An apt description of The Union is “All dressed up with nowhere to go.” It is a shamefully safe, terribly unclever action-caper that stars Mark Wahlberg as a flighty construction worker and Halle Berry as his former high school flame who now works for a secret spy agency. The Union rather checks off boxes and unspools a blandly predictable movie while wasting its stars, budget, and foreign locations than providing true laughs or palpable thrills. The fact that this forgettable flub filmed in the streets of England and Italy is proof of Netflix’s desire to overpay for fugazis while making dessert junk-food entertainment one can take his sleep in.
There’s nobody necessarily off their game here. While Wahlberg is good enough as a fish out of water, Berry does well in the role of an ass-kicking remnant from his past that shakes things up for him and J.K.Simmons (you know) just does what he does. The real problem though arises from it having virtually nothing original to offer because we’ve seen all this done far better at least once if not more times before and presented in an obnoxious way.
The meme-o-verse has recently been critical about MCU’s cut and paste humor such as the “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” joke but The Union actually lives up to this trend of low-hanging banter. There is even one about someone being so broke they can’t afford attention (at least 50 years old).
Oh yeah: there’s also “I guess we should call this the REunion” when pointing out how Wahlberg/Berry characters get back together after being apart since high school. This movie will hold your hand through everything, surprise you with nothing, and leave you wanting less.
On screen everything from action sequences to character developments only serves its purpose which makes the film technically existable. Additionally, there are moments when The Union is hitting an invisible wall of quality, preventing it from being of any value and below the surface mediocrity lies a potentially decent idea that could have worked under different circumstances.
Its plot revolves around a secretive espionage organization that acts as a home to blue-collar workers. They’re “people who get sh** done,” according to J.K. Simmon’s trailer-made speech – folks with street sense who can blend into sidewalks rather than stick out from them. This concept never goes beyond mere scratching its surface, although this means that it could serve as the basis for another movie which actually wants to do something funky and fresh with the genre.
What makes Mike (played by Wahlberg) perfect in his ex’s eyes is this clock-punching, lunchpail life because she needs him for a sudden gig involving – hold on…a stolen list of secret operatives! All the things holding back Mike’s life so far –despite being quite comfortable living with his mom in Paterson, New Jersey- are now a plus for him as he is literally taken out of his element (read abducted), dumped in London and given a crash course on James Bondery.
Also, the union side of it does offer some potential with regards to the fact that they are all under-appreciated manual laborers. Still, instead the film opts for an underdeveloped love story involving its lead characters while managing to linger for far too long. It also brings out a clichéd introductory tale: the mole. The traitor among them who is naturally easy to identify because of his obviousness during casting is a tired one.
At certain points, The Union seems keen on showing off its teeth by becoming an edgy thriller. But most of it feels like a pleasant, unassuming time waster afraid of taking chances or making waves.
verdict
Though The Union has notable names in its cast and big-budget action to occupy itself with, it is shallow almost to the point of banality. The Union offers other better insights into this particular idea about union organization and their blue-collar base but after introducing us to the group at first then most of that disappears- as does most of the minor characters as well. For instance, Mark Wahlberg’s relationship with Halle Berry looks good on paper or it can be described as just scratching the surface, like many scenes in this film itself.
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