Blacklight

Not any good? NO.

The bad: this is NOT an action movie. There are a mere 4 or 5 action sequences and they are all incredibly dull and boring to watch.

More bad: this is not a drama or a heartwarming family movie either, despite all the attention for family life. But it all looks plastic. Fake acting by below average actors.

Even more bad: Liam Neeson cant even run anymore when he wants to catch a bad guy. He gets out of breath after 10 meters of "sprint". It's laughable.

This is one of the worst Liam Neeson movies ever. Lots of woke and sentimental storylines that make no sense whatsoever!

You've seen all this before, except more well done. It's as unoriginal as you could ever see and it piles trope upon tripe. Liam Neeson is a much better actor than this. He needs to be more discerning in choosing his roles. More is certainly not better, and in this case, much worse.

Ever since 2019, it seems like Liam Neeson has made starring in mediocre action thrillers somewhat of a habit. "Cold Pursuit" wasn't the best thriller ever, but with its black comedy and serviceable performances, it was unique enough that it warranted a viewing. "Honest Thief" and "The Marksman" were two films that I have begun to dislike more with each passing day - "Honest Thief" took an interesting concept and destroyed it with wooden acting, incomprehensible editing, and piss-poor, infrequent action sequences; "The Marksman" was just boring (and let's not even mention "The Ice Road," which is one of the most embarrassing things I've ever seen, second to my own reflection). With all of that said, "Blacklight" is kind of a remarkable film - remarkable that it was released in theatres instead of straight to DVD.

I knew this movie was going to be bad based on one specific thing - its director. Directed by Mark Williams, who also directed "Honest Thief," I should've taken Mr. Williams' name as a stark warning for me to avoid seeing this in theatres and instead do literally anything else with my time. "Blacklight" is less an action film and more of a political thriller, and when I say political thriller, I mean it is a movie where people have long, arduous, drawn out conversations about politics, politicians, and political espionage and conspiracy. I. E., this is a boring movie.

I found myself struggling, and failing, to stay awake while watching this. "Blacklight" is not an action movie - it is a movie where two people at a time (always two people at a time, the movie barely has any sequences where more than two people are talking to each other at the same time - must've been too expensive to film) talk to each other about dull and uninteresting topics. Director Mark Williams seems to not realize what makes dialogue engaging to watch; scene after scene, "Blacklight" depicts people conversing - now some of my favorite movies are full of interesting, tight dialogue. This movie is not.

But you don't care about the conversations! You're going to see this movie for its purported hard-edged, brutal action! You want to see Liam Neeson get down and dirty and do what he does best! In that case, you should go to your local Best Buy, buy "Taken," and watch that instead. "Blacklight" does not have much action in it, and when there is action, it's the most mediocre, generic, pedestrian action I've seen since the kung-fu film I made in middle school (shouts out to Albert). One compliment I can give is that the action is edited slightly better than it was in "Honest Thief." When fists are thrown you can see the hits connect, and the climactic gunfight is mildly exciting, and then inexplicably ruined by a drastic, random change in editing that turns the sequence into a borderline seizure inducing mess - seriously, if you have epilepsy, you're better off leaving the theatre at the start of the third act gunfight, and never returning.

Nowadays, going to watch a Liam Neeson movie is like returning home to an abusive spouse - they might end up surprising you with moments of genuine love and tenderness, but more often than not they'll beat you into submission. "Blacklight" beat me into submission. And in fact, I'm considering placing a restraining order on director Mark Williams. Liam's name used to mean something in the wild world of action films. "The Commuter," "Run All Night," and "Non-Stop" are three semi-recent Neeson films that are genuinely good, and of high quality. Now, Mr. Neeson is starring in direct to DVD embarrassments that legitimately make sitting at home and staring at the ceiling a more thrilling activity. In conclusion: It's God's own mystery why I spent $11 on this.

It's hard to believe that someone made this story with such a dumb and improbable script. To make things worse, most of the acting is mediocre, except for the two women who played the reporters. And maybe Liam is getting a little old for these types of roles.

When I sat down to watch this 2022 action thriller titled "Blacklight", I must admit that I hadn't heard a single thing about it prior to sitting down to watch it. But I figured that it having Liam Neeson in the leading role was sufficient enough to make it worth my time.

Well, essentially "Blacklight" from writers Nick May, Mark Williams and Brandon Reavis ultimately turned out to be a run-of-the-mill action thriller. Sure, it was watchable, but it was a rather generic and predictable action thriller. But hey, if you enjoy these types of movies then "Blacklight" should be right up your alley.

It is always enjoyable to watch Liam Neeson in movies, and so it was also in "Blacklight". But it would be a shame to say that "Blacklight" is among his top movies, because it just simply isn't. Aside from Liam Neeson, then the movie also had a good performance from Aidan Quinn.

There are far better action thrillers out there, but I will say that "Blacklight" is worth a single viewing, just to tick it off of the to-watch-list, if for nothing else.

Take "Blacklight" for what it is, and you won't be overly disappointed. It was simply a switch off your brain, lean back and munch on the snacks type of movie.

My rating of director Mark Williams's 2022 action thriller lands on a five out of ten stars.