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Blacklight (film)

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Wikipedia article




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

'Blacklight' was released in the United States on February 11, 2022 by Briarcliff Entertainment. It was panned by critics. The film also underperformed at the box office, grossing $15 million against its $43 million budget.

Plot



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

Travis Block, a Vietnam War veteran, works off-the-books directly for FBI Director Gabriel Robinson as a fixer, extracting undercover agents who are in unstable or tricky situations and other complex jobs Robinson assigns him to do. He wants to retire and spend more time with his daughter and granddaughter, but Robinson is reluctant to let him go. Block's current assignment is 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. Block finds Crane and they engage in a chase outside of Jones' office. Crane escapes and arranges a new meeting with Jones at a museum. Block follows Jones to the meeting and attempts to apprehend Crane. Crane escapes his custody again, but briefly tells Block that Flores was killed by order of Robinson right before he is shot dead by two FBI Agents.

Block and Jones meet, 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 claims his innocence, and warns Block not to get in his way.

Jones's editor, Drew, writes a story from her sources about Crane's mysterious death. That evening, he is followed home by a black SUV and is 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 and the deaths of Crane and Drew. 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 on it. Robinson escapes, with the help of several FBI Agents, who engage in a gunfight with Block. After defeating the agents, Block retrieves the hard drive.

Block and Jones review the data on the hard drive and discover that Crane was in love with his assignment, Flores. Robinson had her killed after Crane got 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 from his job as a off-the-books fixer and reunites with his family who had been placed in Witness Protection, but are now brought back home.

Cast



* Liam Neeson as Travis Block

* Emmy Raver-Lampman as Mira Jones

* Taylor John Smith as Dusty Crane

* Aidan Quinn as Gabriel Robinson

* Claire van der Boom as Amanda Block

* Yael Stone as Helen Davidson

* Tim Draxl as Drew Hawthorne

* Georgia Flood as Pearl

* Melanie Jarnson as Sofia Flores

* Andrew Shaw as Jordan Lockhart

* Zac Lemons as Wallace

* Gabriella Sengos as Natalie Block

* Daniel Turbill as Running Man

Production



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

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

Release



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

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 $15 million from 2,772 theaters in its opening weekend.Multiple sources:

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The film went on to debut to $3.5 million, finishing fifth at the box office. 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. The film finished tenth at the box office in its second weekend with $1.7 million. It dropped out of the box office top ten in its third weekend with $878,687.

Critical response

Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 58% positive score, with 39% saying they would definitely recommend it.

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." 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."

References




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