Netflix’s The Union sees Mark Wahlberg team up once again with director Julian Farino. Farino directed 23 episodes of HBO’s Entourage, which was loosely based on Wahlberg’s early days in Hollywood and on which the actor was also an executive producer (and occasional guest star). Farino has never directed an action-comedy like this before, while Wahlberg has become extremely comfortable in this arena over the last several years. How does the rekindled partnership fare?
The Union Plot
Construction worker Mike (Wahlberg) lives a simple, yet happy life in his native New Jersey. He still lives with his mother, hangs out with his friends from high school, frequents the same spots around town. It may not be an exciting life, but it’s his. But – and I think you can see where this is going – that simple life gets blown apart one night. Mike’s high school girlfriend Roxanne (Halle Berry) shows up back in town out of the blue. After spending the night together reliving some of their youthful memories (and after knocking Mike out with a sedative and taking him to London), Roxanne reveals the real reason she came back to see him.
She works for a top secret intelligence agency known as The Union. Based on Roxanne’s recommendation, Mike is brought in to help save a mission gone bad. The Union recruits those they think will fly under the radar. As Roxanne’s superior Tom Brennan (J.K. Simmons) puts it: “Street smarts over book smarts. Blue collar not blue blood.” Together with the rest of the Union team, Roxanne and Mike have to work fast to regain valuable intel. If the mission fails, it could spell disaster for the entire Western intelligence community.
The Union Review
Think of the most average band you can. A group whose songs you will almost never actively choose to listen to, but whose music you won’t automatically skip when they show up on shuffle. You don’t hate any of their songs, but you might only know actual titles of a few. The Union is that band. There’s nothing here to majorly criticize, but there’s no reason for effusive praise either.
It’s competently made, but there’s nothing exceptional about it. It’s funny enough, but never hilarious. The action scenes are mostly engaging, but entirely forgettable. All the acting is fine, but nobody’s winning an(other) Oscar here.
And that’s okay! Not every spy movie has to be – or can be – Mission: Impossible. Sometimes you just gotta play the hits, you know? The Union starts off with a classic “mission gone wrong” opening, a reliable starting point for any spy movie. The intel they’re going after is a file with information on every single person who has ever served a Western allied country. Another espionage staple, check. And that’s what The Union boils down to. It’s basically the starting outline for every single spy movie ever, but made into a feature length film without changing or adding to any of those ideas.
That won’t work for every genre, but the spy or secret agent genre is one where it can. Just by its nature, it’s going to be inherently more interesting and suspenseful. And with such a ridiculous cast, the middle of the road material is elevated simply by having so much talent on screen. You know what you’re getting with Wahlberg, Berry, and Simmons – though the chemistry isn’t always there for Wahlberg and Berry. And in addition to that trio, you also have Mike Colter, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jackie Earle Haley, Alice Lee, and Lorraine Bracco (yes, I was as surprised seeing her pop up on screen as you are likely reading that). A cast like this is always going to help.
Screenwriters Joe Barton and David Guggenheim don’t do anything special or unique with the story. I suppose you could count “regular guy gets drawn into global espionage” as something different, but the script passes over that pretty quickly. Though they do stop along the way and squeeze a few okay laughs out of it, in a fish out of water sense as Mike gets acclimated to the spy life. We even get a nice training montage as The Union gives him a crash course in how to be a spy. It’s nothing major, but it gives the viewers a chance to simply have a little fun with the characters for a few minutes.
Farino and the production team are able to insert some decent comedy into the action. And there are some creative attempts with the action and fight choreography, though not all of them land. But it’s much more preferable to see a movie at least try something, rather than play it safe the entire time. And it’s good they at least took some chances here, because they sure played it safe everywhere else.
For too much of the movie, it felt like Farino, Barton, and Guggenheim relied too much on the actors and “spyness” of the story to reel viewers in and keep them interested. And to be fair, it’s not the worst strategy. It certainly limits the ceiling, but provides a stable floor. Unless the bottom completely falls out, you’re going to get a passable movie, and that’s exactly what The Union is. Nothing more, nothing less.
Is The Union worth watching?
The Union is a soft recommendation. It’s about as average a movie as you’ll find. There’s nothing here you haven’t seen a hundred times over in other, better, spy movies or action-comedies, yet it’s still surprisingly watchable. Everything is done well enough to keep it engaging in the moment, even if you will forget everything the second the credits start to roll.
The Union releases on Netflix on August 16.
6/10
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