The Union<\/em> shares enough DNA with 1996\u2019s Mission: Impossible<\/em> that it feels like cloning could\u2019ve been involved. Mark Wahlberg stars as salt-of-the-earth Jersey guy Mike. He works in construction and hasn\u2019t lived anywhere outside Paterson, New Jersey, for his entire life, including high school when he had romance with Roxanne, played by Halle Berry. Decades later, Roxanne shows up at the local bar, seemingly randomly, but she later reveals that she needs his help. She didn\u2019t just disappear after high school; she was recruited to join The Union, a mysterious agency filled with regular-looking people who actually make the world function. The movie\u2019s MacGuffin \u2014 like the NOC list from the inaugural Mission: Impossible <\/em>\u2014 is a stolen list of anyone who has ever worked for Western governments, from the CIA down to the police. Roxanne needs the aid of a regular guy with no affiliation to help get the list back since everyone else\u2019s identity is compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The central premise is more than a little silly, but it never acknowledges its goofiest idea. The Union members are meant to fade into the background, which is believable for its founder, played by J.K. Simmons, or its computer expert, played by Jackie Earle Haley. Yet casting an all-timer of a beauty like Berry as one of these supposedly unmemorable agents could be the movie\u2019s biggest joke, but it never even winks at this. (Its best joke is one at the expense of the Knicks, by the way.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n However silly her casting is, Berry remains great as the action heroine, and she and Wahlberg have pretty sparky chemistry together. Considering that they\u2019ve both been working in Hollywood for decades and are of the same generation, it\u2019s surprising that they haven\u2019t collaborated on screen yet, though some sweet photos in the credits from the \u201890s reveal that they have been in each other\u2019s orbits. Wahlberg is generally stronger in comedic roles than purely serious ones, so The Union<\/em>\u2019s Mike is a solid fit. He gets to have some fun here as an average good guy who is expected to be the Good Guy when he gets pulled into an international plot, complete with the requisite training montage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are some nods at bigger ideas, with The Union<\/em>\u2019s acknowledgement that hardworking regular folk are critical to the world\u2019s continuing existence, but it\u2019s not exactly subtle about this. It\u2019s called The Union<\/em>, for God\u2019s sake, and Simmons\u2019 character explicitly expresses these thoughts in about a dozen different ways in an early speech. It doesn\u2019t trust that its audience will get its very clear \u2014 and not incorrect \u2014 message about the importance of \u201cblue collar versus blue blood\u201d people and the role they play. The script from Joe Barton and David Guggenheim is kind of dumb at points, with lines like, \u201cYour life is in danger. All of our lives are in danger,\u201d earning a \u201cNO SHIT\u201d in my notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For all its efforts to appeal to a very particular demo, it\u2019s difficult to imagine this being your dad\u2019s favorite movie \u2014 or anyone\u2019s really. (For the record, depending on his generation, your dad\u2019s favorite movie is predictably either The Godfather<\/em> or The Shawshank Redemption<\/em>.) It feels engineered to entertain while it\u2019s on your screen and then fade from memory like The Union\u2019s agents should. It\u2019s not good, but it\u2019s good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n C+<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Union” hits Netflix tomorrow<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/union2-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n