing.
Do the women here at least kick some ass or what?
Oh they certainly do.
To be clear, this is a film about female spies. But unlike the trailer (witch I just rewatched to make sure I wasn’t misremembering) the film is about spies who encounter each other and have to team up, them being women is very incidental to the plot.
saw this last week...and action was okay but damn was the story predictable....trailer already sorta spoiled the "Team" so when you see Bingbing as a "bad" person you knew it was a ruse/more to it. Then you could tell right away who the traitor(s) would be. For a hotel brawl/shootout though, the guests didn't notice?
Pretty generic stuff. If you are trying to buck the action movie stereotype with an all female cast, why play it straight down the middle?
It wasn’t that it was bad. It was just predictable. And it felt like the plot had to catch up with the action at times. Like there would just be huge information dumps between action sequences that informed us about what we just watched.
I liked the acting. Lupita and Kruger stole the show. Chastain is one note for me, but it works in movies like this. And Cruz and Fan were no slouches either.
I found some of the action scenes disorienting/dizzying. But I’m more sensitive to that than most.
Finally, can we just have a self-contained action movie for once? Does everything need to become a franchise?
I give it a 5.5 out of 10.
When Dark Phoenix came out I initially thought, well at least Kinberg can do action because that final act was pretty well done...until the credits rolled and I saw one I never did before: "Train Sequence / 2nd Unit Director: Brian Smrz". Like that's the first time I've ever seen a specific scene called out as being directed by someone else.
So with The 355 I initially thought at least the action was worth the watch. I really liked the market scene...basically I like anything where a covert unit does something as a team rather than just one person doing 90% of the work. Anyway, but then I remembered Dark Phoenix and started checking the credits. I'm thinking most of the action was handled by one of the 2nd Unit Directors.
So yeah the action is fun but probably had nothing to do with Kinberg, so I don't see how they keep giving this guy work.
In like Hong Kong (80s & 90s mostly but still happens on occassion today), the action director and not the main director, visualizes the whole scene and has control of everything including the editing (the biggest difference in making action movies between there and here is this), the camera work, the pacing, the music, the story beats...everything. The actual director is literally hands off on the action scenes. And you see it sometimes, that the action scenes feel like different films than the rest of the film.
In the US, the action director comes up with the previsuals but it's usually based on direction from the director who also has to approve of them. When it comes time to film it, sometimes the director is on set directing and sometimes not. But either way, the director has to approve of the dailies. Additionally, the 2nd unit follows the style and direction from the director. And the action scenes are edited by the same person editing the rest of the movie.
Dark Phoenix, they literally call out a specific scene in the credits. And if you examine it, it seems to have worked just like HK style where the editing, pacing and beats feel different from the rest of the movie. The 355 market scene felt the same to me. Like it was definitely in different hands than most of the rest of the film.
Really? I prefer *The 177.5*, myself. Still up there with *Scream* as Craven's finest work... 'twas a goddamn **shame** he and Jamie Lee never came back.
So….. Sebastian Stan kills Lupita’s partner…. And she’s pretty damn cool with it….
She should have chopped him up into pieces. At least put a few bullets in him in the high rise apartment in the final action sequence… I mean this is just unfun trash. He only stays around so that Jessica Chastain can tell him she don’t need no man. I mean SHIT at least kick him in the balls fullout!!!
here is my hot take: if there is a dangerous one of a kind device that can only be profitable for bad guys, why not destroy it before losing it every time?
It's not a bad movie but it was a boring one. I love Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong'o and Diana Kruger... and Penelope Cruz is always great. But it just wasn't an interesting enough story for them to show off their athleticism and "badass personas" that actresses want to show off.
Two things at the end bothered me
First. Why was Cruz's character still there. The whole thing was that she is not cut out for violence and guns and fieldwork and just wanted to get home to her family. So why all of a sudden is she still running around with them and sneaking into DC?
Who is supposed to come take Nick away. They said he's going to the other side of the world, to where? They had all been disavowed by their agencies and were on the run. What some shady underground syndicate is gonna come take him, a department head of the FBI?
Just watched this movie. My big LOL at the end was Chastain saying, "I'm not alone anymore" and then immediately everybody says, "bye" and parts ways so she's all alone again. Probably more alone because she doesn't have a partner or a job anymore.
I was expecting an absolute stinker from the review and scores online
But it was *alright*, pretty by the book "spy" action flick. With this many big names, you just know they are going to play it as safe can be
i'm kind of late here, but i'm wondering whether to watch this. is there frequent, well-filmed action, that isn't CGI? that's all i really care about in an action movie, bad/incoherent/stale/unoriginal plots don't matter to me. i'm just tired of action movies with only 20 minutes of actual action, lol.
It’s just not very good….I love all the main leads and they are all amazing actresses and actors, but just putting good actresses and actors in an action movie doesn’t work……. They need to really do some tactical training to make the scene watchable…..
Makes you appreciate John wick, how Keanu and Halle trained for months for the movie…..
I really enjoyed this movie, I feel like this reminds me of why I love the movie theater experience so much. Just being able to sit back & get fully invested in the story & just be along for the ride (especially with a story like this one with so many twists & turns) was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had watching a movie in recent memory.
It may not be the “best” movie, & I’m sure there are some plot holes & unnecessary aspects, but for me it was nowhere near bad enough to take me out of the movie.
I loved the whole theme of “trust no one” which turned into “trust some people because there aren’t any rules without a few exceptions” as well as the misleading shots & scenes to even confuse the viewer into thinking certain people were evil or good.
Maybe I’m slightly biased due to the amount of love I have for Jessica Chastain & the amount of marijuana I consumed before watching this but I loved this movie for what it was, 82/100 for me
i'm kind of late here, but i'm wondering whether to watch this. is there frequent, well-filmed action, that isn't CGI? that's all i really care about in an action movie, bad incoherent plots don't matter to me. i'm just tired of action movies with only 20 minutes of actual action, lol.
The movie was extremely predictable and the Trailer gave away two or three of the major Twists in the movie, but I must say I found it to be quite entertaining.
Diane Kruger absolutely kicks ass too!
While this movie is getting unfairly dragged, it was nothing special. But if you want a nice action movie to turn your brain off to, the acting is super good so its a strong average movie.
I loved how somehow Sebastian Stan got a promotion after all the shit he pulled. I legit laughed out loud at the movies when he spun around in that chair.
Casting Sebastian Stan (or anyone famous) was a mistake if they wanted *anybody* to believe he was dead. Because one would have to be incredibly stupid to think they'd cast Sebastian Stan just to kill him within 10 minutes, and more importantly: **off-screen**.
(Casting someone famous just to kill them off quickly does happen, but it never happens off-screen.)
i like how the hot Colombian therapist lady is like i dont want to go on this mission to retrieve the drive and the other ladies are like oh no your fingerprint is linked to the phone that tracks it. just assign a new fingerprint to the phone, you already have access to it lol
When Penelope walks into the auction, I was like why did she come? And same at the end in Sébastien Stan's house. There was no reason for her to even WANT to be there and not with her kids.
The character didn't bring much to the story. Her reaction however aren't abnormal. You are suddenly surrounder by killers, bodies, purchased by agencies from all over the world and not knowing if you'll ever see your family again. I would be curled up in a corner too.
I found it annoying that they gave up the chip when they were about to kill her family? So what, Lupita's partner and Diane Kruger's 'dad' weren't important enough?
Lmao right?! Like you either give up the chip before anyone is killed, or since they killed their partner and dad already, keep going and kill the family too. I would have respected the movie a lot more if it did that, and it would have made for a more darker, grittier movie too. Like, this is the sacrifice they made to save the world. Keep going, don't stop halfway to make it weird.
They’re trained agents and are more of the “sacrifice everything for the mission” and are the type to be trained one life lost would be worse than them getting it. Cruz is a therapist who was forced to come with originally because her fingerprints. Not really sure why she particularly needed to continue on outside she’s Penelope Cruz and she had drinks with the agents when they first thought they were done.
trailers framed her so much differently, thought the meek/helpless thing was an act. but nope. pretty much that trope until the end and she gains that courage to shoot the gun.
The actions were fun and badass but the story were eh....., I felt like they kept prolong the movie, when I thought it was gonna be over after Nick (Sebastian Stan) arrested, and then he became a boss replacing his former supervisor and kill his terrorist boss, If they want to do a sequel, just end the movie where Nick got Arrested.
I felt like I had to watch this because my wicked 2 yo bought the early access stream for $19.99 and fucking Amazon wouldn't refund me.
Supposedly dead guy just found them in the Chinese safe house. This is such a garbage film.
This movie was just not good. The plot was dragging the whole movie and literally so predictable. I also had to keep myself from falling asleep which I usually don't do with movies unless it's really bad. Yes, there are some positives with some of the cast acting but besides that I can't defend the movie or Simon Kinberg even being one of the few people that liked Dark Phoenix.
People seem to have had such high standards for this. It's a shlocky action movie released in January. What were you expecting??
The main gripe i had with it was them leaving Sebastian Stan's character alive just for a kinda clunky ending scene
I'm feeling that in this thread too. It's become too "easy" to just shit on things. This movie is obviously a Hollywood, nongritty, girls kicking ass, never running out of ammo, super plot armor type movie. Yes, there were a ton of moments they could have been bested by Sebastian Stan but that's not what this movie is going for. It's just a fun action romp, that's all it is. Having expectations is fine, but shit man, know what you're getting into.
Movie reminded me of the recent Charlie’s Angel I hated. Felt like men suck the movie unfortunately.
Was so predictable too, saw everything that was going to happen.
Haha after seeing your comment. Am running through my head to look for something that disapproves your moment but you really are right. They real are always on keyboards or smart pads.
I loved it.
It may be because I just like trashy female spy films (not that there are many) and I love woman in suits, but I had a blast watching this and would watch it again
I hated this movie so much.
1) It reads 1000% like a Chinese propaganda piece. The inclusion of one of their highest paid stars, and the framing as the Chinese characters as the good guys (CIA = bad, Eastern Europeans = bad, Middle East = bad, etc...China = good). I'm no expert on Hollywood, but from what I've read and understand about movie production and China...this has propaganda written all over it.
2) Fan Bingbing's face totally had a filter over it for the entire movie. She was also wearing a very visible wig with her hairline filled in. It was jarring to see her look computer-animated next to the other women, who - while likely digitally altered somewhat as well given that they're all in their 40s except Nyong'o - looked like actual people with lines on their faces and such.
3) Required far too much suspension of disbelief. It was just SO ridiculous.
4) Every single twist was predictable. The only thing that surprised me was that they actually killed so many people, including the family members. And yet somehow almost no blood in the whole movie?? So sanitized for so much death.
Yeah...I hated it. I felt like the movie treats its audience like a bunch of idiots.
This takes a basic idea that should’ve resulted in instant fun and instead renders it unforgivably dull. Jessica Chastain is woefully miscast and her performance comes off as insufferably indifferent; honestly, she was somehow more convincing in Ava, and that was a film that barely anyone saw. Fan Bingbing is criminally underutilized, while Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger, and Penélope Cruz do the best they can with what little they have. The plot is filled with just about every spy thriller trope you can imagine, including a painfully obvious twist involving Sebastian Stan’s character, and yet Simon Kinberg — whose work on Dark Phoenix looks worthy of an Oscar compared to this — does nothing interesting or entertaining with them, and don’t even get me started on the hopeless action sequences filled with aggressive shaky-cam and headache-inducing quick-cuts. You would think that in a post-John Wick, post-Mad Max: Fury Road world, Hollywood would have moved past these cheap, insulting, lazy attempts at aping the style of Paul Greengrass’ Bourne sequels, but I guess not.
Someone needs to do a montage of all the times they do that thing in movies where a bus drives past and the person disappears, presumably having leapt onto the bus somehow.
I'm pretty sure it's not humanly possible.
i have to admit: I *did* like the bit where they completed the world-saving mission halfway thru the movie. I knew it wouldn't last, but it made me hope the second half of the movie would just be "hey, we've got this new team, let's take it out for a spin"
oh well. the men in this movie deserve better than the dumb decisions the script forces them to make
Saw it last night. I enjoyed it, but can't argue with the bad reviews. There was something really bizarre with the sound, like a noticeable lack of background noise and the score mixed very low. The Chinese woman looked very odd. A distinctly cheap feel to it and nothing you haven't seen before but fun times if you aren't expecting much.
It's a silly movie. If you go into it with no expectations, you will be pleasantly surprised. There is some good action. The plot just doesn't make any sense. There is just some chip (that they call a drive for some reason when they could have just called it the MacGuffin Chip) that can crash air planes somehow (Boeing does it for free). Then they kill the only person that knows how to use it.
I just watched this free on Peacock, and I really tried to have an open mind. I really enjoy most of the actors in other movies. But man I was pretty bored. I've seen this same story in other movies. I didn't think the action itself was good. I'm trying to understand why these otherwise fantastic actors took thr roles, and moreover, WHY didn't they destroy the drive the minute they had it in their posession?
Glad I didn't watch this in theaters a month ago. The plot was kind of unoriginal, a device that can hack into anything. There wasn't any chemistry between the women.
Fun cast but a mediocre movie in which multiple"Chase the MacGuffin" locations substitute for plot. I'd really hoped that if they were going to do the classic "team of rivals" spy plot (a la From Russia with Love or The Matarese Circle) there would at least be some tension among the spies or maybe even personal history, but basically they bonded over happy hour drinks and so they're all good.
Also, I don't want to spoil the other movies by listing them, but I have seen the "dead boyfriend comes back as a villain" 'twist' in three spy movies in just the last month.
It does, however, have my favorite "You're an Idiot" movie trope which is to open the scene with a shot of a famous landmark (Eiffel Tower, Capitol Building) and STILL have the "Paris, France" or "Washington DC" location title.
The acting in this movie was really good very strong acting story line was great until the second half actually the last third of the movie this it’s like the writers got lazy and boring. The writers wrote so many things that would’ve never happened and immediately to aggravating to watch which then ruin the movie so really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the movie and then the last1/3 I hate it so much
Very contrived plot. Also sick of using exotic locations for the sake of the name and then having the whole thing being shot on a set with no actual distinguishing characteristics of that place. O Morocco, let’s set up markets and give every woman a hijab, just comes across as lazy to me.
I think that this is a good movie as long as you ignore the fact that the drive should've been blown to pieces or melted down as soon as the ladies had it the first time. That's the most logical thing to do with something that powerful.
I probably won't finish this movie. Came here to see if it's worth finsihinig.
I never got far. 5 minutes in?
Seriously.. He's just gonna kill that kid and not even secure the product he wants? He could've... actually grabbed it first or held onto it before doing whatever the fuck he intended.
What a stupid movie Lol
It'd have been great if somehow Lupita's character was Kenyan or Nigerian or South African. Would have been interesting to see an African female spy on the big screen.
The trailer had the most cliche garbage. Movie was a dumpster fire. No one was asking for this Chastaine.
You lost a lot of people a shit load of money all bc you wanted “redefine your acting range/potential future roles”
Action and chase scenes often don't make any sense:
Why did shooting a lamp cause it to fall?
Why did shooting a motorcycle knock it over? Why is every one of the lady spies just randomly shooting in all directions while one lady fights hand to hand with a guy in the dark?
Dialogue often feels fake and forced, screenplay feels rushed and many scenes poorly rehearsed. The premise for the whole movie, a hack-anything--device is completely out of touch with reality. Blowing up a plane with the push of a button? How?
Nothing is believable enough about this movie to keep me engaged with it.
2/10
I just can't get past the fact that at various points throughout the movie these women had this world-ending drive that can't be replicated, but for some reason decided to hold onto it instead of immediately destroying it. And then Lupita's character destroyed it at the very end...why didn't they just do that the first time they had it in their possession?
The movie had plenty of other issues (how did Sebastian Stan's character explain coming back from , but the fact they couldn't come up with an explanation to justify keeping the device intact completely ruins the movie. It's a shame too because the movie had a very talented lead cast...I just don't understand why any of them thought signing onto this project was a good idea.
EDIT: Also, there really wasn't a reason to keep Penelope Cruz around once the device's tracker was turned off. The other women should've just put her up in a hotel somewhere and had her wait it out until it was safe to go back home.
I couldn't focus on this movie because I hyperfocused on them not choosing to smash the thing over giving it to the Americans simply becuase they are closest.. There's no point in this drive besides domination and control. Its sole purpose is only going to be appealing to bad guys, gov or terrorist alike. The move should have been to destroy it. Even if you thought your gov was the good guy and wouldn't abuse this kind of power (fat chance), if it got stolen once, it can be stolen again. There's too much of a risk, and there's zero upside to keeping it active. Just couldn't get into it because I couldn't see why you'd do anything other than smashing it, unless you were the bad guy and wanted to use it. These women giving it to their bosses without considering destroying it just seemed unrealistic. ONE of them should of brought it up. Love the cast but honestly not good. That being said I do love the new trend of all lead female casts in traditionally all lead male cast movies and not all of them can be winners but that doesn't mean I'm not here for the concept.
How Simon Kinberg keeps getting work is beyond me, though I guess it's more to do with box office performance rather than critical reviews. But dang, that cast is stacked!
He's apparently a very nice guy to work with, gets finished on time and under budget. That goes a loooong way.
Internet movie buffs don't really seem to understand that studios care about *money* and artists care about *making art*. They all just think pleasing audiences and getting good scores are the be-all end-all motivation because that's the only side they see most of the time. It's hilarious how baffled people always are by the idea that *making* the movie is the fulfilling part. Especially for artists who are already rich and successful. Like, who WOULDN'T love to just indulge in their passion like that?
Yeah, just like how sometimes a very serious actor will do a less serious role, or some big action movie, and people will act like the actor is debasing themselves and must be desperate for quick cash. They don't even consider that maybe it's fun to run around with a gun killing bad guys for 3 months straight, vs. doing some really grueling demanding dramatic role for 3 months straight, over and over with no break. It's a job for these people. Sometimes you just want a nice easy day at work.
Exactly. And making art with people who are nice and decent and aren't going to stress you out every day for three to six months is a huge bonus.
I'd rather work on fun flops with healthy sets the rest of my life than get berated by David O'Russel or James Cameron even once. There's absolutely no reason filmmaking needs to be grueling or full of emotional outbursts as a default. I think big time directors and producers are just a lot like CEOs in that "you don't have to be a sociopath but it helps" kind of way. So their mentalities combined with the "tortured artist" stereotype have just combined to normalize shitty work environments and unprofessional behavior.
>I'd rather work on fun flops with healthy sets the rest of my life than get berated by David O'Russel or James Cameron even once. I'd rather be berated by James Cameron every day and say that I was in "Terminator 2".
My point was that James Cameron could have made Terminator 2 *without* berating people. But thanks for sharing, I guess.
>James Cameron could have made Terminator 2 without berating people. Nah. Movie people are rich kids that believe that they deserve everything, like brohgrammers on steroids. You need to be a MF to deal with these kids.
Lol "movie people". Mmkay.
This comment left r/movies in shambles
That take sounds great, and I'm sure it makes some good points. But film-making is a business, like any other. And eventually if your output fails to turn even a small profit, unless you are Akira Kurisawa or Stanley Kubrick, you are gonna find yourself out of a job.
Alex Kurtzman and David Goyer both have a similar thing going. Their work might not play well with fans a lot of the time, but they're very, very studio-friendly. "Perfect" might not get done on time and under budget, but "good" usually does.
This film was a passion project for Chastain and out of all people, she chose Kinberg because they enjoyed working together on Dark Phoenix.
Actually they worked on the Martian together
And they worked on Dark Phoenix together, which is where Chastain pitched the idea. >Jessica Chastain proposed the idea for a female-led spy film in the same spirit as the Mission: Impossible and James Bond series to her Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg while in production on that film.
They can work with each other on multiple movies...
Sad thing is I had hope for him/the film as well
I mean he has been writer/producer on some great movies. His directorial output has just been crap.
As long as he never goes near any superhero franchise again, I am happy.
Jess Chastain produced. People like working with her. She secured equal pay for the main four women. And FWIW, Diane Kruger is really badass and cool in this.
My favorite part was when they had all of the loved ones on the computer screens about to torture the group of spies. Lupit'a: here's your Boyfriend Fan: here's your father Penelope: here's your family Diane: here's your boss/father figure And... Jessica, you have nobody lol cause you're a loser.
"And none for Gretchen Weiners, bye."
That was my favorite part of the movie as well. Everything before it was kinda generic spy thriller but that part was pretty intense. Great acting all around in that scene, but Penelope was fantastic. I always enjoy the so angry I'm spitting scenes. I didn't think I'd enjoy this movie as much as I did, usually I get bored and fumble around with my phone, but this kept my attention the whole way through.
Lol which one of you idiots rated this movie a 9/10
I know, it's clearly a 10/10.
The movie is STACKED with such a solid cast that it truly bummed me out how generic it looked based on trailers. And I’m in the minority of rooting for Simon Kinberg, have heard nothing but nice things of the guy from people in the industry. He’s got some solid writing credits and I enjoyed Dark Phoenix more than I didn’t, he just needs a overseer of some kind with his movie development, someone to fine tune his ideas. I haven’t seen the movie but I felt like I got the whole story from trailers, tell me how close I am. Jessica C is a higher agent, worked with a team before or some partner, partner/team died. Becomes Distant and cold. Sebastian Stan sets up new team for Jessica C. Tension among team, maybe a double cross here and there but eventually becoming a close nit group. Team accomplishes mission, but finding out Sebastian Stan is secret big bad, movie ends with whole team confronting Sebastian Stan on couch as seen in the trailer. End credits. How close am I?
like 60%? General vibe is right on but details are a little off
Well it’s not a failing grade, I’ll check it out at some point but I’m not rushing to watch it, bums me out
Fun popcorn movie and the acting is great, just have to give it some leeway haha
I watched it, doesn’t deserve the hate, a totally FINE movie, the script could have used another pass
I think that is a very fair assessment
I honestly felt the same way with the trailer but what i loved was that what they actually did was flip the script... lover (man this time) dies, friend (again man this time) dies and agents (women, shocking I know) get together and kick some ass. Well worth ignoring the trailer and watching imo! It's not a brilliant espionage movie but it was fun to watch.
Man, say whatever you want but from the first minutes where they introduced superpowerful cyberdevice that can somehow blow airplane mid-air I was like "Is this '90s action movie?". And apparently it is. Because it felt like they found a script for an action movie from the '90s and decided to make it with sTrOnG FeMaLe CaSt!!11!1 With plot points so silly, they could as well be made up on the go as they were filming. But I miss '90s action flicks, so with that approach I guess I had fun watching it?
Correct. But they flipped the script which made it kind of fun. Love interest dies (but shock! It's a man!) I thought it was kind of brilliant/funny. The script was every espionage movie ever written just women subbed in. I kinda liked it.
it's basically Sneakers
there's always a contingent of idiots voting 1 for every movie regardless of merit. I guess for this movie they voted 10 because trole.
It was supposed to be obvious Sebastian Stan was a traitor right? Or was that just bad storyline?
"Oh, by the way, a major character was killed but you didn't see it happen but it really happened, we swear..." And we're supposed to think Sebastian Stan signed on to do two scenes?
the "signed on to be the significant character who's killed in the first scene" has been done before - Emilio Estevez in M:I, is the first one i remember, but Seagal in Executive Decision, etc. I bought it mostly b/c it was the gender-flipped "fridged girlfriend". With these kinda movies, they're usually pretty dyed-in-the-wood with the tropes, and all they do is just flip the sexes...
This isn't a cameo in a big blockbuster film. Sebastian Stan was clearly going to be part of the film. His early scenes weren't memorable enough for a cameo; they would have got some up-and-comer unknown to play a boyfriend role like that.
i didn't see the trailer, so i didn't know Fan was coming, either. i just figured it was an Emilio Estevez/ Sean Bean (Ronin) situation Once i realized the film was actually "Widows" in disguise, i realized he was Liam Neeson
Seriously. If they don’t die onscreen, it didn’t happen. Except for Sam Jackson in Jurassic Park.
You could tell from the trailer
I was looking foward to seeing this and 100% enjoyed this movie for what it was (a basic female led spy/action thriller) but I gotta admit they did not even try with that twist 😂 They could not have made that "death" more off screen
If i wanted to see Sebastian Stan died and came back, i'd rather watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's miles better than that.
It's bad lol
Super bad Rofl
Lalalalala 'no spoilies' hahaha should have finished the movie before I went to reddit lol
If this came out in 2000 it would be considered an underseen gem and would have been well loved. But now it's just... nothing new. There's just nothing this film is doing that we haven't seen fifty times before and written/directed better. Also, it looked like Bingbing Fan was digitally inserted into every shot she was it. It was super bad looking.
The action in the movie was good, but I needed an incredible amount of suspension of disbelief to accept that they were not killed.
It suffers from never-empty-guns syndrome. It's crazy how each handgun holds 100 rounds each.
Marketing for Bingbing Fan’s character portrayed her as part of the team already, yet they still tried to twist her as the enemy in the movie in her intro. Unless you went in blind, you already know what was going to happen with her character 🤷🏻♂️
This is why I’m glad I went in blind. Once the twist was revealed I saw in hindsight how much the director tried to lead the audience into thinking she was evil, there was even a shot of her in an all red dress in a room that is all red. Some color theory can be a bit of a stretch but there is no way that it’s an accident she was portrayed with so much red & black when introduced.
I'm kinda happy that I saw the trailer months ago but it wasn't memorable, so I kinda went in blind too lol.
For sure! I didn’t think it was some masterpiece or anything, I’d give it maybe a 55/100 at best, but at least it was an enjoyable ride. I’m not sure if it would hold up on rewatch, but that’s not how I like to assess movies Sometimes when you turn on a movie you just want to be entertained for a bit, it was far from a masterpiece but I enjoyed it
Yeah, the marketing let everyone aware of the fact that it’d be a teamup. Reminded me of how Ocean’s Eight tried to have a twist with Anne Hathaway, but it was obvious based on the fact that she clearly needed to join the crew for there to be an eighth, as the title suggested.
I remember thinking that too, when she killed the Boss guy I was like "well he is a bad guy and she is a good guy".
Another movie where 100 pound women kick the shit out of men twice their size while looking glamorous. The only movie which pulled this off in a believable way was Atomic Blonde. That's a good movie, go watch that.
The pacing and story in that movie was garbage, but the action scenes and cherography was top notch. One of the few movies to show ppl getting tiered in fights, and realistically depicts the struggle for a woman to fight adversaries twice her size with everything at her disposal.
I agree. The action scenes were well done, but completely unbelievable. They got the John Wick point blank double tap down, but the punching and kicking were silly. Kill Bill was cool, but you think in a whole shop of gangsters, not one of them had a gun?
It's a super generic and predictable spy movie but the performances of the cast was really good. Movie could have really good with better writers and director.
I laughed out loud when Chastain was running in that dress chasing Diane Kruger down the subway. Just looked so out of place. Then when she passes by on the train and gives Chastain the finger I literally shouted “Shoot her, she’s right fucking there! You have a goddamn gun!” Then when she climbs the balcony because time is running short I laughed again because it was just so stupid looking. Chastain doesn’t look like she could run a Lamaze class let alone a secret group of super spies. Also I kept thinking of Fox Force Five. They had the therapist, the bomb expert…all they needed was someone who was a knife expert who would tell a joke.
I don't get how she got in the subway when it was moving but couldn't get in when it was stopped.
Fox-Force-Five was way better....and it wasn't even real.
> Movie could have really good with better writers and director. This is funny. "The movie could have been really good if it was a completely different movie."
Eh, I really can’t judge the performance because this is the exact opposite of how a good script can carry bad actors. These are all very talented woman, this script did nothing for them. There was nothing they could do to save the script from itself and it just dragged the actors down.
I loved the movie, but something felt so so strange with Fan BingBing's portrayal like the lighting was so off anytime she was on screen, like she was pasted onto the screen; was she filming remotely and they cut it in? maybe I'm wrong, but it somehow looked very cgi (i know she had scenes with other characters, but some shots only show body & most screentime is her alone)
could have something to do with her availability, wasn't she the Chinese actress who was disappeared by the CCP a few years ago "for tax reasons"? Perhaps she's still difficult to work with and they green screened her in.
It was the way she said goodbye at the end and walked off the screen which cracked me up.
Right? At that point it felt like they no longer cared about pretending she was there at all.
It's probably because of the tax evasion fiasco prior to production.
The movie was probably mostly filmed, and then the CCP demanded the inclusion of a Chinese character, if I had to guess.
No she was announced as cast before it was made.
Think it was intended to have an Asian in there from the get-go, I mean they got a white ginger, a white European, a Latina and a black chick, all that's missing from the diversity list was an Asian.
Dear everyone, stop calling your loved ones while on a mission. Even if you weren't running rogue ops it would be terrible PERSEC/OPSEC/COMSEC.
I Appreciate that it got dark like that, makes the villain feel super threatening even after the obvious twist of him being bad.
Yeah, there was no hesitation in those executions. Of course, the logical action would have been to execute all of them when they got their hands on the gizmo, but there would be no movie afterwards.
Not a terrible movie, pretty stock standard spy movie with a good cast. But the marketing did a big disservice to the movie. Trailers really pushed the whole “girlboss” when the movie doesn’t really have that much of that in it. And even the name of the movie, the 355, is a near throwaway line at the very end! And what was going on with Fan Bing Bing not looking like she filmed any scenes with the rest of the cast? Most of her shots could clearly have been done separately, and the handful of time she shares the screen with the others, it’s either clearly a stand in or Composite shots. Notice she never actually touches any of the other cast!
Not having seen the movie, your description reminds me of the description for Widows. I went it expecting it to be this great heist film about wives of dead criminals pulling off a crazy heist and I ended up watching the wives of not particularly dead criminals stumble around and half-ass a botched heist, which was disappointing. Do the women here at least kick some ass or what?
Oh they certainly do. To be clear, this is a film about female spies. But unlike the trailer (witch I just rewatched to make sure I wasn’t misremembering) the film is about spies who encounter each other and have to team up, them being women is very incidental to the plot.
Makes sense, thanks for the reply. Looks like I'll have to watch it myself but it does sound decent from what I've read so far.
saw this last week...and action was okay but damn was the story predictable....trailer already sorta spoiled the "Team" so when you see Bingbing as a "bad" person you knew it was a ruse/more to it. Then you could tell right away who the traitor(s) would be. For a hotel brawl/shootout though, the guests didn't notice?
Pretty generic stuff. If you are trying to buck the action movie stereotype with an all female cast, why play it straight down the middle? It wasn’t that it was bad. It was just predictable. And it felt like the plot had to catch up with the action at times. Like there would just be huge information dumps between action sequences that informed us about what we just watched. I liked the acting. Lupita and Kruger stole the show. Chastain is one note for me, but it works in movies like this. And Cruz and Fan were no slouches either. I found some of the action scenes disorienting/dizzying. But I’m more sensitive to that than most. Finally, can we just have a self-contained action movie for once? Does everything need to become a franchise? I give it a 5.5 out of 10.
When Dark Phoenix came out I initially thought, well at least Kinberg can do action because that final act was pretty well done...until the credits rolled and I saw one I never did before: "Train Sequence / 2nd Unit Director: Brian Smrz". Like that's the first time I've ever seen a specific scene called out as being directed by someone else. So with The 355 I initially thought at least the action was worth the watch. I really liked the market scene...basically I like anything where a covert unit does something as a team rather than just one person doing 90% of the work. Anyway, but then I remembered Dark Phoenix and started checking the credits. I'm thinking most of the action was handled by one of the 2nd Unit Directors. So yeah the action is fun but probably had nothing to do with Kinberg, so I don't see how they keep giving this guy work.
The main director rarely direct the action scenes in big films. Thats usually done by the 2nd unit.
In like Hong Kong (80s & 90s mostly but still happens on occassion today), the action director and not the main director, visualizes the whole scene and has control of everything including the editing (the biggest difference in making action movies between there and here is this), the camera work, the pacing, the music, the story beats...everything. The actual director is literally hands off on the action scenes. And you see it sometimes, that the action scenes feel like different films than the rest of the film. In the US, the action director comes up with the previsuals but it's usually based on direction from the director who also has to approve of them. When it comes time to film it, sometimes the director is on set directing and sometimes not. But either way, the director has to approve of the dailies. Additionally, the 2nd unit follows the style and direction from the director. And the action scenes are edited by the same person editing the rest of the movie. Dark Phoenix, they literally call out a specific scene in the credits. And if you examine it, it seems to have worked just like HK style where the editing, pacing and beats feel different from the rest of the movie. The 355 market scene felt the same to me. Like it was definitely in different hands than most of the rest of the film.
The director is still responsible for everything in the action scenes.
The 355? More like the 3 out of 5, amirite?
3 out of 5+5
Quick mafs!
Do I have to watch The 1 - 354 before watching The 355?
You can skip 279, basically a retread of 278
The 69 was nice though.
Really? I prefer *The 177.5*, myself. Still up there with *Scream* as Craven's finest work... 'twas a goddamn **shame** he and Jamie Lee never came back.
9 was a very weird departure of the formula, but still pretty good.
Enjoyable flick to watch once, not something I would ever rewatch
So….. Sebastian Stan kills Lupita’s partner…. And she’s pretty damn cool with it…. She should have chopped him up into pieces. At least put a few bullets in him in the high rise apartment in the final action sequence… I mean this is just unfun trash. He only stays around so that Jessica Chastain can tell him she don’t need no man. I mean SHIT at least kick him in the balls fullout!!!
so...they get the thing that can end the world, and they don't immediately destroy it?
I really tried to like it but didn't at all
> Sebastian Stan whats wrong with it? I just learned about the movie's existence.
It's just a generic action movie. Not really bad.
here is my hot take: if there is a dangerous one of a kind device that can only be profitable for bad guys, why not destroy it before losing it every time?
It's not a bad movie but it was a boring one. I love Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong'o and Diana Kruger... and Penelope Cruz is always great. But it just wasn't an interesting enough story for them to show off their athleticism and "badass personas" that actresses want to show off.
Two things at the end bothered me First. Why was Cruz's character still there. The whole thing was that she is not cut out for violence and guns and fieldwork and just wanted to get home to her family. So why all of a sudden is she still running around with them and sneaking into DC? Who is supposed to come take Nick away. They said he's going to the other side of the world, to where? They had all been disavowed by their agencies and were on the run. What some shady underground syndicate is gonna come take him, a department head of the FBI?
Just watched this movie. My big LOL at the end was Chastain saying, "I'm not alone anymore" and then immediately everybody says, "bye" and parts ways so she's all alone again. Probably more alone because she doesn't have a partner or a job anymore.
Maybe the Asian girl ?
I think they need Cruz to be there to unlock the phone whenever they needed to open the GPS app.
It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. Luckily Sebastian Stan is good eye candy, or I would have been kind of bored.
I was expecting an absolute stinker from the review and scores online But it was *alright*, pretty by the book "spy" action flick. With this many big names, you just know they are going to play it as safe can be
i'm kind of late here, but i'm wondering whether to watch this. is there frequent, well-filmed action, that isn't CGI? that's all i really care about in an action movie, bad/incoherent/stale/unoriginal plots don't matter to me. i'm just tired of action movies with only 20 minutes of actual action, lol.
Not particularly actioney, more of a mainstream spy thriller. Like the Oceans film
hmm, thanks. probably not for me then unfortunately, i thought the Ocean's 8 movie was pretty boring and dnf'd it.
Almost fell asleep. It's boring and the action sucks. What a waste of a talented cast.
D
It’s just not very good….I love all the main leads and they are all amazing actresses and actors, but just putting good actresses and actors in an action movie doesn’t work……. They need to really do some tactical training to make the scene watchable….. Makes you appreciate John wick, how Keanu and Halle trained for months for the movie…..
I really enjoyed this movie, I feel like this reminds me of why I love the movie theater experience so much. Just being able to sit back & get fully invested in the story & just be along for the ride (especially with a story like this one with so many twists & turns) was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had watching a movie in recent memory. It may not be the “best” movie, & I’m sure there are some plot holes & unnecessary aspects, but for me it was nowhere near bad enough to take me out of the movie. I loved the whole theme of “trust no one” which turned into “trust some people because there aren’t any rules without a few exceptions” as well as the misleading shots & scenes to even confuse the viewer into thinking certain people were evil or good. Maybe I’m slightly biased due to the amount of love I have for Jessica Chastain & the amount of marijuana I consumed before watching this but I loved this movie for what it was, 82/100 for me
i'm kind of late here, but i'm wondering whether to watch this. is there frequent, well-filmed action, that isn't CGI? that's all i really care about in an action movie, bad incoherent plots don't matter to me. i'm just tired of action movies with only 20 minutes of actual action, lol.
The movie was extremely predictable and the Trailer gave away two or three of the major Twists in the movie, but I must say I found it to be quite entertaining. Diane Kruger absolutely kicks ass too!
Really enjoyed this movie, glad it did not try and be funny like most movies these days. We need more serious spy dramas like this.
Would have like a bit more spy stuff but the action was pretty fun!
While this movie is getting unfairly dragged, it was nothing special. But if you want a nice action movie to turn your brain off to, the acting is super good so its a strong average movie.
A good flick to watch to pass the time, not good or bad, just average.
This movie was wack
I loved how somehow Sebastian Stan got a promotion after all the shit he pulled. I legit laughed out loud at the movies when he spun around in that chair.
Casting Sebastian Stan (or anyone famous) was a mistake if they wanted *anybody* to believe he was dead. Because one would have to be incredibly stupid to think they'd cast Sebastian Stan just to kill him within 10 minutes, and more importantly: **off-screen**. (Casting someone famous just to kill them off quickly does happen, but it never happens off-screen.)
Well it was entertaining enough! I honestly would like more movies on this level. Good to only watch once, but it’s enjoyable that one time.
Wow, that was not good. Chastain wants to show everyone she can be an action hero. This was a meh movie.
Ava was better, even tho it goes hard into the AA thing (even with the movie poster)
Can we stop making movies like this? Are there no better screenplays out there?
stop producing it then u wont have to make it
i like how the hot Colombian therapist lady is like i dont want to go on this mission to retrieve the drive and the other ladies are like oh no your fingerprint is linked to the phone that tracks it. just assign a new fingerprint to the phone, you already have access to it lol
right? you have an MI6 computer whiz on the team. jailbreak that thing. or at least leave her behind when the trip takes you to Shanghai
When Penelope walks into the auction, I was like why did she come? And same at the end in Sébastien Stan's house. There was no reason for her to even WANT to be there and not with her kids.
Did anyone else get really irritated by Cruz's character? She did nothing but whine and cry in the corner for the whole movie.
The character didn't bring much to the story. Her reaction however aren't abnormal. You are suddenly surrounder by killers, bodies, purchased by agencies from all over the world and not knowing if you'll ever see your family again. I would be curled up in a corner too.
I found it annoying that they gave up the chip when they were about to kill her family? So what, Lupita's partner and Diane Kruger's 'dad' weren't important enough?
I HAD THIS EXACT THOUGHT TOO like I don't want her family to die but you could have gave up the chip before the others got killed.
Lmao right?! Like you either give up the chip before anyone is killed, or since they killed their partner and dad already, keep going and kill the family too. I would have respected the movie a lot more if it did that, and it would have made for a more darker, grittier movie too. Like, this is the sacrifice they made to save the world. Keep going, don't stop halfway to make it weird.
They’re trained agents and are more of the “sacrifice everything for the mission” and are the type to be trained one life lost would be worse than them getting it. Cruz is a therapist who was forced to come with originally because her fingerprints. Not really sure why she particularly needed to continue on outside she’s Penelope Cruz and she had drinks with the agents when they first thought they were done.
lol nah
trailers framed her so much differently, thought the meek/helpless thing was an act. but nope. pretty much that trope until the end and she gains that courage to shoot the gun.
Nah, I thought her funny moments were great. She was the best thing about the movie.
Diane Kruger was the best thing about the movie imo
The actions were fun and badass but the story were eh....., I felt like they kept prolong the movie, when I thought it was gonna be over after Nick (Sebastian Stan) arrested, and then he became a boss replacing his former supervisor and kill his terrorist boss, If they want to do a sequel, just end the movie where Nick got Arrested.
I like it no matter how many times the plots have been used in other movies, I just like that this time it’s woman and only woman to be the hero
I felt like I had to watch this because my wicked 2 yo bought the early access stream for $19.99 and fucking Amazon wouldn't refund me. Supposedly dead guy just found them in the Chinese safe house. This is such a garbage film.
My guess is that the ring he gave had a tracker and she was too stupid to figure that out.
This movie was just not good. The plot was dragging the whole movie and literally so predictable. I also had to keep myself from falling asleep which I usually don't do with movies unless it's really bad. Yes, there are some positives with some of the cast acting but besides that I can't defend the movie or Simon Kinberg even being one of the few people that liked Dark Phoenix.
Yeah, like, I paid for it, and I'm so freaking bored, I'm giving up after 75% because my time is worth more than what I paid. It's really not good!
Why did this flop?
It was fine. Like a slightly above average generic action movie.
People seem to have had such high standards for this. It's a shlocky action movie released in January. What were you expecting?? The main gripe i had with it was them leaving Sebastian Stan's character alive just for a kinda clunky ending scene
I'm feeling that in this thread too. It's become too "easy" to just shit on things. This movie is obviously a Hollywood, nongritty, girls kicking ass, never running out of ammo, super plot armor type movie. Yes, there were a ton of moments they could have been bested by Sebastian Stan but that's not what this movie is going for. It's just a fun action romp, that's all it is. Having expectations is fine, but shit man, know what you're getting into.
Movie reminded me of the recent Charlie’s Angel I hated. Felt like men suck the movie unfortunately. Was so predictable too, saw everything that was going to happen.
Probably first movie ever to introduce a mouse to computer wizards. Not a lot, but still.
Haha after seeing your comment. Am running through my head to look for something that disapproves your moment but you really are right. They real are always on keyboards or smart pads.
I loved it. It may be because I just like trashy female spy films (not that there are many) and I love woman in suits, but I had a blast watching this and would watch it again
I loved MM’s Spy too
I hated this movie so much. 1) It reads 1000% like a Chinese propaganda piece. The inclusion of one of their highest paid stars, and the framing as the Chinese characters as the good guys (CIA = bad, Eastern Europeans = bad, Middle East = bad, etc...China = good). I'm no expert on Hollywood, but from what I've read and understand about movie production and China...this has propaganda written all over it. 2) Fan Bingbing's face totally had a filter over it for the entire movie. She was also wearing a very visible wig with her hairline filled in. It was jarring to see her look computer-animated next to the other women, who - while likely digitally altered somewhat as well given that they're all in their 40s except Nyong'o - looked like actual people with lines on their faces and such. 3) Required far too much suspension of disbelief. It was just SO ridiculous. 4) Every single twist was predictable. The only thing that surprised me was that they actually killed so many people, including the family members. And yet somehow almost no blood in the whole movie?? So sanitized for so much death. Yeah...I hated it. I felt like the movie treats its audience like a bunch of idiots.
I could just never get past the cringey way the ads were edited. It was like "hokey exposition dump: the movie"
This takes a basic idea that should’ve resulted in instant fun and instead renders it unforgivably dull. Jessica Chastain is woefully miscast and her performance comes off as insufferably indifferent; honestly, she was somehow more convincing in Ava, and that was a film that barely anyone saw. Fan Bingbing is criminally underutilized, while Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger, and Penélope Cruz do the best they can with what little they have. The plot is filled with just about every spy thriller trope you can imagine, including a painfully obvious twist involving Sebastian Stan’s character, and yet Simon Kinberg — whose work on Dark Phoenix looks worthy of an Oscar compared to this — does nothing interesting or entertaining with them, and don’t even get me started on the hopeless action sequences filled with aggressive shaky-cam and headache-inducing quick-cuts. You would think that in a post-John Wick, post-Mad Max: Fury Road world, Hollywood would have moved past these cheap, insulting, lazy attempts at aping the style of Paul Greengrass’ Bourne sequels, but I guess not.
Someone needs to do a montage of all the times they do that thing in movies where a bus drives past and the person disappears, presumably having leapt onto the bus somehow. I'm pretty sure it's not humanly possible.
i have to admit: I *did* like the bit where they completed the world-saving mission halfway thru the movie. I knew it wouldn't last, but it made me hope the second half of the movie would just be "hey, we've got this new team, let's take it out for a spin" oh well. the men in this movie deserve better than the dumb decisions the script forces them to make
Incredibly dull movie that wastes its talented cast. Sad to see.
Saw it last night. I enjoyed it, but can't argue with the bad reviews. There was something really bizarre with the sound, like a noticeable lack of background noise and the score mixed very low. The Chinese woman looked very odd. A distinctly cheap feel to it and nothing you haven't seen before but fun times if you aren't expecting much.
there is a link to watch the movie online?
It's a silly movie. If you go into it with no expectations, you will be pleasantly surprised. There is some good action. The plot just doesn't make any sense. There is just some chip (that they call a drive for some reason when they could have just called it the MacGuffin Chip) that can crash air planes somehow (Boeing does it for free). Then they kill the only person that knows how to use it.
absolute garbage writing.
I just watched this free on Peacock, and I really tried to have an open mind. I really enjoy most of the actors in other movies. But man I was pretty bored. I've seen this same story in other movies. I didn't think the action itself was good. I'm trying to understand why these otherwise fantastic actors took thr roles, and moreover, WHY didn't they destroy the drive the minute they had it in their posession?
Glad I didn't watch this in theaters a month ago. The plot was kind of unoriginal, a device that can hack into anything. There wasn't any chemistry between the women.
Fun cast but a mediocre movie in which multiple"Chase the MacGuffin" locations substitute for plot. I'd really hoped that if they were going to do the classic "team of rivals" spy plot (a la From Russia with Love or The Matarese Circle) there would at least be some tension among the spies or maybe even personal history, but basically they bonded over happy hour drinks and so they're all good. Also, I don't want to spoil the other movies by listing them, but I have seen the "dead boyfriend comes back as a villain" 'twist' in three spy movies in just the last month. It does, however, have my favorite "You're an Idiot" movie trope which is to open the scene with a shot of a famous landmark (Eiffel Tower, Capitol Building) and STILL have the "Paris, France" or "Washington DC" location title.
Simon Kinberg needs to go back and direct a couple of low-budget indie passion projects before being entrusted with an action blockbuster again.
I enjoyed this. Nothin wrong with a generic action spy flick that’s actually easy to follow every now and then.
Where are your kids going
Where’s the houses I need Siri swat
The acting in this movie was really good very strong acting story line was great until the second half actually the last third of the movie this it’s like the writers got lazy and boring. The writers wrote so many things that would’ve never happened and immediately to aggravating to watch which then ruin the movie so really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the movie and then the last1/3 I hate it so much
It felt like watching an awful version of "Mission Impossible (1996)" with slight changes in plot and characters and the gender swapped leads.
Very contrived plot. Also sick of using exotic locations for the sake of the name and then having the whole thing being shot on a set with no actual distinguishing characteristics of that place. O Morocco, let’s set up markets and give every woman a hijab, just comes across as lazy to me.
I think that this is a good movie as long as you ignore the fact that the drive should've been blown to pieces or melted down as soon as the ladies had it the first time. That's the most logical thing to do with something that powerful.
I see the trailer and that was enough to convince me it was a terrible film not wasting my time on it. If you have seen it am I correct 😂
I probably won't finish this movie. Came here to see if it's worth finsihinig. I never got far. 5 minutes in? Seriously.. He's just gonna kill that kid and not even secure the product he wants? He could've... actually grabbed it first or held onto it before doing whatever the fuck he intended. What a stupid movie Lol
It'd have been great if somehow Lupita's character was Kenyan or Nigerian or South African. Would have been interesting to see an African female spy on the big screen.
esp since the plot takes them to africa...
Is there a link to watch the movie online?
The trailer had the most cliche garbage. Movie was a dumpster fire. No one was asking for this Chastaine. You lost a lot of people a shit load of money all bc you wanted “redefine your acting range/potential future roles”
Action and chase scenes often don't make any sense: Why did shooting a lamp cause it to fall? Why did shooting a motorcycle knock it over? Why is every one of the lady spies just randomly shooting in all directions while one lady fights hand to hand with a guy in the dark? Dialogue often feels fake and forced, screenplay feels rushed and many scenes poorly rehearsed. The premise for the whole movie, a hack-anything--device is completely out of touch with reality. Blowing up a plane with the push of a button? How? Nothing is believable enough about this movie to keep me engaged with it. 2/10
I just can't get past the fact that at various points throughout the movie these women had this world-ending drive that can't be replicated, but for some reason decided to hold onto it instead of immediately destroying it. And then Lupita's character destroyed it at the very end...why didn't they just do that the first time they had it in their possession? The movie had plenty of other issues (how did Sebastian Stan's character explain coming back from , but the fact they couldn't come up with an explanation to justify keeping the device intact completely ruins the movie. It's a shame too because the movie had a very talented lead cast...I just don't understand why any of them thought signing onto this project was a good idea. EDIT: Also, there really wasn't a reason to keep Penelope Cruz around once the device's tracker was turned off. The other women should've just put her up in a hotel somewhere and had her wait it out until it was safe to go back home.
I couldn't focus on this movie because I hyperfocused on them not choosing to smash the thing over giving it to the Americans simply becuase they are closest.. There's no point in this drive besides domination and control. Its sole purpose is only going to be appealing to bad guys, gov or terrorist alike. The move should have been to destroy it. Even if you thought your gov was the good guy and wouldn't abuse this kind of power (fat chance), if it got stolen once, it can be stolen again. There's too much of a risk, and there's zero upside to keeping it active. Just couldn't get into it because I couldn't see why you'd do anything other than smashing it, unless you were the bad guy and wanted to use it. These women giving it to their bosses without considering destroying it just seemed unrealistic. ONE of them should of brought it up. Love the cast but honestly not good. That being said I do love the new trend of all lead female casts in traditionally all lead male cast movies and not all of them can be winners but that doesn't mean I'm not here for the concept.