When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild-card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain) joins forces with rival German agent Marie (Diane Kruger), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Penélope Cruz) on a lethal mission to retrieve it. The unlikely team must also stay one step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan), who is tracking their every move as the action rockets across the globe.

For in-depth thoughts on The 355, please see my colleague Dom Fisher’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment brings The 355 to 4K UHD Blu-Ray after providing a Blu-Ray back in February 2022. Even if this was a film that came and went very quickly at the box office, we are thrilled the studio deemed it worthy of getting an upgrade to allow it the best presentation possible. The new 2160p HDR10 transfer takes what is already so lovely about the accompanying Blu-Ray and elevates it to more wondrous places. The level of detail in this presentation will blow you away with razor-sharp texture in the costumes and production design. Skin tones appear very natural across the entire cast with even the most minor facial details on display.

The addition of HDR brings out a world of depth and nuance within the natural color palette that expertly showcases the various lustrous settings that we visit around the globe. There are so many opportunities for vibrant colors to pop off the screen with brighter elements really standing out. Black levels are even more robust in this presentation and give way to stellar detail in shadows. The highlights do not fall victim to any blooming in this presentation. Any previous instances of aliasing or compression artifacts are not a factor on the 4K UHD disc. This 4K UHD Blu-Ray is such a welcome sight from Universal.

Audio Quality

Not to be outdone, the upgrade to a Dolby Atmos track provides some excellent improvements over the previous DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track on the Blu-Ray, as the additional channels come to play in the way you expect from an action film. This experience is extremely engaging, and it never fails to deliver something truly unbelievable. The soundscape on display here is very rich with a nuanced design from beginning to end. This film is a full-throttle action thriller where nearly every sequence packs a bigger punch than you might imagine.

The numerous instances of intense gunfire in the film pack a punch that will shake you to the core. The soundtrack and score hits really hard without being too overwhelming to the competing elements. Dialogue comes through crystal clear with none of the information feeling lost to the music in the film or the sound effects. All of the effects have a nice sense of direction within the mix with noises such as bombs detonating really springing to life. The movie uses environmental sounds to great effect, and the track retains strong detail even in the more chaotic developments. The height channels are used to expand the experience with so much respect given to the original sonic intentions. The track is a powerhouse from start to finish. There are optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles provided.

Special Features

Deleted Scenes: Six minutes of unused material is included here which consists of an additional extended scene between Graciela and Luis.

Chasing Through Paris: A five-minute featurette that shows the production filming in Paris with comments from the cast and creative team about shutting down bridges, the labyrinth of the chase scene, crafting realistic stunts, the process of filming some of the most dynamic moments, and more.

Action That Hurts: A nearly six-minute featurette that explores the intense sequence shooting in the fish market, the unfortunate weather conditions on the day of shooting, what the fights mean thematically for the characters, the stunts that the performers did themselves and more.

Reconstructing Marrakesh: A nearly six-minute featurette that explores the Moroccan set piece and how the production team recreated the experience on a set, the meticulous production design, the costumes, the teamwork, and more.

Chaos at the City of Dreams: A four-minute piece that explores the action-packed final set piece which involves explosives, pyrotechnics, wire work, and more in the course of bringing these characters to a worthwhile emotional conclusion.

VFX Breakdown: A two-part featurette totaling five minutes which shows off some of the digital enhancements that were added throughout the film.

Final Thoughts

The 355 does not break the mold when it comes to action films, but it works really well within the normal boundaries to deliver something entertaining. The point-of-view of the main characters is unique and refreshing enough to give the genre a shot in the arm, and the performances are fierce all around. The film could probably stand to shave ten or fifteen minutes off of it, but each set piece delivers its fair share of thrills. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a spectacular A/V presentation and a decent assortment of brief special features. If you are looking for a solid action film that shakes off the cobwebs a bit, this will mostly get the job done. Recommended

The 355 can be purchased on 4K UHD Blu-Ray directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.