Blacklight
Better than some of Neeson’s recently laissez-faire fare, this actioner is still an unsubtle, poorly paced and ill-conceived deep state thriller.
Travis (Liam Neeson) is a fixer for the head of the FBI, Robinson (Aidan Quinn). In particular, he helps rescue Robinson’s ‘lost souls’ - deep cover FBI agents who have lost their way in one way or another, and who need to be rescued, brought back into the fold, and rehabilitated. When a progressive ingenue in the political sphere a la Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is brutally murdered in a hit and run, FBI deep cover agent Dusty (Taylor John-Smith) decides enough is enough, and goes to the press. But before he can tell his story, Travis is assigned to find him. Once Dusty and his press contact Mira (Emmy Raver-Lampman) tell Travis about the plot to target US Citizens, Travis finds himself in the crosshairs of his former boss and friend, Robinson.
Directed by Mark Williams, Blacklight is a pretty by-the-numbers political thriller. We’ve seen a number of this sort of film before, stretching back decades indeed to the classic Parallax View with Warren Beatty. When compared with that film, however, our perspective here is more from the goons chasing Beatty’s reporter than Beatty himself, with Neeson’s character in the first half being part villain, before an about face once his family is kidnapped (yep). It is a unique little spin, or if not quite significant enough to be so, a faint quirk of the film. The issue is that there’s very little else here of difference or note to compel the viewer to truly be engaged in the film.
Politically, this film is all over the place. Written by a former justice official in the Obama administration, the movie is both brutalistically left wing, and unapologetically right wing, veering wildly from one extreme to the other in each passing moment. Characters call other characters snowflakes, and there is a definite ‘deep state’ feel to the whole proceedings. At the same time, the murdered woman early in the film gives a stump speech that wouldn’t feel out of place coming from the mouth of one of the US’s ‘Squad’, except for that it is so poorly written and cringeworthy. Even in the car chases, there are elements of politicization, with Dusty opting to blast his rubbish truck getaway vehicle through an American flag sporting redneck pickup truck rather than the other punters' cars around him. Much like in other recent filmic contributions, the heavy-handed political discourse feels overworked, underdeveloped, and near satirical in its lacking levels of subtlety.
Outside of that, Neeson sleepwalks for a lot of the fighting, showing his age with his range of movement and lack of speed. The dialogue could be delivered by a comatose Neeson and still feel compelling coming from the man, so despite the fact that the jokes don’t land, even through a roguish Neeson smile, his performance is welcome; particularly with the caliber of every actor other than Neeson, Raver-Lampman and Quinn being lacking. Quinn swings for the fences with a paranoid, bug-eyed performance, but never feels really dangerous or evil. There’s an ill-thought out and distracting sub-plot about Travis’ daughter and granddaughter, which distracts rather than adds to the complexity of the film. Even worse than all that, is the fact that the movie builds to a disappointing anti-climax, and just sort of ends. It’s the sort of final act that leaves you shocked when the movie ends, asking yourself; was that it?
Visually, it certainly looks like a movie. Everything is lit well, and the car chases are slick. There’s even a few nice moments; Neeson flicking on the lights to his invaded apartment remotely from the street, only to nod at the would be assassins, pull a rocket launcher from his jacket and destroy their car, is a nice touch. The issue is that there really isn’t enough of this. For a character that is supposed to be almost mythological in his ruthless ability to get out of dangerous situations, it is a tremendous shame that the conclusion is a rapid fist fight with the director of the FBI and Travis asking nicely for the man to turn himself in. A stronger ending would have saved this film, and made it an average, inoffensive action picture. A stronger script, would have made it a fun and good pulpy political thriller. As is, it’s a disappointing, but watchable, addition to the Neeson pantheon.
