Action comedy “The Union” marks the first-ever collaboration between movie superstars Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Mike, a no-nonsense construction worker from New Jersey, finds himself thrust into the world of spies when his ex-high school sweetheart Roxanne hires him for a high-risk mission…for the U.S. Secret Service.
WHO IS IT WITH?
True icons of cinema, Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry had never acted together during their illustrious careers. This is now a reality, via this film directed by Julian Farino – director of episodes for the series Ballers and Entourage in particular (both produced by Wahlberg).
Having become a late-in-life action icon, Halle Berry plays Roxane Hall, a secret agent who is the last survivor of her team after a failed operation. A role tailor-made for the Oscar-winning actress, both in terms of the action scenes (for which she herself does some of the stunts) and the comedy scenes.
Netflix
An actor with largely underestimated comic potential, Mark Wahlberg plays Mike McKenna, a loser who has never set foot outside his native New Jersey. His resourceful character, but also his personality of “Mr. Everyman” are the assets sought by Roxane (his childhood sweetheart) to join her brand new team.
The cast also includes some tasty supporting roles from American cinema. JK Simmons plays Tom Brennan, Roxane’s superior, the former Luke Cage from the Marvel series Mike Colter plays an agent from Halle Berry’s first team, and finally the all too rare Jackie Earle Haley plays an irascible (and inevitably irresistible) foreman.
IS IT WORTH A LOOK?
Who said that movie stars are a thing of the past? Here and there, films prove to us that there are still some talents capable of carrying the weight of a film on their shoulders, and of sublimating an anecdotal film. The Union, the brand new Netflix original production, is the perfect example.
Let’s say it right away: this action comedy doesn’t play on the originality card. Borrowing the codes of the spy film and those of the buddy movie, this feature film brings together two characters who are complete opposites in a fast-paced story punctuated by unsurprising twists and turns.
The chemistry between the two stars shines on the screen
We know exactly what to expect with The Union, and what could have been a flaw turns out to be a quality. This old-school film aspect turns out to be rather comforting, and takes us back to a bygone era of blockbusters whose main goal was to entertain their audience, failing to offer us something truly memorable.
At a time when the content produced by the streaming platform has the primary ambition of offering instant entertainment to subscribers, The Union is a success.
Its main quality is obviously the association of its two main actors, Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg, an unprecedented duo but whose on-screen chemistry is obvious from their first scene together.
Despite their undeniable talent, the two stars take refuge in their comfort zone thanks to roles that are clearly tailor-made. We find ourselves following the film with a certain pleasure, despite the lack of depth of the characters and the absence of real stakes. We almost come to regret that the bucket of popcorn is not provided by Netflix in front of this well-made summer entertainment.
Don’t produce a sequel out of pity!
Better yet, we would almost recommend watching The Union – if we didn’t fear that a success would push Netflix to start working on sequels. We know that it generally doesn’t take much for a nice film to be stretched into a franchise by streaming platforms…
A word also on the action scenes, they are also rather successful. Experienced director, Julian Farino offers a rather convincing show, helped it must be said by the involvement of his actors who sign some of their own stunts. What a pleasure to see a well-paced and well-filmed film, an observation increasingly rare in today’s action cinema.
So we won’t sell The Union beyond what it is: an unoriginal action film, but entertaining nonetheless. The recipe is seen and revised, but works nonetheless thanks to the duo formed by Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry. And it lasts less than two hours, which is necessarily an additional asset for this type of production!
The action comedy The Union is now available exclusively on Netflix.
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