The Union

Thu Union is dumb even by the sliding scale of throwaway action movie standards. A blue collar intelligence organization (which no one has ever heard of) has allowed a list of all the spies in the world (which shouldn't even exist) loose into the world which will be sold at a blind auction to the the highest bidder. To get the list back, and prevent its sale by a privateer (Jessica De Gouw), one of the agents (Halle Berry) of "The Union" chooses to recruit her high school prom date (Mark Wahlberg) who never made it out of New Jersey and lacks both useful experience or a desire to get involved.

Director Julian Farino attempts to keep his two stars on-screen as much as possible to hide the many flaws of the script which includes the existence of the list that none of our heroes attempt to destroy (despite being given multiple opportunities to do so) and, of course, an obvious twist in the inevitable reveal of an ally who is actually responsible for the list being stolen.

Dumb can work in a film if it plays into fun moments on-screen. The Union can't quite manage that as it wants us to take the ridiculous aspects of the script seriously. The film gives Wahlberg's character a crash-course training montage turning him into the Jersey Bond overnight along with some passable, but not memorable, car chases and supporting performances from the likes of J.K. Simmons and Mike Colter.

For those looking for an alternative, check out Knight and Day or The Tourist which, despite their own individual flaws, are more successful in their attempts to sell an alluring individual pulling a normal person into the world of spies attempting to recover a prize. Or, if you are in the mood for a classic, you could always go with North by Northwest.

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• Title: The Union
• IMDb: link