If it’s January or February, you can count on Liam Neeson having an action movie out in theaters. This goes back to his launching pad in this milieu, Taken, with its January 30, 2009, release date. Some are better than others—such as The Grey, which is utterly fantastic. It’s not that he’s not in films that come out the rest of the year! It’s just it’s been a given and hard not to notice after 13 years.
Neeson has a new actioner out now, Blacklight, and it has us wondering for the first time since winter of 2009… has he jumped the action movie shark?
In Blacklight the Northern Ireland native portrays an FBI agent who specializes as being the “coach” to agents working undercover in the field. The opening sequence truly makes that clear as an agent’s multi-year cover in a white supremacist group is blown and she needs to be extracted from the trailer park she’s holed up in as an angry (and flirting with violence) crowd is ready to storm her abode with only two local cops there to “protect” her. Nothing a couple of butane containers mixed with fire to distract a mob.
OK, we get it. Neeson’s Travis Block is a no-nonsense federal agent. The audience also learns that Block was a terrible husband and father. but is thinking about retiring (what?!!) to spend more time with his granddaughter, who just adores him.
Before he will let him head off into the sunset, his boss, FBI Director Gabriel Robinson (Aiden Quinn) has Block keeping close tabs on a newly discovered plot that is targeting United States citizens. By the time all is said and done with this case, Block will question everything he’s done since saving Robinson’s life in the closing days of Vietnam.
When it comes to action sequences, there are some that can be considered pretty standard fare. There is nothing that sets Blacklight apart from the myriad of action films Hollywood offers the public each year, or other Neeson fare for that matter. Director Mark Williams (who was behind the camera for Neeson’s 2020 entry, Honest Thief) and the star himself do all they can with a limp story. Honestly, its premise is rather empty.
It is one of those films that requires a lot of its audience. Specifically, paying attention and that ole suspension of disbelief. There is a slew of narrative holes in Nick May’s screenplay, based on a story by director Williams and Brandon Reavis. It makes it difficult to stay with Blacklight, even as Neeson tries his best to salvage something from this wreckage. This writer can forgive quite a lot in that suspension of disbelief department. But there was just too much to look past with Williams’ flick.
Now, to the question raised in the headline of this review. It’s not about age and whether the action star still has “it” that were first attracted action audiences to Neeson 13 years ago. He’s 69 years old now and that has nothing to do with why Blacklight is a bust. Neeson’s action flick resume has ups and downs. 2019’s Cold Pursuit was a blast! The Marksman was timely and terrific. That movie came out last year!
This is firmly about story and finding the right one to fit the actor’s “very particular set of skills.” If Neeson is given a quality script and the main character is in his early 70s, age won’t matter if it’s shot and brought to life in an organic and believable manner. So, no. Neeson has not jumped the action movie shark.
Grade: C-