Color us surprised when one of the most anticipated movies for us was an romantic action movie starring Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg. Recently, it’s been sequel after remake when it comes to Hollywood. And besides a couple gems that seem out of pocket but intriguing like Red One (who apparently also has J.K. Simmons in a similar kind of situation but with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans) and an Under Paris (the underdog that you should watch before the Paris Olympics), it’s kind of been boring out there. And then Netflix’s The Union stepped into the picture.
Previously titled Our Man from Jersey, this upcoming American spy action movie thriller is the definition of cookie cutter. Basically an unlikely hero is thrust into a super secret and action-packed world where he or she is the only hope. Usually he. That’s what The Union is about with Berry being the bad*ss ex-girlfriend of the “down to earth” construction worker from Jersey played by Wahlberg. When Roxanne seems to reconnect with him one night at a bar, Mike doesn’t think anything of it. That all changes when she knocks him out and he wakes up in London.
Personally I love romantic action movies. It started with Romancing the Stone and went to Miss Congeniality and The Lost City. (Yes, those are two Sandra Bullock movies right there. She knows what she’s doing.) These romantic action movies give me the bits that I like about romance aka people finding a deep and meaningful connection with each other that they want to face the world together. And it smashes it together with what I like about action movies aka skilled women taking bad guys down while looking cool. That’s what The Union is and why I was intrigued when I read the synopsis. But I was absolutely sold after seeing Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg interact.
And we’re talking about in the first minute.
In the official trailer they show Berry and Wahlberg just vibing in that bar. Part of it is because she’s trying to recruit him of course. But there is an ease in the way that they look at each other and carry themselves that lasts the rest of the trailer. And it makes me think back to this Extra TV interview that Wahlberg did last year where he talked about his upcoming projects. In the interview he couldn’t stop gushing about Berry. And when the interviewer commented on how all of these compliments he was giving Berry could be applied to him he was quick to dismiss it and say that there is just something wow about Berry when she’s standing there and that haircut with those glasses and the sun shining down on her.
All of this speaks of great chemistry on set for The Union and hopefully that will translate over to our screens when it hits Netflix and just give us something fun and full of romance.
Watch the trailer for The Union below:
The Union is set to hit Netflix on August 16, 2024.
