Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry were the team-up action comedy duo we didn’t know we needed. The Union 2? I mean, why not at this point? The effort and production paid off for the Netflix blockbuster, with the watch hours already showing near-record-breaking promise. As I said in my review, I’d happily have a trilogy.
Does a sequel make sense?
But first, we need to explore the possibility of a sequel to The Union from a story perspective. Did the ending suggest that a second film in a potential trilogy would make sense? The answer is yes.
By the end of the first movie, Wahlberg and Berry’s characters, Roxanne and Mike, enjoy each other’s company at a wedding. It’s getting intimate between them. But before they could give the audience what they wanted, they were interrupted by Tom Brennan (J.K. Simmons), the boss at The Union. Tom welcomes Mike to the agency and expects them both to work for him on a new mission.
The ending itself suggests that there will be an immediate leeway for a new story in the second movie. It could be that time has passed, and we see Roxanne and Mike in full flow in the second movie until a new, more difficult villain appears.
Either way, The Union 2 is not far-fetched, and it appears that plans were already in mind.
Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry kissing is now important
Fans of the movie felt shortchanged. They expected Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry to at least kiss by the end of The Union.
However, one of my praises is that chemistry was achieved without sex, which is a rarity in today’s film and TV. When you delve into it, Wahlberg and Berry should not struggle to create sparks at all despite this being their first film together. They’ve been friends for over thirty years.
However, even director Julian Farino had to address the fact that the two lead characters did not kiss despite their romantic history and sexual chemistry. In an interview with Variety, the director implied that they wanted to hold out on a kiss with three movies in mind:
“We take the relationship to a certain place, and then I think you’ve got to leave a lot of space to go.”
Netflix and the team had multiple movies in mind, predicting the star power of the film’s leads.
The critical response could ruin a sequel confirmation
While Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry’s pull power brings in that golden Netflix watch data, the critical response is not for the faint-hearted.
The Union’s Rotten Tomatoes Scores on 21st August 2024 (Credit – RT)
Often, the Tomatometer is low, and the Popcornmeter is high, suggesting that the critics are at odds with the audience. In this case, the critics are slightly more respectful to The Union than the audience, but they’ve both substantially shelved it.
However, Netflix’s success is born from ignoring the noise, and as What’s on Netflix pointed out, the success of The Union is worth taking seriously:
“Nothing screams more “Success on Netflix” than a buddy action comedy with a pair of recognizable actors, and The Union delivered very big numbers for its first three days, reaching 33.1M CVEs in that interval. This was the second-best launch for any Netflix film released on a Friday in 2024, just behind Damsel.”
That is some high praise statistically, especially alongside Damsel, which still needs a sequel confirmation.
Final thoughts on The Union 2 and its chances
I’d love a sequel. I’m definitely an outlier for this movie, and I think a second bite would be worthwhile. However, I wonder if we’d get The Union 2 soon. The first film was announced in 2020, and I suspect there were delays due to COVID restrictions.
We could wait 2-3 years before enjoying another slice of Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry on our screens.
