The Union – An Action Comedy Saved By Chemistry

The Union is Netflix’s latest action comedy centered around Mike McKenna (Wahlberg), a down to earth New Jersey construction worker who still lives at home with his mother Lorraine (Lorraine Bracco) who is thrust into the world of super spies and secret agents when his high school sweetheart Roxanne Hall (Berry), drugs and recruits him on a high-stakes US intelligence mission. Despite being a Netflix original being dumped in the middle of August with little to no fanfare, the film isn’t actually half bad and is actually pretty decent especially given their recent track record with action comedies headlined by big stars like this.

In the end, none of it would have worked whatsoever if not for its two leads who are clearly having a blast onscreen, working together for the first time. It should come as no surprise to say that Wahlberg and Berry have great chemistry, enough to make it easy to buy into both their strained friendship and evolving romance over the course of the film. Their fun performances help keep The Union watchable and reasonably entertaining even in its lowest moments. Meanwhile, the pair are backed up by a terrific supporting cast featuring the likes of Simmons (Tom Brennan), Jackie Earle Haley (Foreman), Mike Colter (Nick Faraday), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Frank Preiffer) even if none of them are really given all that much to do or work with.

The action is a lot better than one would expect as well, and is actually filmed pretty well. There are some good camera movements during the action sequences and its refreshing to actually see everything that’s going on in the full frame of the screen without having to resort to shaky cam or quick cuts to hide anything. While the comedy is hit or miss, there are some genuinely funny moments to be had, mostly courtesy of Wahlberg who desperately needs to make another comedy as he excels in that genre. Ultimately, the film moves along at a breezy pace, and never overstays its welcome with a reasonable runtime of well under 2-hours.

That being said, The Union is hurt by its overall derivative nature. It is basically a hodgepodge of just about every modern day spy thriller that one can think of, and has nothing new to say, show, or offer as it will feel like its running on autopilot for a large part of its runtime.  The script isn’t anything to write home about either, featuring a ton of cliches and tropes that will have audiences shrug or sigh. It is also insanely predictable and you can see every surprise reveal coming from a mile away. Audiences are never given the chance to know much about any of the film’s supporting characters and by the time it finally introduces its central villain, it’s far too late in the game and they leave very little impact. If the filmmakers had given Wahlberg and Berry a more explosive or at least more memorable mission to go on, then the film would have been a lot better and actually might stand out in an already crowded genre but alas.

The Union is a tricky one to talk about because it isn’t a bad film at all, and a lot better than it should be in general, something that its target audience will likely eat up. However, one can’t help but see the potential for a better film somewhere in there, especially with these two stars around every corner. Coming out as watchable and not a complete trainwreck is a win, but it never rises above being just that.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/