Union
Netflix
While looking for something to watch on Netflix this weekend, my wife and I decided on The Union, an action spy movie with a dash of comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry.
It wasn't good. The Union felt more mediocre than anything I've seen in a while. Critical and audience reviews were middling to poor and seemed to say the same thing. When I watched the movie, it felt like not just a movie born out of a Netflix algorithm that pairs concepts and actors into a movie people want to watch, but the kind of movie that could be recreated through AI in an age where AI can certainly generate entire movie structures. Just not very good. But then again, The Union is just not very good.
Out of curiosity, I typed the following one-sentence concept into ChatGPT to see how similar the two were: This was the first prompt I typed in, and I didn’t re-run it to get a more similar storyline.
“Create a storyline for a movie about a blue-collar worker who is hired as a spy for a secret non-governmental agency.”
The film they came up with is “The Fixer,” which is described as “a skilled mechanic who is unexpectedly recruited as a spy by a mysterious non-governmental organization. As he navigates the dangerous world of espionage, he must rely on his blue-collar instincts and wits to survive and uncover the truth behind a global conspiracy.”
Given how generic movies are, the AI comes up with near-identical plot points in several examples like these:
“One evening, after closing up shop, Joe receives an unusual visitor: Maya Davis, a sophisticated and mysterious woman who claims to represent a secret non-governmental organization called The Network. She tells Joe that they have been watching him for some time, and that his mechanical skills, sharp mind, and ability to think on their feet make him an ideal candidate for a dangerous mission.”
This is very similar to how Wahlberg gets recruited in the film, with the main difference being that his recruit, Halle Berry, is his ex-girlfriend from decades ago. In the plot of AI, he initially refuses, and in the film, he also refuses before joining. Next:
“Joe gets a crash course in espionage, learning the basics of combat, surveillance and high-tech equipment, but he's no slick James Bond. Instead, he approaches his new role like a mechanic solving problems, using his practical skills and blue-collar intuition.”
Union
Netflix
Again, this is exactly what happens in the film, a montage of Wahlberg learning the ins and outs of being a spy despite having no previous formal training.
“He partners with Maya, who becomes his handler and mentor, and together they uncover a conspiracy involving corrupt international corporations, cyber terrorists, and unscrupulous intelligence agents intent on selling military secrets to the highest bidder.”
That's exactly what happens in the movie: a critical hard drive with the names of every soldier and agent in the United States is stolen, and a literal auction is held to sell it to the highest bidder.
“As Joe delves deeper into the world of espionage, he begins to realize he's just a pawn in a much bigger game. But he soon discovers that the network itself is not as noble as it seems, and their true motives are shrouded in secrecy.”
In fact, the storyline suggests that the coalition is run by corrupt leaders, but that's quickly reversed when a seemingly dead agent turns out to be a traitor among them who orchestrated the scheme. But the calls still come from within.
Union
Netflix
In fact, there are some great developments in AI scripts, such as:
Joe is given a daughter and actually gets involved in the story, rather than “Wahlberg has nothing else to do,” which is the reason he joins the Union in the film. There is a real moral conflict as Joe struggles with whether or not he was right in his decision to put his skills into this somewhat shady organization. Wahlberg would never do that. At the end of the film, Joe actually does leave the network, ultimately deeming it too dangerous for his family, but now he has the money to create a better life for his family. In the film this does not happen, Wahlberg remains with the Union, and the film seems set to be strongly geared towards a sequel.
While I don't believe The Union was actually written by an AI, it is so generic that an AI using a very generic plot for a film like this could recreate a very similar, and in some places even better, version of the story. And clearly, Netflix needs to hold itself to a higher standard when it comes to stuffing a film like this with whatever movie stars it chooses to pack.
Follow me On TwitterYouTube and Instagram.
Check out my sci-fi novels, the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
