In “The Union,” Mark Wahlberg portrays a regular guy who works as a construction worker in New Jersey but becomes entangled in a web of global espionage.
The action-comedy “The Union,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry, fell short of expectations. Even more interesting. It featured a lot of positive aspects, such as famous actors and a travel budget.
It could be more than just the Netflix movie playing in the background, but it’s missing that special something.
The male-centric fairy tale “The Union,” which will be available to stream on Friday, follows the impromptu espionage recruitment of a middle-aged everyman (Wahlberg) whose life has never really taken off. As a broke construction worker, Mike continues to live with his mom in his hometown of Patterson, New Jersey, where he used to frequent bars with his old buddies (yes, there are Springsteen songs). His most recent success was an affair with his seventh-grade English teacher, and the only thing he has scheduled is to be the best man at a friend’s wedding in a few weeks.
Just wanted to mention that when Mike’s ex-girlfriend Roxanne (Berry) shows up at the bar one night dressed like a punk rock superhero, it’s like a breath of fresh air. She has discovered a life outside Patterson; she is gorgeous and self-assured. The fact that her actions are previously known is problematic, at least in my opinion.
“The Union” begins with Roxanne instead of Mike, the awkward outsider who meets his high school ex at a pub in his hometown and is then whisked away to a luxurious suite in London to try to make sense of what happened. It all starts in Trieste, Italy, during an extraction mission reminiscent of “Mission: Impossible” that goes wrong, leading to the deaths of the majority of her squad.
Longtime Wahlberg business associate Stephen Levinson came up with the idea. The two of them worked on another average action-comedy for Netflix, “Spenser Confidential.” Joe Barton and David Guggenheim wrote it, while Julian Farino, a journeyman director who oversaw numerous episodes of “Entourage,” directed it. The idea that anybody could become an international spy with the right opportunity and a short training program has an endearing fantastical quality to it. In the movies, it’s common for males to discover they’re secretly master spies and women to learn they’re secret royals.
When it comes to tone, “The Union” is never fully convincing. I wish it were funny, but it’s not ridiculous enough to be. Jackie Earle Haley, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Alice Lee all have underdeveloped roles, while J.K. Simmons has little material to work with as the leader of this covert agency. As a recurring joke, the fact that Mike’s undercover character is originally from Boston is one of the more reasonably successful ones. He even has a heart-to-heart with an imposing English henchman regarding “Good Will Hunting.”
Berry and Wahlberg get along great, but there’s no spark between them. A will-they-won’t-they romance with a woman who has forgotten her roots and a man who has to rediscover them would not make this an issue if the film didn’t also attempt to be about that. The concept that they are both still mulling over their failed high school romance has never really made sense to me. Too much time has passed for you to be consumed by regret about choices you made when you were seventeen. Who needs average actors when you have Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Helen Hunt, and Bill Paxton? Perhaps the plot might have been adjusted to better showcase their talents.
Your undivided attention is neither demanded nor earned since there is simply insufficient action, comedy, romance, or art.
The Motion Picture Association has rated the upcoming Netflix video “The Union,” which will be available on Friday, PG-13, due to “sequences of strong violence, suggestive material and some strong language.” The film lasts for 107 minutes. A solid 1.5 stars out of 4.
