BLACKLIGHT – Review

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 2008’s 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, BLACKLIGHT, fails to land in his admirably 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 Bryan Mills character may not be a hero – just a really negligent dad. This time Neeson strays into clandestine political machinations in a vehicle that’s as poorly timed as it was written.

Leeson’s Travis Block has spent his career working directly for the head of the FBI, Gabriel Robinson (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 delegated duties. But when one young agent, Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith), decides to become a whistle-blower due to what he considers egregious, illegal orders from on high. Quinn’s character assigns Neeson’s Travis to rein him in. The FBI head also sends a couple of other agents to knock the kid off, if need be. Smith’s character’s efforts to reach a journalist, Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman), with his story do not turn out as hoped.

Neeson’s character is torn between a lifetime of by-the-book obedience and a growing, gnawing feeling that Smith’s Crane may have been right. And thus the game is afoot. It’s just not very compelling to watch.

With direction by Mark Williams, with a script written by him and Nick May, the main action mixes awkwardly with the switches to Neeson’s fumbling efforts to become better as a grandpa to an adorable tyke (Gabriella Sengos), than he apparently had been as a husband, or father to his embittered daughter Amanda (Claire van der Boom). That thread is 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.

The plot is largely predictable. The cast plays its collection of genre types competently. The ending seems rushed, as if everyone on the set knew they’d made a mediocre movie, and were eager to move on. 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.

BLACKLIGHT opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 11.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars