The Union (2024)

The-Union-(2024)
The Union (2024)

Launching into this second film “The Union” Directed by Julian Farino, we find Mark Wahlberg playing Mike, a construction worker who, although quite forgettable and not much to attract attention, seems to have a lot going for him, blending easily into the whole working-class culture, with bars, working women, who in this case happen to be his seventh-grade teacher, lots of friends and simplicity just the way he wants it. This seems to be normal until his former animal of a maiden, Roxanne, played by Halle Barry, comes back into the picture after 20 or so years. But instead of exhilaration, it is definitely a turned ‘greet cute meets intelligence thriller’ in broad daylight’ moment, one for the soft spot in your day.

The movie follows concern over the breach of personal details worldwide due to an activated, sophisticated hacker. Extreme details such as social security numbers and locations as well as employment locations, for virtually every Western nation, be it policeman or army personnel, have filtered through. One of the bosses of this operation, agent Roxanne alongside her no-nonsense supervisor Tom are the two in charge of intercepting the hack before it is used for other means. Appropriately, the other leads Mike Johnson aka the Union are basically covert, intra-government CIA-like operatives. In a nutshell, Roxy provides at least one very special characteristic fostering their drive: everyone wants an ordinary person for kidnapping so as not to appeal any suspicion. The Union is a pretty weak precedent with 09 and the following unsatisfactory film.

There are no actions that help drive the goals of the characters. We choose to ignore that Mike would have any interest in undertaking this life-and-death procedure for which he has no real knowledge and skill which can only be due to nostalgia of the romantic in him and perhaps a bit of patriotic infatuation (the latter is rather accurate but it is more created for the social tendencies of Wahlberg than anything in the actual script). It appears that the plot is the main purpose of the movie but everything else that pertains to character arcs and the development of this illicit underworld is almost forgotten.

As for “The Union”, everything has been seen before. Wahlberg has no problem resting and slouching into his stereotypical typecast: the slacker with a swagger and a head full of funny ideas and barely any desire to take things seriously. Berry still carries herself as a badass with action heroine potential (recently seen in the third part of the John Wick franchise) but not even her best efforts can patch up the substandard screenplay of the film. “The Union” works in a pretty defined structure and it lurches from one bullet point to another out of sheer boredom and lack of imagination. The two leads have no chemistry, and with the will-they-won’t-they-all reasonable gravitas has its boiler turned off, so does the film.

The film “The Union” is a clumsy and complicated pamphlet that switches tones abruptly because it fails to succeed at both sides of its action-comedy genre.

The action is quite dull with the same few signature set pieces that quicken the pace but still do not manage to put anything good on screen. Replays of all the exposition and unambitious attempts at world-building mangle the pacing of the movie, which even at a duration of one hundred and five minutes becomes a slog.

The film’s ineffective comedy is particularly crud maybe eliciting semi-indignant smirks or exasperated chuckles while failing to deliver laughter that is genuine and inspired. Most of the jokes don’t land at all; they speak of energetic whoopee cushions barely half-inflated, and you can’t help but notice that the movie seemed to be based directly around slapstick and other easy forms of humor. The Union is not horrible but it is also not interesting as there is absolutely nothing special about it. A film that doesn’t appear to be able to elicit interest through any method at its disposal, including a script with little appeal and an unattractive load of star power embedded in it.

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