Movie review - Blacklight

Blacklight ** (out of 5) (PG-13) Liam Neeson has enjoyed an unusual career arc. The distinguished actor wasn’t considered an action hero until he unleashed his now-famous “particular set of skills” on the bad dudes what snatched his daughter in Taken. At the time, he was 60 - an age when actors not named Bronson, Willis or Eastwood begin slowing down, rather than ramping up the adrenaline levels in their script selections. Unfortunately, this outing fails to land in his lengthy plus column.

In the string of Taken flicks and others, his motivation was personal and familial. Some comedian remarked that after three Taken adventures, his character may not be a hero - just a really negligent dad. This time Neeson strays into clandestine political misdeeds in a vehicle that’s as poorly timed as it was written.

Leeson’s Travis Block spent his career working directly for the head of the FBI (Aidan Quinn), primarily deployed to rescue undercover operatives when their covers are blown, or they otherwise require emergency extraction. He’s been a loyal soldier, completely devoid of curiosity about the reasons (or morality) behind his orders. But when one young agent (Taylor John Smith) decides to become a whistle-blower due to what he considers egregious, illegal orders from on high, Quinn assigns Neeson to rein him in. He also sends a couple of others to knock the kid off, if need be. Smith’s efforts to reach a journalist (Emmy Raver-Lampman) with his story do not turn out as hoped.

Neeson is torn between a lifetime of by-the-book obedience and a growing, gnawing feeling that Smith may have been right. And thus the game is afoot. It’s just not very compelling to watch. The main action mixes awkwardly with the switches to Neeson’s fumbling efforts to become a better grandpa to an adorable tyke, than he apparently had been as a husband, or father to his embittered daughter. That’s further complicated by questions about his own mental health, and how it may be affecting those relationships. The two plotlines do not mesh convincingly.

The tale’s energy is also drained by a surfeit of dialog about morality, transparency, abuses of power, etc. and a shortage of the action stuff. The underlying pattern of conduct that shapes these conflicts of positions and goals seems at risk of being elevated into a quasi-documentary by anti-government paranoids of every stripe. As if any of them need even more fuel for their disinformation machinery these days.

There are a few solid scenes for Neeson’s fans to enjoy, but not enough between them to make the ticket for this vehicle a priority.

(In theaters 2/11/22)