Liam Neeson’s latest action vehicle, Blacklight, is a shoddy pandemic production
The aging star cashes another paycheck with this insultingly slapdash thriller
Film Reviews Liam Neeson
Yes, it’s that time of year again, when Liam Neeson pulls out his particular set of skills and goes to work on bad guys, in order to protect his family or passengers on a plane or whatever. Neeson’s latest vehicle, Blacklight, has him playing Travis Block, a government fixer who extracts deep-undercover agents when things get too hot for them. Rolling around in a souped-up, not-terribly-inconspicuous Dodge Charger, he mainly takes orders from the head of the FBI (Aidan Quinn, looking shockingly like Ted Knight), his buddy and fellow Vietnam vet who keeps a vice-like grip on ol’ dude.
Block would love to retire and spend time with his granddaughter (Gabriella Sengos), mostly to show his daughter (Claire van der Boom) that he can turn off his work life. But, mentally, that’s difficult for him. He also has a serious case of OCD, making his skeptical offspring concerned that his paranoid “quirks” may be rubbing off on her little girl.
Things get more dangerous when Block has to extract an on-the-run agent (Taylor John Smith) out to expose a secret FBI operation that’s apparently all about killing innocent civilians. (We know this because every time someone mentions the operation, it’s immediately followed by, “They’re killing innocent civilians!”) With Block hot on his tail, the agent reaches out to a hungry reporter (Emmy Raver-Lampman), eager to get a scoop that won’t be shut down by her dudebro editor (Tim Draxl). Little do they all know there’s a pair of killers (Zac Lemons and Andrew Shaw) with orders to wipe out whoever gets too close to the truth—and that includes Block.
Filmed during the pandemic in the more controlled environment that is Australia, Blacklight is slick but feels hastily assembled. As much as director Mark Williams (who previously directed Neeson in Honest Thief) labors to make this a shiny actioner, featuring a couple of high-octane, street-obliterating car crashes, the whole thing has a hollow, synthetic vibe. Even the scenes you know for a fact were shot outside look like they were filmed on a soundstage using green-screen technology
Williams and his co-writers, Nick May and Brandon Reavis, came up with a story that’s brazenly simple and rudimentary, even by Liam Neeson action movie standards. (Keep it real: With the exception of The Grey, don’t most of the B-movies he makes leave you feeling dumb as hell for watching them?) Everyone in the cast is playing a woefully underdeveloped archetype, their characters way too one-note to earn our investment.
Blacklight cuts corners everywhere. COVID definitely cast a pall over production; the film’s final act, which should go full bombastic and bullet-riddled, is a more restrained, socially distanced affair. When an officially rogue Block threatens his former boss with the movie’s tagline (“You’re gonna need more men!”), you expect more men to show up. But they don’t; it’s just the same two killers who have been killing everybody in the movie. When it’s all over, the story wraps such a neat bow on everything that’s happened, you have to wonder if the ending is a dream sequence.
As fun as it is watching Oskar Schindler continue to play the role of bad(ass) grandpa, finding ingenious ways to cancel Christmas on trained killers, it’s getting obvious these movies are quick paychecks for the long-in-the-tooth action star. Neeson has basically become a hero for hire, going through the same old motions in one silly shoot-’em-up after another. We already have one Bruce Willis. We don’t need two.
33 Comments
Goddamnit, I had posted a comment about vise vs. vice but apparently this is a UK English vs NA English thing like today’s Wordle. On the upside my office is empty so I can scream my “GODDAMNIT” into the void like Bob Odenkirk.
Taken 7: Takey’s Revenge
Huh. This one’s a couple weeks late for Fuck You It’s January, innit?
Just because you CAN make a movie during and despite COVID doesn’t mean you SHOULD. I suppose.Too bad. The Grey and Cold Pursuit convinced me I could enjoy Liam Neeson.
If you liked Cold Pursuit, you should check out the original Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance, starring Stellan Skarsgard. It’s an altogether better film in my estimation. The dark humor lands more.
it’s so funny seeing these covid productions come out now. i didn’t mind hawkeye but there were shots where the bad guys were clearly superimposed to be standing closer than they were.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was all COVID production (I think all pre-vax too) and it looks pretty flawless. I think the group shots are all VFX, and most of the time it’s only a trio of quartet of actors. The only thing that looks kinda COVID-pandemic shoot-ing y is the bit when everyone is in the magic wizard dungeon but that totally works because, y’know, it’s a dungeon.
Counterpoint: “Aidan Quinn, looking shockingly like Ted Knight” means I gotta see what that looks like.
This might be the worst decision Liam Neeson made since he broke up with Helen Mirren in the 80s
At this point, he needs to hurry up and make that Naked Gun reboot with Seth MacFaflane.Because at this point Seth might be the only one to know how to use him correctly.
“I’m Travis Block and I’m here to fix your government!”
Why aren’t our action stars aging into kooky grandpa roles in lackluster comedies these days? If Liam Neeson refuses to stop playing these characters, how are struggling newcomers like Aldren Ehrenreich and Taron Egerton going to find a reputation as deceptively badass characters who beat up a bunch of foreigners to save a girl/their family/the world?
Because they don’t make comedies any more
They do, they’re just all direct to streaming.
That Bruce Willis line is the sickest burn of 2022
It would be if Redlettermedia hadn’t primed the pump for it
We already have one Bruce Willis. We don’t need two.·You shut your mouth! The two of them plus Nic Cage and his ridiculousness makes for a good supply of fun goofy movies where you don’t have to think too hard!
Didn’t even know about this movie until now. That’s not a good sign.That said, I do think that Honest Thief, though unoriginal, was pretty solid.
If this movie is that bad, I should recommend the We Hate Movies episode about the first Taken movie, its one of their best ever episodes;
https://headgum.com/we-hate-movies/taken-live-in-chicago
I guess Liam Neeson is that kind of actor now, huh? Not hating, but it’s a weird turn to witness after being an A-list actor in varied, nuanced roles. He’s now the new 80’s Charles Bronson.
It was kind of fun at first, to see him as grizzled murder man. A few of his action movies are enjoyable schlock (I really love Non-stop) but it’s rapidly reached the point where Neeson is just cashing easy paychecks and barely awake in these. It would almost be novel to see Neeson do an actually quality academy award movie again.
I would love to see him return to a quality acting film, but I can’t hate on his paycheck collecting. I’d probably do the same after a solid decades long run. He’s had a mighty solid career and people know he can act. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if we do see him in one more prestige movie.
I’m old, but I first learned of him from the cheap 1983 fantasy movie “Krull”. So acting in low-budget stuff is really just returning to his roots.
I knew his face from Excalibur, but since I was fairly young, I only connected the dots when Darkman happened, a film I really enjoyed.
Claire van der Boom sounds like the name of a fictional character in a campy action movie.
Based off the title, I expected this movie to be either:A: A film about a hotel room inspector who goes rogueB: Just hanging around in a basement from the ‘70s smoking pot for two hours.
B sounds like a better use of Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson and his never seeming to turn down a role and the types of roles he takes just reminds me a bit of Sean Connery and all the strange roles he played at times.
Zardoz remake when
The Ice Road was surprisingly not terrible (except the CGI)…although it was filmed in Feb 2020, so I guess it isn’t really a COVID movie.
Well it can’t be worse than The Commuter. The CGI was so bad, so low rez, like 1995 TV-show bad.
I just saw this. There was a super interesting concept about an FBI fixer who gets caught up in a Jason Bourne type agents mistake but instead they kind of just say fuck it and make a really boring and stupid movie.
Confusing shooting good movie takes as much time a bad one, one would think it would be at least more satisfying doing the former. Willis and Neeson both have the fame and status to get a hefty pay check either way.