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The Assignment

Where to watch.

Rent The Assignment on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

The Assignment 's premise is bizarrely intriguing; unfortunately, it's also just one of many ingredients fumbled in a disappointing misfire from director Walter Hill.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Walter Hill

Michelle Rodriguez

Frank Kitchen

Sigourney Weaver

Dr. Rachel Kay

Tony Shalhoub

Dr. Ralph Galen

Caitlin Gerard

Anthony LaPaglia

Honest John Hartunian

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The Assignment (2016)

The Assignment (2016) (Film)

This film provides examples of:

  • Asshole Victim : Everybody who Frank murders (except for maybe Sebastian, but even he's a jerk who threw away the money that his sister provided to pay his debt) are criminals whom he notes no one will miss.
  • Attempted Rape : Post sex reassignment, Frank is nearly raped by the sleazy owner of the hotel that he was put in. Frank overpowers and beats up the guy, then flees the premises.
  • Attractive Bent-Gender : Post unwilling sex reassignment, Frank appears in a very attractive female form (played by Michelle Rodriguez in both cases, though the first in makeup obviously).
  • Big Bad : Dr. Rachel Jane, the main villain of the film, who's a mad doctor .
  • Big "NO!" : Frank yells this after seeing he's been made physically female.
  • Body Horror : Being made physically female serves as this for Frank, especially at first.
  • Bond Villain Stupidity : Dr. Rachel Jane, instead of killing Frank (possibly after extended surgical torture) subjects him to an involuntary sex reassignment and leaves him alive that way, with ample ability to track her down. Later, when her mooks catch him, they also didn't search him at all it seems since they miss his hidden gun which he uses to shoot them after waking up.
  • Crosscast Role : Michelle Rodriguez plays Frank, a male hitman (by means of a fake beard and some prosthetics initially) who's subjected to an Easy Sex Change by a Mad Doctor who wanted revenge on him because he had killed her brother. For the rest of the film, he looks like Rodriguez normally does (obviously the reason for this).
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check : If Jane could perform an Easy Sex Change that could make you look like Michelle Rodriguez , she should have been able to make enough money to buy whatever revenge she wanted. It's possible however that marketing her techniques would expose that it had been perfected by running an underground clinic where she experimented on homeless people (she's a Mad Doctor , after all).
  • Easy Sex Change : It's unclear just how long, but within very little time Jane performs a full set of sex reassignment surgeries on Frank, altering his cheeks, throat, nose and genitals. This isn't possible, willing or not, as he'd need time for recovery from each one. There's no indication that he was held very long however. Of course, since he's played by Michelle Rodriguez , he comes out with her appearance (which is also implausible).
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones : Dr. Rachel Jane is coldly indifferent to most people, and views them as simply test subjects. However, she still feels something for her brother, and sought out the hitman who killed him in revenge. That hitman in question, Frank, is also an example. He has a girlfriend he's obviously fond of, and takes care of a pit bull who'd been forced to fight. Additionally, he's got some close Latino friends.
  • Evil vs. Evil : Frank is a hitman who freely admits he's bad and has killed many people. Dr. Rachel Jane, his nemesis, is a mad doctor who experimented on homeless people for medical research, and subjects him to involuntary sex reassignment for revenge when Frank kills her brother.
  • Fan Disservice : Michelle Rodriguez as Frank shows full frontal nudity. However, as it's after he had been heavily bandaged and underwent extensive surgery, along with them being entirely unwilling procedures which freak him out, this is far less sexy than might be the case otherwise.
  • Fanservice Extra : Near the beginning, Sebastian has a sex worker over in very revealing clothes. Frank's girlfriend Johnnie also appears briefly topless, and he interrupts one of his targets having sex with a naked Asian woman.
  • Fingore : In the very last scene, it's revealed that Frank cut off Jane's fingers after shooting her (presumably so she couldn't do surgery ever again).
  • Frame-Up : After shooting Jane's mooks , Frank makes it appear like her assistant killed them before being shot himself by putting the murder weapon into his hand. The police buy this, and don't believe her that he did it.
  • Gender Bender Angst : Frank is very unhappy he was subjected to a forced sex reassignment, and even looks into a surgery that could at least somewhat undo this. However, he settles for vengeance against the mad doctor who did this instead as he's told it would never be the same.
  • Gender Bender : Frank gets a full sex reassignment via magic plastic surgery , and the result is him then going from physically male to looking like Michelle Rodriguez (who played him in both cases).
  • Get Out! : Frank yells this to one of his allies.
  • Guns Akimbo : Frank wields guns in both hands multiple times during the film.
  • Hitman with a Heart : Frank is shown to have a soft side. He's got some good friends, loves dogs (adopting one who'd been used for fighting) and displays genuine affection for his girlfriend.
  • Hollywood Law : Dr. Rachel Jane is said to have been ruled incompetent to stand trial, so she's put into a mental institution instead, where a psychiatrist evaluates her to see if she's become competent (he decides she's not after attacking him). We see no indication she would be incompetent though, which simply means that they are able to understand the proceedings and aid in their defense. Jane is quite intelligent, so there's every indication she could do both of those things. Being ruled incompetent usually requires that a defendant be severely mentally impaired from disability, a mental illness, brain damage or senility.
  • Hoist by Their Own Petard : After his unwanted sex reassignment, Frank gets back at Dr. Jane by mutilating her hands so she could never operate again .
  • If It's You, It's Okay : After Frank's unwilling sex reassignment surgery, his girlfriend Johnnie has no problem continuing their relationship, suggesting this.
  • The Loins Sleep Tonight : After his involuntary surgery, Frank tries to have sex with his girlfriend (having been made physically female). However, he isn't able to feel anything, and consults a doctor who tells him sensation won't come back for around six months.
  • Mad Doctor : Dr. Rachel Jane is an arrogant though highly skilled surgeon with delusions of grandeur who's been stripped of her license for illegal experiments. After that, she operates illegally in an underground clinic, performing more experiments on homeless people for what she claims is advancing medical knowledge. However, when a hitman murders her brother, she subjects him to a sex reassignment both to punish and change him (supposedly) for the better. After he kills most of her employees, plus shooting her, in revenge, she's found out by the police and sent to a mental institution.
  • Magic Plastic Surgery : Frank ( Michelle Rodriguez heavily made up to look male) becomes a female version of himself physically (Rodriguez as herself) after undergoing involuntary sex reassignment surgeries. This would in reality require long recovery time between each procedure and have visible scarring (the mad doctor who did it was just that good ).
  • Male Frontal Nudity : Early on Frank shows this stepping out of the shower, perhaps to emphasize his appearance before he's given an unwilling sex reassignment.
  • Man, I Feel Like a Woman : Frank feels up his new breasts after realizing what's happened, while looking at himself in the mirror. He seems more repelled than anything however.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate : Dr. Rachel Jane was a surgeon whose unethical and illegal experiments meant she lost her license. This didn't stop her though-she just went underground with them. However, this is contrasted with normal psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Gales who's assessing her and considers what she did completely wrong and notes she betrayed her oath as a physician.
  • The Needs of the Many : Dr. Rachel Jane says her experiments on homeless people were for this, to advance medical knowledge which would benefit millions. Their lives, in comparison, meant nothing to her.
  • Pet the Dog : Literally when Frank kills a Russian dog fighter and adopts the pooch, due to having a soft spot for dogs. And again when he learns Johnnie's partly responsible for what happened to him, but is too in love with her to execute her, so he sends her off to Reno for safety and possibly a new life.
  • Professional Killer : Frank Kitchen is a hitman, and the plot is sparked by him murdering Dr. Rachel Jane's brother over an unpaid debt he owed to criminals.
  • Revenge : Dr. Rachel Jane wants revenge on Frank, the hitman who murdered her brother. So she gets a crime lord to kidnap him, then performs a sex reassignment (partly to "help" him in her view). He's horrified, then seeks revenge on her in turn, along with employees of the gangster who helped kidnap him for Jane, then them and also her mooks .
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge : After learning what was done to him, Frank goes after the criminal employees of gangster "Honest John" who helped Dr. Jane to do this, killing them off before he gets John himself, then Jane and her mooks after this. Jane survives, but is left stuck in a mental institution with no fingers, courtesy of Frank cutting them off.
  • Tomboyish Name : Johnnie, Frank's girlfriend. It's unclear if this is short for anything. Aside from this however she isn't a tomboy at all in her appearance or actions.
  • Understanding Boyfriend : Johnnie takes it to extreme heights, as she's completely unperturbed by Frank's new appearance, and has no questions or comments beyond noting how different he looks when she first sees him post sex reassignment. She stays with him afterward, completely accepting, without hesitation. It also seems she's entirely aware that he's a hitman, and doesn't mind at all. Then it's revealed that she was the one to set him up for the surgery in the first place at the behest of Dr. Jane, whom she'd been working for the whole time getting her the drugs for her experiments, and stayed around him to keep an eye on him.
  • Understatement : Frank's girlfriend notes that he looks different after his involuntary sex reassignment, but makes no further comment. This is putting it very mildly. It's a wonder she recognized him. Before he had a beard and larger nose, as the most obvious examples.
  • Villain Protagonist : Frank admits right in the opening voiceover monologue that he's a bad guy, and has probably deserved even more than what was done to him after he killed so many people. However, he isn't completely bad, and is seeking revenge on people that are on his level or even worse than him.
  • Bullet to the Head
  • Creator/Walter Hill
  • Assassin's Creed (2016)
  • Films of 2015–2019
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The Assignment

Where to watch

The assignment.

Directed by Walter Hill

A revenger's tale.

Ace assassin Frank Kitchen is double crossed by gangsters and falls into the hands of rogue surgeon known as The Doctor who turns him into a woman. The hitman, now a hitwoman, sets out for revenge, aided by a nurse named Johnnie who also has secrets.

Michelle Rodriguez Sigourney Weaver Tony Shalhoub Caitlin Gerard Anthony LaPaglia Paul McGillion Ken Kirzinger Paul Lazenby Zak Santiago Adrian Hough Alex Zahara Chad Riley Jason Asuncion Darryl Quon Hugo Ateo Sergio Osuna Terry Chen Lauro David Chartrand-DelValle Caroline Chan Lia Lam Eltie Pearce

Director Director

Walter Hill

Producers Producers

Michel Merkt Saïd Ben Saïd Todd Giroux John Lind Sarah Borch-Jacobsen Kevin Chneiweiss Alexia S. Droz Suzan Derkson Harvey Kahn

Writers Writers

Walter Hill Denis Hamill

Story Story

Denis Hamill Walter Hill

Casting Casting

Sheila Jaffe Candice Elzinga Sandra Couldwell

Editor Editor

Phil Norden

Cinematography Cinematography

James Liston

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

John Lind Annabelle Wilczur

Lighting Lighting

James M. Jackson Cameron Root Jason Weir

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Bruce Borland Dale H. Jahraus

Production Design Production Design

Set decoration set decoration.

A. Blair Stevens Meredith Garstin

Special Effects Special Effects

Visual effects visual effects.

Kris Wood Geena Renk Jess Brown Brent Boulet

Stunts Stunts

Melissa R. Stubbs Paul Lazenby Jason Asuncion

Composers Composers

Raney Shockne Giorgio Moroder

Sound Sound

Bill Mellow James Fonnyadt Daniel Cardona Bryson Dodwell Kelly Cole

Costume Design Costume Design

Ellen Anderson

Makeup Makeup

Courtney Frey Joel Echallier Agnieszka Echallier

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Jessica Rain

SBS Productions

Canada France USA

Releases by Date

11 sep 2016, 08 jun 2016, 27 apr 2017, 19 oct 2017, 23 nov 2017, 03 mar 2016, 23 mar 2017, 02 may 2017, 07 jun 2017, 06 jan 2018, 03 apr 2016, releases by country.

  • Premiere Toronto International Film Festival
  • Digital R15+
  • Theatrical M/16

South Korea

  • Theatrical 18
  • Digital 16 DVD & Bluray
  • Physical 15 DVD
  • Digital R internet

95 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Sally Jane Black

Review by Sally Jane Black 12

CW: HRT/transition-related surgery

We are not born into the wrong body. We are born into the wrong society.

As I take hormones to alter my body, I am not gaining a new body. My body is naturally reacting to the estrogen and testosterone-suppressors I am putting into it. It's still the same body I have always had. It's a different shape. It's softer. But it's the same body I have had for 35 years. When I get the surgery I need, I will not be losing my body, either. This is the right body for me. My transformation is merely one of presentation. It is no more radical than any other bodily changes a person undergoes.

We are not born…

Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★½ 10

Action! - The Unlikely Rumble: Hill v Hyams

So we end the first half of our combat with Hill returning to the vengeance genre, bringing his Western sensibilities to a picture where guns and retribution are the order of the day.

Michelle Rodriguez is great in this role, while her first appearance as a "man" was laughably poor. The beard and everything looked terribly fake, and it was even funnier that she was acknowledged twice in the closing credits. Now, having said that, when the wicked revengeful doctor, nicely played by Weaver, completed the "sex change" on Michelle's character Frank, Rodriguez did an great job modulating her voice and making it more rougher, and even as she leaned over and…

nathaxnne [hiatus <3]

Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★½ 11

100% Ray Blanchard's fault Signourney Weaver has to be out here force-femming mob hit men into Michelle Rodriguez to obtain cast-iron proof that gender dysphoria is an innate condition irreducible to paraphilia in the year of our lord 2016, an obvious fact known to science in the 19th Century and then violently memory-holed as needed by whatever variety of fascist forgetting this was expedient for ever since. If nothing else, The Assignment might be useful to watch with clueless boomer (grand)parents in order to get them to think constructively about the experience of gender dysphoria??? U could tell them before sitting down to watch that there was a reason u checked Girlfight out of Blockbuster so many times and that…

Filipe Furtado

Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★½

So cheap, so in love with its own lurid pulp. It is as unplausible as its underworld, which is part of what so pleasurable about it. That cheapstake vile movie atmosphere is the movie, pure surface ugliness that never suggests the real thing, but just drown in its own texture. The kind of preposterous film with a mad doctor quoting Shakespeare and Poe for added gravitas that everyone treats for the bullshit it actually is. Rodriguez's Frank Kitchen is so good at what he does, The Assignment is never an actual an action movie, what it does purpose is a double narrative crashing on itself (Hill's usual hunter/hunted motif taking to an unique lurid extreme), the idea of identity becoming…

matt lynch

Review by matt lynch ★★★

Hill comes right out and says that this should stand on style alone...it doesn't (and yikes some of those animated transitions are dire), but his (somewhat clueless, but still) insistence on keeping this a pulpy shock noir is kinda admirable.

Dawson Joyce

Review by Dawson Joyce ★

With a premise this risky, unique, and thought-provoking and a more than capable cast and crew onboard, it is such a shame to see The Assignment come out not an enjoyably trashy piece of exploitation fun but instead a brutally boring, utterly lifeless mess of a film lacking in both strong characterization and entertaining action, and the fact that this was a passion project of director Walter Hill since the 70's makes the joyless and mundane end result even more baffling. Also, this film officially disproves the idiotic to begin with theory that lead star Michelle Rodriguez looks too masculine.

Jesse Snoddon

Review by Jesse Snoddon ★ 2

"It's hard to go back to Frank Kitchen when you look like a chick"

After stupidly named hitman Frank Kitchen (Michelle Rodriguez) takes out Dr. Rachel Kay's (Sigourney Weaver) brother, Kay enacts revenge by having Frank abducted and performing a sex change operation on him against his will. 

As a fan of Walter Hill's movies, it pains me to say this is awful. Without even getting into the more controversial elements (to the film's credit Hill seems to be trying to make the point that we are who we are inside and physically changing someone won't alter that if it's against there will...but Hill is likely not the person to have this conversation and in over his head on that…

comrade_yui

Review by comrade_yui 2

walter hill not being a provocative reactionary dumbass makes this way less exploitative than it actually should be. it's jam-packed with several elements of his previous works, and i can't help but see this as a return to form after his dreadful output since the end of the 90s. it's slick, peppered with punchy dialogue and efficiently constructed in the way that his best films are. at the time this came out, i probably would have despised it just from the premise alone, but at this point it feels really harmless compared to the relatively high toxicity that we get from zahler, snyder and bay. reading interviews with hill and seeing the actual text here, it's clear that this film…

Biscoito18

Review by Biscoito18 ½ 3

I'd never realized how feminine Michelle Rodriguez was until seeing her trying to pass as a biological man.

It's impossible to buy the illusion, not only because she is a very famous actress, but also because the make up is terrible and her silhouette, voice and walk remains the same.

Looks more like a bad comedy sketch (they even gave her a hilarious CGI penis and hairy chest!!!) but the tone is so dead serious that nothing works properly. It's a VERY strange movie with a very strange editing too.

Trying to adjust the tone, they even add some cartoons here and there to give a grindhouse/hq vibe to it, but ends up being another lame aspect in the weak…

Rachel Rhodes

Review by Rachel Rhodes

Shame on you Sigourney 

Why the name change to Tomboy on UK Netflix? Like it don’t make it a good movie

Cinema_Strikes

Review by Cinema_Strikes ★★½ 2

This came out to a lot of kerfluffle - seemingly mostly from people who hadn’t seen the movie - about whether it was offensive in its treatment of trans rights, but hardly seems worth the bother of getting offended. It’s a fairly bog standard pulpy action revenge thriller, and the central issue of Michelle Rodriguez getting forcibly gender swapped doesn’t seem to have any legitimate bearing on trans issues - the character is not a trans person, but someone who had their body altered without their consent (more akin to the Remade in China Mieville’s Bas-Lag series), which seems an entirely different issue, at least to this admittedly ignorant viewer. I’m sure I’m missing plenty of nuance, but honestly this…

Scout Tafoya

Review by Scout Tafoya ★★★½

www.rogerebert.com/mzs/the-unloved-part-47-the-assignment

Hill snapped into place on another level for me when I was watching this and remembered the scene in The Driver where he smashes up that gorgeous orange Mercedes. I watched it with my dad when I was in college and neither of us understood it. Years pass and I'm watching this and I'm thinking about other moments in Hill films where characters try to sort of shed their skin because of Hill's existential body dysmorphia and my brain feeds me the scene and says without hesitation "Well there's that scene in The Driver when O'Neal destroys the car because he can't tear his skin off and reveal the bottomless void in his soul." Like somehow, at some…

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The Assignment streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "The Assignment" streaming on The Roku Channel, Tubi TV for free with ads or buy it as download on Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Apple TV. It is also possible to rent "The Assignment" on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Microsoft Store, Spectrum On Demand online

Ace assassin Frank Kitchen is double crossed by gangsters and falls into the hands of rogue surgeon known as The Doctor who turns him into a woman. The hitman, now a hitwoman, sets out for revenge, aided by a nurse named Johnnie who also has secrets.

Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes

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The Assignment Movie

Editor Amy Renner photo

A hit man seeks revenge after being knocked out and awakening to discover he has been surgically turned into a woman.

Who's Involved:

Michelle Rodriguez, Anthony LaPaglia, Walter Hill, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, Caitlin Gerard

Release Date:

Friday, April 7, 2017 Limited

The Assignment movie image 427349

Plot: What's the story about?

Hitman Frank Kitchen (Michelle Rodriguez) is given a lethal assignment, but after being double-crossed, he discovers he’s not the man he thought he was—he’s been surgically altered and now has the body of a woman. Seeking vengeance, Frank heads for a showdown with the person (Sigourney Weaver) who transformed him, a brilliant surgeon with a chilling agenda of her own.

official plot version from sabanfilms.com

3.21 / 5 stars ( 14 users)

Poll: Will you see The Assignment?

Who stars in The Assignment: Cast List

Michelle Rodriguez

The Fate of the Furious, F10  

Sigourney Weaver

Avatar: Fire and Ash, The Girl in the Park  

Tony Shalhoub

Cars 2, Men in Black II  

Anthony LaPaglia

Annabelle: Creation, Pearl  

Caitlin Gerard

Smiley, Insidious: The Last Key  

Who's making The Assignment: Crew List

A look at the The Assignment behind-the-scenes crew and production team. The film's director Walter Hill last directed Dead For A Dollar and Bullet to the Head . The film's writer Walter Hill last wrote Dead For A Dollar and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? .

Walter Hill

Screenwriter

Saban Films distributor logo

Production Companies

Watch the assignment trailers & videos.

Theatrical Trailer

Theatrical Trailer

Production: what we know about the assignment.

  • Michelle Rodriguez is to play the hitman while Sigourney Weaver is the scalpel-wielding doctor.
  • Based on a story by Denis Hamill.

Filming Timeline

  • 2016 - May : The film was set to Completed  status.
Cameras start rolling November 9, 2015 in Vancouver.

The Assignment Release Date: When was the film released?

The Assignment was a Limited release in 2017 on Friday, April 7, 2017 . There were 18 other movies released on the same date, including Going in Style , Smurfs: The Lost Village and The Case for Christ . As a Limited release, The Assignment will only be shown in select movie theaters across major markets. Please check Fandango and Atom Tickets to see if the film is playing in your area.

The Assignment DVD & Blu-ray Release Date: When was the film released?

The Assignment was released on DVD & Blu-ray on Tuesday, June 6 , 2017 .

The Assignment VOD & Digital: When was the film released digitally?

The Assignment was released across all major streaming and cable platforms on Friday, April 7 , 2017 . Digital rental or purchase allows you to instantly stream and download to watch anywhere and anytime on your favorite devices. Available from various digital retailers including Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play, Apple, Vudu and others.

Q&A Asked about The Assignment

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Also known as

  • Tomboy, A Revenger's Tale

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  • Mon., Jun. 12, 2017 from Amazon
  • added the US Blu-ray release date of June 6, 2017
  • added the US DVD release date of June 6, 2017
  • Sun., Mar. 19, 2017 from Saban Films
  • added Theatrical Trailer to trailers & videos
  • added the US VOD release date of April 7, 2017
  • added a poster to the gallery
  • added photos to the gallery
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  • set the MPAA rating to R for graphic nudity, violence, sexuality, language and drug use
  • added a running time of 95 minutes

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The Assignment

The Assignment (2019)

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Season 1 of The Assignment premiered on April 8, 2019.

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Director Julian Farino ’s “The Union” follows Mike ( Mark Wahlberg ), a construction worker content with his job, dive bar outings with his friends, and sleeping with his former seventh-grade teacher (an awkward joke that remains a punchline over the course of the film’s entirety). When his adolescent flame, Roxanne ( Halle Berry ) returns to the east coast after decades of no contact, what he thinks is a meet cute down memory lane turns into an international intelligence operation. 

Hackers have accessed the personal information of all of the Western world’s government employees, from soldiers to cops and the FBI. Agent Roxanne and her cut-to-the-chase boss Tom (J.K. Simmons) are spearheading the mission to retrieve the hack to prevent it from getting in the wrong hands. Their titular organization, The Union, is a small, highly secretive agency within the government, akin to the operations of the CIA. They’re “an invisible army that keeps the world running,” an agency that looks for street-smart, blue collar individuals who fly under the radar. Kidnapping Mike from New Jersey to London, Roxanne enlists his help for this high-stakes assignment for one sole reason: “He’s a nobody.” It’s a flimsy premise that precedes an equally thin film.

There’s no driving force when it comes to the characters. We suspend disbelief that Mike would be remotely interested in this life-threatening operation for which he has no true technical skills solely out of nostalgic romance and maybe a hint of patriotic duty (the latter of which is not far off but assumed more for Wahlberg’s habitual social sentiments than anything in-script). On paper, the plot seems to be the sole consideration of the film, while character development and world-building this criminal underbelly falls to the wayside. 

Everything about “The Union” is painstakingly familiar. Wahlberg kicks back and lounges comfortably in his habitual role: a laid back, kinda cocky east coaster who juggles punchlines and machismo. Berry, who is fully capable of being a compelling action star, (most recently in the third installment of the John Wick franchise), attempts her best with the film’s shoddy script. “The Union” hits bullet points on its outline with an overwhelming sense of tired obligation and stunted creativity. Its leads have no chemistry and being that their will-they-won’t-they serves as the story’s main attempt at depth, the emotive capabilities of the film sputter and shut down. 

“The Union” delivers tonal whiplash on account of its failure to exceed at either end of its genre attempt at action-comedy. The action is mostly unremarkable, with a few key set pieces that pump the pace, but ultimately neglect to put anything exciting on display. Rebounds of exposition and non-committal world building fudge the film’s flow, making the 105-minute runtime feel like a fight to the finish. 

Its ham-fisted comedic attempts incite semi-indignant smirks and exasperated chuckles rather than genuine, inspired laughter. Most of the jokes hit with the punch of a half-deflated whoopee cushion, and the sneaking feeling that the script was written on the basis of cheap laughs creeps further up your back as the minutes tick on. “The Union” is unspecial and unengaging. It lacks charm and excitement, clutching to simplicity and a lazy script that relies on star power that’s not bright enough to save it.

Peyton Robinson

Peyton Robinson

Peyton Robinson is a freelance film writer based in Chicago, IL. 

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Film Credits

The Union movie poster

The Union (2024)

Rated PG-13

109 minutes

Mark Wahlberg as Mike McKenna

Halle Berry as Roxanne Hall

J.K. Simmons as Tom Brennan

Jackie Earle Haley as Foreman

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Frank Preiffer

Jessica De Gouw as Juliet Quinn

  • David Guggenheim
  • Julian Farino

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  • August 13, 2024 (United Kingdom)
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  1. The Assignment (2016)

    The Assignment: Directed by Walter Hill. With Michelle Rodriguez, Tony Shalhoub, Anthony LaPaglia, Caitlin Gerard. After waking up and discovering that he has undergone gender reassignment surgery, an assassin seeks to find the doctor responsible.

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  26. Atlanta Football Party with Tenitra, Jarvis & Brian: Kirby Smart ...

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