If Netflix’s ambition is to be a video store that features forgettable knockoffs, rip-offs, or low-budget action and horror flicks with an added budget that is enough to entice well-known Hollywood actors, it has reached the pinnacle. The Netflix Original Action Movie is a mediocrity benchmark that must be introduced into the lexicon. It would work as a separate sliding scale for grading the relatively low quality of the movie.
The parameters of the gradation range from the Extraction series to the highest, with Red Notice languishing at the bottom. Considering those parameters, The Union, directed by Julian Farino, is somewhat decent. Starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in the lead roles, it follows a working-class, blue-collar guy out of Boston (because, of course) being recruited by his high school sweetheart to take part in an espionage mission when she finds her team being killed while extracting a high-profile target at the beginning of the film.
The organization that Roxanne Hall (Halle Berry) works for is called The Union, a play, of course, because the conceit of the organization is that they recruit spies not out of Harvard or Oxford but from the ones “that stay under the radar,” the blue-collar guys. It’s a pretty decent indictment of most of the spy movies that have come before, where even if James Bond is not traditionally of the upper crust of English society, he very much blends within the strictures and rules of that society because he would be taught and encouraged to.
Compared to that, The Union is very much a scrappy, underground organization where debriefings would occur while ordering coffee and burgers. However, this entire concept turns out to be mostly inconsequential because the organizational foibles all remain the same. At the end of the day, The Union’s main office is structured and lit like every American Secret Service organization, with lots of monitors and people coordinating with their computers, while the lead of the organization, Tom Brennan (JK Simmons), barks orders. The difference here is that he is not the man working secretly against the organization, nor is he the primary antagonist. On the contrary, Simmons is highly likable.
That is the extent of the subversion here with regard to the overall plotting. There are betrayals, agents coming back from the dead, a double cross, and Wahlberg’s Mike undergoing a montage of training sequences. It all depends on whether the chemistry between the leads is notable enough. The locations and the action set pieces have a gorgeous visual palette and are staged well, respectively.
Credit again goes to director Julian Farino for not taking the easy way out and utilizing a lot of CGI, but that could also be attributed to the decision not to have action sequences wildly over-the-top, leading to the use of CGI. The shootouts and the car chase sequences are impressively practical, as is the presence of stunt work. It sounds silly, but watching something so old-school being utilized in such a slick action picture really helps make a viewer like me remain engaged in such bland, forgettable fare.
Because the chemistry between Berry and Wahlberg is non-existent, despite some moments of interesting emotional revelations, Berry’s character Hall points out the inherent racism in Mike’s family that led to them breaking up when they were in high school. And Berry herself is pulling most of the weight in this movie. She is believable as an action heroine and also gives her all in the emotional sequences. Contrast that to Wahlberg, whose emotional range of a teaspoon is given unfavorable real estate. The scene where Mike is debating whether to shoot the antagonist holding Hall at gunpoint is laughable because, while the screenplay requires Mike to show emotion, Wahlberg’s attempts to do so are downright laughable.
The movie is ultimately a Wahlberg and Berry showcase, designed to capitalize on their real-life friendship and their not having starred in a film together until now. So the movie takes every chance it can extract from the runtime for Wahlberg to banter in that famous feathery cadence and that familiar Boston accent.
To expect Whalberg to try acting that is not related to physical performance is perhaps too much, but the fact that Wahlberg and Berry’s off-screen chemistry doesn’t translate on-screen is the biggest misfire of this movie. It’s a shame because, barring that, this is a decent knock-off utilizing all the spy genre tropes without resorting to self-referential snarks or using awful visual effects to mask poorly staged action set-pieces. However, it unfortunately renders itself to be a bland and forgettable film, mostly going through the motions.
