At one point in Liam Neeson 's very recent film , Blacklight , our hero, a stoic FBI agent, informs another character that the Bureau is involved in a covert program to assassinate civilians (regardless of why). " It's nonsense ," he replies. In effect. But I'll tell you what's really twisted: it takes almost 70 minutes into this endless film for Neeson to enter his gigantic apartment safe with all his weapons. Like, what are we doing here?
Neeson stars as Travis Block, a secret agent who does unofficial work for the FBI, usually at the behest of touchy Director Robinson ( Aidan Quinn , who is presumably doing a favor for his former co-star Michael Collins ). When Block discovers that one of his former undercover charges ( Taylor John Smith ) has uncovered evidence that Robinson is leading a scheme to murder civilians, he teams up with fearless reporter Mira Jones ( Emily Raver -Lampman) to expose the situation and hopefully explain why this underground conspiracy apparently involves two henchmen and no one else (other than the fact that this is a COVID shoot). Oh, and there's also the usual Neeson movie stuff about trying to pick up the pieces with his family.
CopyComic of a Career.
Overall, Blacklight is a surprisingly boring movie , and that's when it's not just a carbon copy of all of Neeson's other thrillers. From the generic staging, there is n't a single striking image , clever dialogue, or thought-provoking little action gimmick. In fact, there's virtually no action except for the final shootout. Worse, although it opens with the assassination of a politician and spends a lot of time talking about the secret murders of the evil Operation Unity program , the film doesn't bother to explain why and in what way. purpose such a program exists, let alone the political consequences of such a thing.
Writer-producer-director Mark Williams , who also last year helmed Neeson 's most acceptable film , The Good Criminal , seems to have completely abdicated responsibility for making decisions here. Everything is presented in the same cool, digital grey/blue, every scene is a simple reverse shot/shot, every performance is robotic. It cannot be said that Neeson , in particular, works for his wages, in fact this film is so interchangeable with his other films that it is not impossible that it was digitally composited from them.
Blacklight in theaters February 23, 2022.
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