Rated: M
Directed by: Mark Williams
Written by: Nick May & Mark Williams
Produced by: Mark Williams, Paul Currie, Myles Nestel, Aleve Loh, Coco Ma
Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Taylor John Smith, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Andrew Shaw, Zac Lemons, Claire Van Der Boom, Gabriella Sengos, Tim Draxl, Yael Stone, Georgia Flood, Caroline Brazier, Melanie Jarnsen.
‘Have I been doing the right thing?’ wonders, off-the-books fixer, Travis Block (Liam Neeson).
He’s the one head of the FBI, Bill Robinson (Aidan Quinn) turns to when deep cover agents get lost or worse, found out.
So when fellow agent Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) is found in his car full of pills and booze, leaving in his wake four cops who try and fail to take him down… Block is called to bring him in.
But instead of bringing Dusty back to the Bureau, Block discovers Dusty was on his way to meet Mira (Emmy Raver-Lampman). A journalist. He has a story to tell. A story that will force Block to question what he’s been doing with his life.
Blacklight opens to a protest led by politician, Sofia Flores (Melanie Jarnsen); her speech including emotive statements like:
Financial greed
Domestic terrorism
Equal pay for everyone
We have something say!
Cut to the background of American flags flying in the breeze.
I admit I was cringing with the dramatic build of drums and high-hat flourishes.
Then enters Block. He taps his second finger: 1-2-3. Waiting for things to explode.
Blacklight is a classic style action movie with double take camera shots to increase that feeling of adrenaline and then missing takes to show a fragmented mind.
Then there’s the drama of Block wanting out: ‘There is no out for you.’
He wants a second chance at life and to spend more time with his granddaughter.
But his hospital working daughter doesn’t think he’s up to it: ‘Natalie doesn’t need a fixer like you.’
He wants out, they won’t let him. His family don’t trust him because of his past… The formula is a familiar one. Very familiar.
Which is not always a bad thing.
But those camera double takes started to cloy after the first half hour. As did the statements like, ‘The American people need to know the truth.’
It wasn’t all bad. There is… action. And a few twists.
And Neeson brings it, as always, with his brutish sincerity.
It just feels like a movie I’ve seen a dozen times before.
Watchable, then forgettable.