A blue-collar construction worker is recruited by a secret spy organization in this film co-starring Jackie Earle Haley and J.K. Simmons.

Much like fast-food chains make sure their menu items have just the right amount of sugar, salt and fat to make their products addictive, Netflix delivers action movies that feel as if they were created in a lab.

Wahlberg plays to his (shirtless) strengths as Mike, who only deviates from the actor’s usual working-class persona in that he’s a Jersey boy rather than a Southie. A construction worker (natch), he’s the sort of blue-collar, regular guy who throws back beers with his buddies at the local tavern and sleeps with his former 7th-grade English teacher (Dana Delany, sadly underutilized). Needless to say, Bruce Springsteen songs accompany him on the soundtrack.

Mike wakes up in London, at the Savoy Hotel of all places, where he’s informed by Roxanne and her boss Brennan (J.K. Simmons, exuding wryness as only he can) that he’s been brought there to join their secret spy organization (see the film’s title for its name). Their special mission is to retrieve a MacGuffin, I mean classified data, that’s fallen into the wrong hands after a failed mission involving one of the organization’s agents (Mike Colter). It seems that they need “a nobody, someone with no history,” since apparently every other U.S. intelligence operative’s identity has been compromised. Mike, like the film’s viewers, will just have to go with it.

After meeting the other members of the team, including medical expert Athena (Alice Lee), combat specialist Frank (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, reuniting with Simmons after Oz), and tech whiz Foreman (Jackie Earle Haley), Mike takes part in the obligatory training montage. This one differs from most in that his exercises seem to take place in only the most prominent London locations, with at one least notable landmark, such as the Tower Bridge, seen in the background at all times. For a supposedly secret organization that’s headquartered in the prominent BT Tower, the Union doesn’t exactly court anonymity.

Mike quickly fits in with the team members who make sure their missions are peppered with amusing wisecracks. In his first venture with them, he makes a few mistakes — including somehow winding up onstage during a West End performance of Matilda: The Musical — but he sufficiently demonstrates his secret agent bona fides to embark on a mission with Roxanne during which old romantic sparks start to fly. It all leads to a stunt-filled action climax in a gorgeously picturesque seaside village location (actually, Piran, Slovenia, which should enjoy a boost in tourism after this), ably orchestrated by director Julian Farino (Ballers, Entourage).  

The Union proves as entertaining as its Netflix algorithms would have predicted, balancing its impressive star wattage with lavish production values to remind viewers of the value of their monthly subscriptions.