Just as fast-food chains carefully balance sugar, salt, and fat to make their offerings addictive, Netflix crafts action movies that seem designed in a lab for maximum appeal.
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| Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg in 'The Union.' Credit: Laura Radford/Courtesy of Netflix |
This doesn’t make them any less enjoyable, as long as you’re aware of their manufactured nature and are willing to embrace it. The latest example is The Union, featuring a stellar cast led by Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry, set against exotic backdrops, with high-octane action scenes and just enough light-hearted humor to remind us that the film isn’t taking itself too seriously.
It’s an entertaining diversion that you’ll likely forget almost immediately—until the inevitable sequel arrives.
Wahlberg leans into his (shirtless) strengths as Mike, a character who only slightly strays from the actor’s typical working-class persona, swapping Boston's Southie for New Jersey. As a construction worker (naturally), Mike is the kind of blue-collar guy who downs beers with his buddies at the local bar and hooks up with his former 7th-grade English teacher (Dana Delany, unfortunately underused). Of course, Bruce Springsteen tracks play in the background.
Mike’s ordinary life takes a sudden turn when Roxanne, his old high-school sweetheart, unexpectedly reappears after 25 years. She walks into his regular bar, surprisingly not causing too much of a commotion, despite being portrayed by Halle Berry in a skin-tight black leather outfit. The two share a warm, friendly reunion, which they take outside—where she injects him with a sedative and knocks him out.
Mike wakes up in London, at the Savoy Hotel, no less, where Roxanne and her boss Brennan (J.K. Simmons, displaying his signature wry humor) inform him that he’s been recruited into their secret spy organization (hence the film’s title). Their mission is to recover a MacGuffin—er, classified data—that’s ended up in the wrong hands after a botched operation involving one of their agents (Mike Colter).
They need "a nobody, someone with no history," because, apparently, every other U.S. intelligence operative's identity has been compromised. Mike, like the audience, will just have to roll with it.
After meeting the rest of the team, including medical expert Athena (Alice Lee), combat specialist Frank (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, reuniting with Simmons after Oz), and tech genius Foreman (Jackie Earle Haley), Mike dives into the obligatory training montage.
Unlike most, this one features exercises set against London's most iconic backdrops, with landmarks like the Tower Bridge always in view. For a supposedly covert organization headquartered in the prominent BT Tower, the Union isn’t exactly keeping a low profile.
Mike quickly adapts to the team, who ensure their missions are laced with witty banter. On his first outing, he makes a few rookie mistakes—including somehow ending up onstage during a West End performance of Matilda: The Musical—but he proves himself capable enough to join Roxanne on a mission where old romantic feelings begin to resurface.
This all builds to a stunt-packed action finale set in a stunningly scenic seaside village (actually Piran, Slovenia, which is sure to see a tourism boost). The sequence is expertly directed by Julian Farino (Ballers, Entourage).
The film goes down as smoothly as expected, with Wahlberg delivering his signature everyman charm and Berry showcasing her dual talents as an Oscar-winning actress and a formidable action star. Joe Barton and David Guggenheim’s screenplay carries a playful self-awareness, signaling that nothing in the film is meant to be taken too seriously—a notion reinforced by Mike’s humorous phone calls with his seemingly all-knowing mother (Lorraine Bracco, who nails her brief screen time).
The Union delivers the entertainment Netflix algorithms likely predicted, blending star power with lavish production values, and serving as a reminder of the worth of a monthly subscription.
