Blacklight (film)

For other uses, see Black Light (disambiguation).

Blacklight
A poster featuring Liam Neeson holding a gun. The tagline reads, "They're gonna need more men".
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMark Williams
Screenplay by
  • Nick May
  • Mark Williams
Story by
  • Nick May
  • Brandon Reavis
Produced by
  • Mark Williams
  • Paul Currie
  • Myles Nestel
  • Alevé Loh
  • Coco Xiaolu Ma
Starring
CinematographyShelly Johnson
Edited byMichael P. Shawver
Music byMark Isham
Production
companies
  • Zero Gravity Management
  • Footloose Productions
  • The Solution Entertainment Group
  • Sina Studios
  • Fourstar Films
  • Elevate Production Finance
  • Film Victoria
  • Lightstream Pictures Australia
  • Screen Australia
Distributed by
Release dates
  • February 10, 2022 (2022-02-10) (Australia)
  • February 11, 2022 (2022-02-11) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • Australia
  • China
LanguageEnglish
Budget$43 million[1]
Box office$16 million[2][3]

Blacklight is a 2022 American-Australian action thriller film directed and co-written by Mark Williams. The film stars Liam Neeson as a brooding FBI fixer who becomes involved in a government conspiracy; Emmy Raver-Lampman, Taylor John Smith, and Aidan Quinn also star.[4]

Blacklight was released in the United States on February 11, 2022, by Briarcliff Entertainment. Unfortunately, it struggled both commercially and critically. Despite having a production budget of $43 million, it only managed to gross about $16 million worldwide, making it a box-office bomb. Critics were harsh on the film, and it received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with some calling it one of Liam Neeson's worst performances and movies. The storyline, action sequences, and overall direction were widely criticized, adding to its reputation as a low point in Neeson's career.

Plot

Political activist Sofia Flores speaks at a rally in Washington, D.C. about women's and racial equality. That evening, she is killed in a deliberately planned hit-and-run outside of her home.

Travis Block, a Vietnam War veteran, works off-the-books for FBI Director Gabriel Robinson as a fixer. After completing one mission, he tells Robinson he wants to retire and spend more time with his daughter and granddaughter, but Robinson is reluctant to let him go. Instead he is given a new assignment to bring in undercover FBI Agent Dusty Crane.

However, Crane goes rogue and contacts a journalist, Mira Jones, claiming to have information about Flores' death. Escaping several times from Block and the FBI, Crane arranges to meet Jones at a museum. Block follows Jones to the meeting but Crane escapes again. Crane tells Block that Robinson ordered Flores' killing before he is shot dead by two FBI Agents.

Block and Jones meet again and she tells him that Crane claimed to have information about Operation Unity, a top secret FBI program run by Robinson that kills innocent civilians, including Flores. Block confronts Robinson about Operation Unity, but Robinson brushes off his questions and warns Block not to interfere.

Jones's editor, Drew, writes a story about Crane's mysterious death using her sources. That evening, he is followed home and killed after a car accident by the same two FBI Agents that killed Crane and Flores. Meanwhile, Block's family goes missing.

Jones convinces a distressed Block to help her uncover the mystery of Operation Unity. He tells her that Robinson has a safe in his house with government secrets. He confronts Robinson at his house and forces him to open the safe, which contains a hard drive with information about Operation Unity. Robinson escapes with the help of several FBI Agents, who engage in a gunfight with Block. Block defeats the agents and retrieves the hard drive.

Block and Jones review the hard drive and discover that Crane was in love with his assignment, Flores. Robinson had her killed after Crane became too attached to her. Block confronts Robinson with the truth about Operation Unity, and forces him to turn himself in to the authorities. Robinson is arrested for his crimes, Jones completes her story about the government cover-up, and Block retires and reunites with his family who had been placed in Witness Protection but are now brought back home.

Cast

Production

Principal photography of the film started in November 2020 in Melbourne, Australia.[1][8][5] In January 2021 it was announced that a car chase scene would be filmed in Canberra.[9][10]

Mark Isham composed the film score. A film soundtrack has been released.

Release

Blacklight was released in the United States by Briarcliff Entertainment on February 11, 2022.[11] The film was released video-on-demand on March 3,[12] while the film released on Blu-ray and DVD in May 3 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.[13]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Blacklight was released alongside Death on the Nile and Marry Me, and was projected to gross $1–5 million from 2,772 theaters in its opening weekend.[14] The film went on to debut to $3.5 million, finishing fifth at the box office.[15] Overall audiences during its opening were 64% male, 83% above the age of 25, 58% above 35, and 35% above 45. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 53% were Caucasian, 14% Hispanic and Latino Americans, 15% African American, and 18% Asian or other.[16] The film finished tenth at the box office in its second weekend with $1.7 million.[17] It dropped out of the box office top ten in its third weekend with $878,687.[18]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 11% of 105 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Turn it off."[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 27 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[20] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 58% positive score, with 39% saying they would definitely recommend it.[16]

Joe Leydon of Variety said: "If you approach it with sufficiently lowered expectations, and have fond memories of the '70s paranoid dramas that obviously inspired director and co-writer Mark Williams, this might be your house-brand jam."[21] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Lacking a high concept or memorable central character, the film is a by-the-numbers actioner that coasts on its star's soulful gravitas and low-key charisma."[22]

References

  1. ^ a b Quinn, Karl (November 2, 2020). "Liam Neeson to start filming Hollywood action movie in Melbourne". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  2. ^ "Blacklight (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  3. ^ "Blacklight (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  4. ^ "Victoria back in action as Blacklight kicks off with Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce". Business News Australia. November 12, 2020. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Martin, Josh (November 3, 2020). "Liam Neeson to arrive in Melbourne to begin shooting new thriller 'Blacklight'". NME. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  6. ^ Quinn, Karl (December 4, 2020). "Behind the scenes of Liam Neeson's new action movie filming in Melbourne". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Mendelsohn, Jon (September 21, 2021). "First 'Blacklight' Image Features Liam Neeson as an FBI Fixer in Over His Head". Collider. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  8. ^ "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - Blacklight". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  9. ^ Midena, Kate (January 7, 2021). "Liam Neeson to start filming Hollywood action movie in Melbourne". ABC News. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  10. ^ Williams, Elliot (January 15, 2021). "Liam Neeson film Blacklight continued filming in Canberra on Friday". The Canberra Times. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  11. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 21, 2021). "Liam Neeson Action Thriller 'Blacklight' Set For Wide U.S. Release Through Briarcliff; Solution Entertainment Group Pic Gets February 2022 Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  12. ^ When To Stream [@WhenToStream] (March 2, 2022). "Blacklight (2022) When To Stream: March 3, 2022 PVOD (Apple, Amazon, Google, etc.) #Blacklight https://t.co/DjQWvCjDxn" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 2, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022 – via Twitter.
  13. ^ "Blacklight Blu-ray".
  14. ^ Multiple sources:
  15. ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 6". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  16. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 13, 2022). "Death On The Nile Charting $12.8M, Marry Me $8M In Valentine's Day Weekend Where Hollywood Pines For Female Auds – Sunday Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  17. ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 7". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  18. ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 8". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  19. ^ "Blacklight". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 7, 2023. Edit this at Wikidata
  20. ^ "Blacklight". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  21. ^ Leydon, Joe (February 9, 2022). "'Blacklight' Review: Liam Neeson Does His Weary-Warrior Thing in Another Run-and-Gun Thriller". Variety.
  22. ^ Scheck, Frank (February 11, 2022). "Liam Neeson in 'Blacklight': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 9, 2022.