Film Review: The Union

The Union
Director: Julian Farino
Closest To The Hole Productions and Municipal Pictures
Streaming on Netflix: 08.16

In Netflix’s quest to create a a blockbuster action film franchise, their go-to genre seems to be the international spy thriller. The True Memoirs of an International Assassin, 6 Underground, The Gray Man and Heart of Stone have all come to the streamer amid a lot of fanfare and high hopes that they were just the beginning of something, yet not one of them currently has a sequel in the works. The Union is this summer’s desperate attempt to create a streaming answer to Bond and Bourne.

Mike McKenna (Mark Wahlberg, The Departed, Lone Survivor) is a construction worker in New Jersey who enjoys a peaceful, average life, happy enough despite never settling down. One day, Mike is caught by surprise when who should approach him at the local dive bar but his high school girlfriend, Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry, X-Men, Monster’s Ball), looking like a million bucks and surprisingly eager to see him again. As it turns out, she’s not trying to rekindle their romance, she’s after something much more unexpected: She needs Mike’s help saving the world. It seems that Roxanne is a top agent with a super secret agency known as The Union, and she drugs Mike and whisks him off to London. When a recent mission to intercept a double agent went bad, top secret intel ended up in the wrong hands, and is set to be sold to be auditioned off to the highest bidder. Roxanne’s boss, Tom Brennan (J.K. Simmons, Spider-man, Whiplash), explains to Mike that the top information in question contains the names and personal details of “every man and woman who has ever served a Western allied country.”  As the list contains the names and faces of everyone who is anyone, the only hope that Tom and Roxanne have is to send in a nobody that they can trust—and naturally, as soon as the word “nobody” came up, Roxanne thought of Mike. Mike has little choice but to accept the assignment with a crash course in spy craft, and soon, he and Roxanne are caught up in car chases, gun fights, fist fights and other explosive action as all kids of sparks ignite.

While the premise for The Union is ridiculous and hard to swallow, this is not the kind of movie that you watch for intellectual stimulation, and as long as it’s fun enough, it works. Director Julian Farino, who helmed 23 episodes of Wahlberg’s TV series Entourage, has a competent, workman-like approach that is devoid of any particularly distinctive style, which honestly comes as a relief to anyone who’s had to sit through any of Wahlberg’s hyperactive catastrophes with his normal pet director, Peter Berg. Farino’s straightforward approach is well suited to this sort of disposable, cookie cutter action film, and he shows just enough promise in the major action sequences to think he has some potential. The film falters a bit when it’s focusing on the characters, none of whom are believable or engaging. Mike is an amiable enough guy, but his most noteworthy accomplishment in life is banging his old high school English teacher Ms. Hoffman (Dana Delany, Exit to Eden, Tombstone), yet the fact that he’s far from first choice material should provide for more entertaining comedy. The idea here is clearly to give is just enough of a unique setup for the first film in a franchise, while assimilating Mike into his life as a spy quickly enough that from here on out, he can be Roxanne’s equal, and it’s a disappointing and lazy approach to character development.

Wahlberg and Berry are both experienced at playing action heroes and fare best when they are concentrating on heroics. There’s a breezy chemistry between them that easily sells them as old friends, though I never bought them as high school sweethearts, in part because I spent enough of my teen years admiring Berry’s big screen beauty to be keenly aware that she was well into her career as a grown-up movie star when Wahlberg was still in detention. Surprisingly, the most irritating performance comes from Simmons as Tom Brennan, though the blame for this should be placed on the direction and writing. The character is meant to be a simple, straight-shooting kind of guy and the down-to-earth routine is overdone, with Simmons wearing a baseball cap in every scene and saddled with an excess of corny dialogue. Not even Simmons himself seems to be buying it, and it’s a frustrating misuse of a great actor. Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas, Medicine Man) is likable as Mike’s mother, creatively named Lorraine, and it’s nice to see her in anything again. Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Alita: Battle Angel) adds some gruff charm as Foreman, a surly computer whiz.

The Union is serviceable Netflix fare that is certainly more enjoyable than duds such Atlas or Rebel Moon, though it’s hard to imagine anyone chomping at the bit for a sequel. It’s a baby step in the right direction for the streamer, and the cloak and dagger mixed with New Jersey swagger formula is just appealing enough to to make for a pleasant evening in front of the TV, eating a reheated frozen dinner while watching a reheated frozen movie. –Patrick Gibbs

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