The Union may be another one of those globe-hopping, star-driven popcorn action movies Netflix has specialized in of late, but because of a fortuitous star teaming of Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry — two vets of the genre working together for the first time — it really is a cut above and just pure entertainment. Nothing wrong with that, though if this were made by Lionsgate, where both stars have a history, it would be a major late-summer theatrical, rather that being tossed into the streaming pool. Nevertheless, it should find a global audience ready to buy into a premise as old as The Dirty Dozen and The A-Team and one that also just seems like the perfect TV series pilot if it were not for the glittering filmography of the principals involved.
The Union is a kind of underground group that comes in and does the dirty work for the CIA and FBI. Made up not of James Bond types but rather basic, blue-collar folks like construction workers, plumbers, etc. — gritty teams who get down to the nuts and bolts.
As the film starts, we see Roxanne (Berry) in action and on assignment, going for the kill on a mission overseas. Cut to New Jersey, and Mike McKenna (Wahlberg) is hopping out of bed having spent the night with Dana Delany, who, as we later learn in a funny bit, was his 7th grade English teacher. He is a carefree single guy working in construction high up on those skyscrapers.
Into his life suddenly comes Roxanne who was his high school girlfriend 25 years earlier but didn.