Netflix has perfected the art of convincing its subscribers to watch the torrent of star-studded, poorly-made, irony-clad indistinguishable action movies it premieres on its platform every other week. The Union, a movie currently holding a dismal 27% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, somehow making it to the top of the streamer’s most-watched films of the week, per FlixPatrol, is a prime example.
Halle Berry sporting a Storm-inspired hairdo and Mark Wahlberg of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch fame unite in this action-meets-rom-com film about a spy tasking her former high-school boyfriend, who has probably never even held a gun in his life, with retrieving a mega-secret inventory from some bad guys.
Those same viewers who have seemingly contributed to The Union besting the likes of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (which together have made nearly a billion dollars worldwide) have called the film “an insult to [their] intelligence,” a “forgettable run of the mill spy thriller,” and the “most boring and predictable movie of the year.”
To be completely fair, Berry and Wahlberg still hold enough star power to carry a bad movie on their backs and the critics do surprisingly favor the film over the audience’s reception, giving it a slightly higher average rating of 42%. For The Guardian, Adrian Horton praises the lead duo’s star power and the lighthearted agreeableness of the film’s action, while The Hollywood Reporter‘s Frank Scheck compares The Union to a McDonald’s burger — no substance or nutrition whatsoever, but you still won’t mind taking that bite.
While we’re always happy to see Ms. Berry kick some ass, it’s still hard to believe, and a little bit annoying, how Netflix keeps getting away with this. Read We Got This Covered’s review of The Union here.