Blacklight

Directed by Mark Williams, Blacklight follows an FBI operative (Liam Neeson’s Travis Block) who finds himself drawn into a government conspiracy alongside his boss (Aidan Quinn’s Gabriel Robinson) and an inquisitive journalist (Emmy Raver-Lampman’s Mira Jones). Filmmaker Williams, armed with a script written with Nick May, delivers a persistently middle-of-the-road thriller that is, for the bulk of its running time, unable to make much of a positive impact, although, having said that, the movie generally remains watchable enough thanks to Neeson’s typically sturdy performance and a smattering of compelling interludes. (There is, in terms of the latter, a fairly electrifying confrontation between Neeson and Quinn’s respective characters that’s undoubtedly the picture’s high water mark.) It’s clear, then, that Blacklight‘s downfall is triggered by a second half riddled with lulls and less-than-engrossing stretches, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the movie fizzles out long before arriving at its decent yet hopelessly forgettable climax – with the final result an almost passable endeavor that feels long even at just 104 minutes.

** out of ****