Blacklight Review: Liam Neeson's Latest Action Thriller Is Nothing Remarkable

screenrant.com:

There is a distinct aura to Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills in the Taken franchise, which is mostly characterized by covert operations, missing family, shootouts, and revenge best served cold. Mark Williams’ Blacklightis reminiscent of Taken in many ways — mainly due to the nature of Neeson’s role — but is ultimately a different film, although the end result is an average genre offering. Although interesting enough to keep audiences hooked with its tense car chases and shootouts, Blacklight sets no new thrills for hardcore action fans.

Blacklight opens with covert FBI operative Travis Block (Neeson) extracting an agent from a deep-cover situation, which generally takes dogged determination and a proclivity for orchestrating dangerous distractions (like blowing up an entire house). Block reports directly to FBI chief Robinson (Aidan Quinn) — for whom he works on an “off-the-books” basis, with no questions asked — as the two seem to share a close friendship. Amidst juggling his dangerous assignments, Block wishes to spend more time with his daughter Amanda (Claire Van Der Boom) and young granddaughter Natalie (Gabriella Sengos) but fails to meet their expectations. Block’s Obsessive-Compulsion, coupled with his constant paranoia due to the nature of his job, makes it difficult for him to maintain a balance between family and work.

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After the mysterious death of an anti-government activist named Sofia Flores, undercover FBI agent Dusty (Taylor John Smith) goes rogue as he claims to have sensitive information about the bureau’s unethical methods. Attempting to get in touch with journalist Mira (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Dusty evades Block’s interventions to bring