Blacklight (2022)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, February 11

PG-13 Running Time: 104 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Fans of Liam Neeson’s annual slate of action films, pony up - Blacklight is now playing in theaters!

  • I’ll say this: Blacklight is not lacking opinions.

  • There’s a built-in audience for run-of-the-mill conspiracy thriller action movies, and I imagine some will see this as easy to watch and not of much consequence.

NO

  • It may not be of much consequence, but this is a mess of a movie. 4 or 5 subplots, tenuously tied together, with stilted dialogue, overacted performances, and a story riddled with logical gaffes and predictability. Pass.

  • Oh Liam. At this point, you’re heading towards Bruce Willis territory. Only difference? Your movies play theaters. For now.

  • I may have missed something…I have no idea why this is called Blacklight.


OUR REVIEW

Liam Neeson has now reached the Charles Bronson-stage of his career. Churning out formulaic action movies, like others indulge in an addiction they just can’t let go of, Neeson’s latest endeavor is Blacklight. Here, Neeson portrays Travis Block, a special agent with the FBI, who is…and say it with me…thinking it might be about time to retire.

This action/suspense/thriller (notably lacking all of those things) simply throws the doting grandfather into a yarn where he is tasked with saving a rogue undercover agent named Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) who has seemingly gone off the rails. Block is chummy with his boss, Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn, overacting to the hilt), and they discuss life’s many challenges. Among them? Being widowed, not knowing how to tie a tie. They even trim a plant together while Robinson complains about “politically correct politicos” and dismisses his agents in the fields as little more than birds flying into glass windows.

Neeson of course chuckles, as one often does when your boss denigrates your colleagues and entire profession right in front of you.

The film starts off with a young Latinx politician, Sofia Flores (Mel Jarnson), with a particular look and cadence to another current young female Latinx politician, getting mowed over by a van and murdered after a rousing speech to her supporters. This leads us into a conspiracy caper which draws in journalist Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman) to pursue some curious details around the attack. Crane was also a supporter of Flores, and had even fallen for her, and so now, with her death, he wants out - tossing back pills like candy and swigging whatever hooch he can grab. 

Written by Nick May, Brandon Reavis, and director Mark Williams, Blacklight has no sense of direction. The film is saddled with several tenuous subplots and ill-fitting political commentary that serves no purpose to anything happening on screen. For much of the film’s first half, Neeson is tasked with running down, chasing and fighting Crane and Williams simply cannot find a way to make their chase sequences convincing. Additionally, the film’s lack of interesting storytelling, and some basic fundamental gaffes in logic, makes these problems stand out even more.

Neeson portrays the exact same character we have seen in every last one of these action films he has churned out for over a decade or so. Around him, stilted, wooden acting performances dampen everything down to TV movie-like quality. There are however a couple of chase scenes, with some explosions and cars clanging around through the air and crunched up impressively.

And this is also a movie which creates a massive conspiracy plot, and drills down to one ringleader and two assassins. The assassins are so skilled that Neeson can stand behind an iron gate, they can fire off multiple rounds and clang all of them off the crossbeams, somehow missing him completely. 

Scenes where Neeson bonds with his daughter (Claire van der Boom) and granddaughter (Gabriella Sengos) are as generic and bland as ever. Grandpa, it seems, is the type of guy who is overly protective of his family. You know…the kind of guy who teaches his granddaughter how to do security checks around the house, entertains the idea of giving her a firearm at 10 years old, and offers advice on how to protect herself and her family, much to his daughter’s chagrin.

And that introduces another subplot into the mix, which essentially goes exactly as we expect it to go.

As the twists and turns, so easily predicted, appear before us, Blacklight just flickers with fits and starts of anything remotely compelling. Williams can direct a fairly decent action sequence where things go bang and explode. But even with a game and willing Neeson trying to maintain his action hero bravado, Blacklight generates next to no illumination.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Taylor John Smith, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Claire van der Boom, Yael Stone, Andrew Shaw, Zac Lemons, Gabriella Sangos, Tim Draxl, Georgia Flood, Caroline Brazier, Mel Jarnson, Sunny S. Walia

Director: Mark Williams
Written by: Nick May, Mark Williams (screenplay); Nick May, Brandon Reavis (story)
Release Date: February 11, 2022
Open Road Films/Briarcliffe Entertainment