By: Nicola Creedon ‘25 – published in Fall 2024 Issue 1
Released on Aug. 16, 2024, The Union is a comedy-action spy film distributed by Netflix. The film stars Mark Wahlberg as small town construction worker Mike McKenna, and Halle Berry as the highly classified intelligence agent, Roxanne Hall. The two play a pair of highschool sweethearts, long since separated and living near opposite lives. When one day Roxanne returns to their small hometown in Jersey, Mike finds himself unwittingly involved in a real life James Bond film.
Going into the movie, I expected your run-of-the-mill spy flick and while it, in all honesty, was a run-of-the-mill spy flick, this film also surprised me in numerous ways. In the beginning of the film I wasn’t too sure what to think of the chemistry between Wahlberg and Berry, I was worried a forced romance would ruin my experience. However, the romance was anything but forced. The two main characters exude such love and care for one another, while still butting heads and bouncing off of each other perfectly. Ordinarily, I’m not one to be focused on romance when watching a movie, but every once in a while I find a film that, I can admit, would be nothing without its love story.
Aside from the romance, The Union had everything one would expect, a reluctant underdog main character; a spunky training montage; and, of course, a high-speed car chase! Every aspect of this film mixes together into a wonderful array of action, comedy, romance, and thrills that had me on the edge of my seat. While I must admit the green screen effects were laughable at times, it didn’t take away from the charm the rest of the movie portrayed. Even if this movie isn’t something I would find myself rewatching anytime soon, I absolutely encourage everyone to give The Union a chance. Even if you’re not one who usually goes for spy-thrillers, such as myself, this movie was everything I could have hoped for, and I’m certainly glad I chose to watch it for my first movie review of the year!