In his best performances, Mark Wahlberg acts as a sort of 21st-century Bruce Willis, combining comic and action chops as a beleaguered regular Joe battling forces above his pay grade, armed with a scowl and ready quip. No matter how idealized and saintly the characterization, Wahlberg always plays a human being pulled into extraordinary situations, not a superhero. “The Union,” directed by Julian Farino for the Netflix streaming service, uses Wahlberg in such a way.
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Wahlberg stars as Mike, a New Jersey construction worker leading a normal, humdrum life. When he attends his high school reunion, hoping to reconnect with his high school girlfriend Roxanne (Halle Berry), Mike gets more than he imagined. Roxanne is an espionage agent, and as Ana de Armas did to Chris Evans in last year’s “Ghosted,” she pulls Mike into her high-octane life. She believes that he’s just the man to help her with a dangerous, jet-setting mission.
Here is the official synopsis:
Mike (Wahlberg) is happy living a simple life as a construction worker in his native New Jersey – until his long-lost high school sweetheart, Roxanne (Berry), shows up with more on her mind than romance. Knowing he’s the right man for the job, she recruits Mike on a dangerous intelligence mission in Europe that thrusts them back together into a world of spies and high-speed car chases, with sparks flying along the way.
“The Union” will premiere on Netflix on August 14.