At this point, Liam Neeson can sleepwalk his way through a role where he plays a badass tough guy with a particular set of skills, and he pretty much does that in "Blacklight," a by-the-numbers action thriller lacking in both action and thrills.
Neeson plays Travis Block, but he might as well play Liam Neeson, since he routinely pumps out two or three of these genre exercises a year. (Neeson, Bruce Willis and Nicolas Cage are keeping this mill churning; if the three of them were to join forces in the same movie, would we all get sucked into a black hole?)
Neeson's Travis Block is a guy who does clean up work for the FBI, getting agents that are deep undercover out of sticky situations. Those particular skills of his seem a bit rusty at this point; early on in "Blacklight" he saves a subject from the wrath of a bunch of racist deplorables by distracting them with an exploding boat. Is that all it takes? And shouldn't the FBI have someone other than a near-septuagenarian (Neeson turns 70 this year) doing their dirty work for them?
Block is also a family man, the type who tries to do right by his daughter and granddaughter by always pointing out the nearest exit whenever they're in public and installing copious security cameras outside their home. He's also starting to think about retirement, and questioning the choices he's made along the way.
Meanwhile, an FBI agent (Taylor John Smith) is threatening to expose the bureau's dirty laundry to a D.C. journalist (Emmy Raver-Lampman), and when he gets killed, Block realizes he might be next. He teams up with the reporter to expose a shadowy government program called Operation Unity, which is headed by his longtime boss, Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn, acting smarmy even when he's supposed to be playing it straight), which significantly speeds up his retirement plans.
Director Mark Williams (the 2020 Neeson thriller "Honest Thief"), who also co-wrote the script, pays lip service to our current political climate with references to "the millennial soapbox crowd" and "gotcha moments on Twitter," but it's basically the same Neeson in slightly different clothing. It's been 14 years since "Taken" sent the actor into pure action movie mode, and while occasionally something interesting slips through the cracks ("Cold Pursuit," "Run All Night"), this one fades from memory pretty quickly. Hopefully the next one is better.
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'BLACKLIGHT'
GRADE: C-
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for strong violence, action and language)
Running time: 1:44
Where to watch: In theaters Friday
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