Netflix hit “The Union” is a miss
Lawrence Smoot | Published on 9/7/2024
Review by Chris Garlock
The Union is a hit on Netflix, but it’s not really about the labor movement, and it’s a pretty lousy movie, despite starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry. Wahlberg plays Mike, a construction worker in New Jersey, who finds himself thrust into the world of super spies when his high school sweetheart, Roxanne (played by Berry), enlists his help on a high-stakes US intelligence mission for a shadowy group of ex-agency operatives called The Union. It’s a telling sign that a film called The Union doesn’t bother to say whether Mike’s construction job is union or not. J.K. Simmons runs the team and does have a cool class-conscious rationale for its existence: “(We’re the) invisible army that keeps the world running. The people who do the actual work. Street smarts over book smarts. Blue collar, not blue blood. Able to build our cities, keep production lines humming. That's who we are. We get shit done.” Unfortunately that’s about the only nod to labor in the film, which has been getting abysmal viewer reviews, the best of which call it “generic” and “cheesy”. Action fans will be disappointed by the rote gunplay, endless — and pointless — car chases and lame dialogue from movie stars who — like us — deserve better. And the big plot twist involving a traitor in The Union is not only completely unbelievable, but misses an obvious opportunity to take a shot at scabs. Hate to say it, but this is one union you won’t want to join.
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