“The Union” (2024) Review

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The Union feels like a made-to-order action film with Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry. Perhaps there was a genuine desire to make a sort of Kingsman where blue-collar workers get to double as spies. Maybe with some thought and polish, there might’ve been a compelling and insightful film. Instead, this picture presents a plot that serves more as a thin and rickety framing to push Wahlberg and Berry into action sequences (and not great ones either).

Wahlberg plays Mike McKenna as a loser construction worker whose prospects never seemed to leave New Jersey. His life has become so boxed in that his one-night-stands are now with his school teachers. Into his life comes Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry), an old flame he hasn’t seen in many years. What starts as a reunion turns into a proposition, as Hall reveals she’s a spy working for an organization called “The Union.” And by recruit, I mean drug him, kidnap him, and force him over to Europe to join on the mission. Times are tough and the gruff Tom Brennan (J. K. Simmons) needs Mike to help him on a mission that could threaten to reveal a list of spies (that old espinoage chestnut).

Why is Mike important for this task? Well, he’s not. The whole reason Mike is hired is that he’s a nobody. Nobody would suspect he’s a spy. Except, hold on, isn’t this whole agency made up of blue-collar workers? Wouldn’t Mike be easily suspected of fitting the mold of this agency? I don’t know! More importantly, who cares? The whole plot is an excuse for Wahlberg and Berry can form a romance as stock as the action and chase scenes. It’s a hollow premise constructed for hollow entertainment.

This may not surprise anybody familiar with Netflix’s excessively vanilla-flavored and lukewarm action films, but The Union doesn’t have much thrills beyond whether or not Wahlberg and Berry will hook up again (they do). So many action scenes are framed in a way that removes the tension with the obvious telegraphing. At one point, Mike and Roxanne are cornered on a bridge. A slow-moving barge can be spotted in the difference. Maybe they can jump off the bridge at just the right time to land on the barge. Then, they can hide under the bridge while the pursuing bad guys raid the barge. Even the double-crosses and revelations of the villains and their intentions are so by-the-numbers that you could probably speculate the rest of the plot about halfway through. You might have to in order to stay awake amid the action scenes that lack any visual flair, charisma, or intensity.

The Union continues the bland run of Netflix action films with more thought in casting than action and story. There was a time when both Wahlberg and Berry were action stars that could put butts in movie theater seats. That same crowd who has aged may still choose this picture from their Netflix menu, but it’s doubtful they’ll recall much of this in the storm of Netflix’s samey hash of action movies that all look and sound the same. Perhaps this one will be remembered because it has the guy from Transformers and the woman from Swordfish, but definetely not as one of Netflix’s better pictures.