Blacklight (2022) Briarcliff/Action-Thriller RT: 108 minutes Rated PG-13 (strong violence, action, language) Director: Mark Williams Screenplay: Nick May and Mark Williams Music: Mark Isham Cinematography: Shelly Johnson Release date: February 11, 2022 (US) Cast: Liam Neeson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Taylor John Smith, Aidan Quinn, Claire van der Boom, Yael Stone, Andrew Shaw, Zac Lemons, Gabrielle Sengos, Tim Draxl, Georgia Flood, Caroline Brazier, Mel Jarnson. Box Office: $9.5M (US)/$15.9M (World)
Rating: **
At 69 (and closing in on 70), it looks like Liam Neeson is this era’s answer to Charles Bronson. He may be up there in years, but he can still kick ass with the best of them thanks to the hard work of editors and fight choreographers. I always enjoyed Bronson’s movies, especially the ones from his Cannon years. Looking back, even the bad ones- e.g. Murphy’s Law, Assassination- were pretty good. I tried to keep that in mind as I watched Blacklight, the latest actioner to feature Liam as a tough guy with special skills that he’ll gladly put to use against anybody foolish enough to cross him. It helped a little, but a bad movie is still a bad movie at the end of the day.
First of all, it should be noted that Blacklight is more like one of those paranoid thrillers from the 70s that a traditional action flick. You know, the ones where the hero becomes unhinged as he tries to prove the existence of a conspiracy. The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor are the first titles that come to mind. Liam plays that guy here. His character Travis Block is an off-the-books government operative working directly for FBI head Gabriel Robinson (Quinn, Legends of the Fall). His job is to save undercover agents from themselves when they get in too deep on a case. He’s been at it for 20 years and it’s taken its toll. He’s seriously OCD and paranoid to the point where his daughter (Boom, The Square) doesn’t trust him around his own granddaughter (Sengos). Would you trust a grandfather that gives a little kid a taser as a birthday present? Neither would I.
The movie opens at a political rally where a young, energetic, female Congressional candidate (obviously modeled after Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez) works the crowd like a pro. They love her ideas about how to fix the government. Not everybody shares her progressive views. Hours later, she’s the victim of a fatal hit and run as she exits her Uber. It was staged, of course.
So where does Block fit in? He’s sent to retrieve an agent, Dusty Crane (Smith, Sharp Objects), who appears to be losing it. He was somehow involved in the murder and feels guilty about it. Block is supposed to bring him in, that’s it. Dusty has other ideas. Namely, he wants to spill his guts to on-line news reporter Mira Jones (Lampman, The Umbrella Academy) about a shady government op called “Operation Unity”. Naturally, he’s taken out before he can talk.
Before his untimely death, Dusty plants the seeds of doubt in Block’s mind. Something sinister is going on and people need to know. Already on shaky ground psychologically speaking, Block really starts to unravel as he tries to get to the truth. He realizes he must be close when his family mysteriously vanishes without a trace. Could his longtime pal Robinson be behind it? What do you think? Three guesses and the first two don’t count.
Block isn’t the only one looking for answers. Mira, motivated in equal parts by altruism and career advancement, wants to get the story out there. Her editor (Draxl, A Place to Call Home) says she doesn’t have enough. Block warns her of dire consequences if she persists in her efforts. Like all good movie journalists, giving up is not in her nature.
Directed by Mark Williams (Honest Thief), Blacklight is rather short on action and long on scenes of Liam running around in an agitated state. That’s not to say Blacklight has no action. It does. It gives us the usual shoot-outs and car chases, but they’re perfunctory. There’s much movement, but very little life. When he’s not trying to preserve democracy, Block tries to fix things with his daughter so he can spend time with his only grandchild. Ironically, it’s the one thing the “fixer” can’t fix easily.
Liam can play this sort of role in his sleep and seems to do just that in Blacklight. Sure, he has a few more mental health issues than the average action hero, but Travis Block isn’t too different from Bryan Mills, the beleaguered ex-CIA agent from the Taken movies. Quinn’s a decent actor, but his villainous character here is utterly forgettable. Smith is the living embodiment of a Ken doll, handsome but plastic through and through. Lampman is okay as the young journalist, but the screenplay does her a great disservice by never putting her in direct danger. Where’s the scene of the gun-toting government goons going after her?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out this great big plot hole. Well, maybe not so great big, but it’s big. We never get an adequate explanation as to why Robinson wanted the politician dead. He makes speeches about J. Edgar Hoover and preserving the American way, but his end game remains vague. Did he see the politician as a threat to America? It’s a pretty big screw-up.
I wouldn’t say Blacklight is terrible, but it’s a long way from good. Calling it okay feels like a bit of a stretch, but I’ll go with it. It’s watchable, but only barely. Look at it this way, Liam’s fans will probably still be watching it 30 years from now much like Charles Bronson’s fans with his lesser titles. Is that such a bad thing?
