‘The Union’ Review: Should You Watch Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg’s Action Comedy?

The Mark Wahlberg / Halle Berry two-hander action film on Netflix seemed SO inevitable, didn’t it?

With 3 Netflix films in 4 years and 2 more straight-to-streaming films in that time, Mark Wahlberg seems quite comfortable putting himself wherever he can be a star regardless of release strategy (not that there is anything wrong with that). As for Berry, she jumped into the Netflix pool after her directorial debut Bruised was picked up by the streamer following its premiere at TIFF in 2020 and quickly cemented that new relationship with an announcement of 2 more Netflix films in the coming years (though we may never see one of those films, The Mothership, as it was scrapped by Netflix earlier this year).

Wahlberg and Berry both broke out in film in the 90s, both garnered attention from the Oscars, both starred in massive franchise films, and both have kicked a little ass in action films over the past 25 years. In fact, they both are still deep in the action game over the last 5 years with Wahlberg taking on Uncharted, Infinite, & Spenser Confidential and Berry landing herself in the John Wick universe with a prominent role in Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

So like I said up top, didn’t this all seem bound to happen?

Well, it happened and it’s here in the form of The Union, a spy-themed action film co-produced by Wahlberg that centers around our dynamic duo with Berry playing the globe-trotting covert agent Roxanne Hall and Wahlberg playing down-to-earth construction worker who’s never left home Mike McKenna. Former childhood sweethearts in their native Patterson, New Jersey, Roxanne & Mike reunite at a bar in their hometown after decades of silence. While Mike may have believed this was the chance encounter he’d wanted for so long, Roxanne had her sights set on Mike for a higher purpose – to help aid her team of spies, The Union, for a revenge mission across the pond.

With only 2 weeks to convince Mike he’s the man for the job and train him for the high stakes mission to come, Roxanne and her team rush to stop a massive database of all known Western-allied spies falling into the wrong hands after it was stolen in their last mission in Italy, a mission that saw Roxanne’s entire field team and a CIA asset gunned down in front of her. Needing an asset who wouldn’t be found on that list, Roxanne brings in Mike to help be the unknown face that could bring these assailants to justice.

While Wahlberg & Berry will be the ones to make or break the film, The Union is well casted with a deep bench of quality actors from the action genre and beyond featuring fellow award-winner & franchise icon J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Spider-Man) as The Union leader Tom Brennan, Luke Cage himself Mike Colter as agent Nick Faraday, Arrow co-star Jessica De Gouw as Juliet Quinn, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (The Bourne Identity, Suicide Squad) as Frank, and Oscar-nominee Lorraine Braco as Mike’s mother, Lorraine.

Helmed by veteran TV director Julian Farino (Netflix’s Florida Man) on a script from Joe Barton (The Ritual, iBoy) & David Guggenheim (Safe House, The Christmas Chronicles), The Union won’t impress you for its spycraft, character depth, or genuine plausibility, but its star power and moments of impressive action set pieces just might make you forget those deficiencies long enough to pass the at-home/date night threshold.
While their chemistry together as potential romantic partners seems only mildly effective, Wahlberg & Berry have enough individual charm and charisma to make the audience care when the big moments occur.

Considering the film doesn’t make a concerted effort to promote the other team members, it’s crucial that these two stars sell the action partnership, which they do to a certain extent – better than the romantic interest at least. While it may not be a full on buddy cop story or a full on ANY genre for that matter, when the juice gets turned on, Wahlberg & Berry know the beats and play the part like the many times they have before.

The film is at its best in the 3rd act action scenes. If you can buy into the incredulity of Mike going from Construction Worker to Jason Bourne when the heat is on, the rooftop escape, the many shoot-outs thereafter, and the car chase to the last confrontation at the dock finally give us what we needed all along: a focused reason to care with the stars we came to see.

The hardest thing to understand with The Union is what kind of movie they believed they were making. The story feels light on its feet with attempts at leaning into a more action comedy or buddy cop comedy terrority (who hasn’t tried to make the moves on their 7the grade English teacher?), but those moments of levity don’t seem to mesh with the stakes of these operations or serious conversations about racist parents or the majority of the movie that doesn’t want to be even mildly funny. If you don’t know what tone to strike, how do the characters and the actors playing them have a chance? Good thing they stacked the deck with top level talent that can make you feel like you’re in a successful film when its script might not be.

Overall, the creators of The Union may not know what genre it is or what its characters motivations are or even why The Union is a “blue collar” spy unit, but they do know that Wahlberg & Berry are stars; Stars that can do as much with a smile as they can with a punch. The final act and the action set pieces within buoy a more mixed early going, and the decorated, veteran cast will largely satisfy the appetites of the Netflix weekend movie night crowd. Don’t expect a new franchise, and don’t expect a strong spy story; just let Wahlberg & Berry get you to the action you came to see.

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Watch The Union If You Like

• The Family Plan
• Spenser Confidential
• Heart of Stone
• John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
• The Out-Laws

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MVP of The Union

The Action in Istria

Once our duo docks in Istria to stop the bad guys from selling out spies all over the world, THAT is where the fun begins.

From the first shot fired to break up the buy to the last shot fired to stop the villain’s escape, the film does its best work with all the players that matter. Motorcycle battles through tight European roads, jumping off roof tops like a Bourne movie, then topping it off with a 5 minute car chase to the standoff at the docks. This is what you came for and your stars did their best to deliver.

Classic mediocre streaming action movie that only feels like more when their big time stars decide to make it happen, which they do just enough to make it a watchable night-in option.