Blacklight

Blacklight (2022)

3% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 62 reviews and yes, only 3 percent)

Runtime: 108 minutes

Directed by: Mark Williams

Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Taylor John Smith, Claire van der Boom

From: Quite a few production companies... including one in China

Just like a typical Liam Neeson Old Man Action movie-except worse.

I've seen the last few movies in that category and the one which was better than just “fine” was Cold Pursuit, which to my surprise was a remake that copied its original film In Order of Disappearance rather closely; as it was a quirky black comedy it is a polarizing motion picture. Other than that the movies seem rote and safe yet are acceptable. While not as good as Taken at least they weren't dreck like the two Taken sequels. This... it's more like a Taken sequel except not quite as putrid.

After all, Travis Block-yes, that's his name-might as well be Bryan Mills—if Bryan Mills had OCD and a bad relationship with his daughter. OK, the latter part is not too dissimilar from Taken but here the daughter is old enough to have a toddler daughter of her own. The plot is totally unimaginative; get this: the FBI is a corrupt organization that is killing innocent American civilians to maintain power & Block is upset at the actions of the group that he is employed w/ off the books. The inclusion of “millennial speak”, a politician in the opening 10 minutes that was obviously based on AOC and the lead woman being a Black female did not magically make this rote film feel fresh.

I understand that the pandemic hampered this production; it was not as large as originally planned and it had to be done in Australia (which was not always successful at presenting a setting of Washington D.C.). Even then, this was a humdrum slapdash affair which was mostly forgettable. The cast was fine overall yet the story was not and action did not rise about “acceptable”. Block drives a new Dodge Challenger, which is perhaps surprising given his “deep cover” roles he has to take-the only inspired bit of action was a chase done between that and a... garbage truck. Even that was only OK and not as epic as it could have been. If this had been a more “normal” production hopefully the ending would not have been presented as a totally “meh” and cheap-feeling affair.

There are a number of similar-feeling Neeson movies where he plays a similar character and those are more worthy of your time than this movie that you likely will forget soon after you leave the cineplex.