Blacklight: Liam Neeson action thriller set for February release

It wouldn’t be the winter without a bit of ass-kicking from Liam Neeson, now would it? Fresh off three back-to-back pandemic-released thrillers, Liam Neeson is back in action with Blacklight, and Briarcliff Entertainment is giving it a wide theatrical release on February 11, 2022. 

According to Deadline, who broke the news, “in Blacklight, Neeson plays a troubled, off-the-books fixer for the FBI who is tasked with pulling undercover agents out of dangerous situations. He finds himself in the middle of a deadly conspiracy when one such agent questions the very people he is working for. The film co-stars Aidan Quinn, Emmy Raver-Lampman and Taylor John Smith.”

Notably, Neeson had two back-to-back number one openers, Honest Thief and The Marksman, in theatres at the height of the pandemic. Both films were released by Briarcliff, who also has Copshop in theatres right now. While the grosses were modest, Neeson’s films were among the only significant releases to forgo VOD release dates favouring exclusive theatrical runs. A third film. The Ice Road went to Netflix. 

Blacklight re-teams Neeson with his Honest Thief director Mark Williams. It’s poised to be one of several Neeson action flicks coming out next year, with him also shooting Memory with Goldeneye director Martin Campbell and Retribution with Predators director Nimród Antal. Presumably, both movies will come out in 2022. 

You’ve got to hand it to Neeson. At sixty-nine years old, the man shows no sign of slowing down, despite Neeson repeating over and over that he would soon be retiring from action movies. While his grosses have no doubt tapering off since his Taken/ Non-Stop action heyday, I imagine they still sell well overseas, so why not keep going? Heck, if Eastwood can do Cry Macho at ninety-one, Neeson is practically a kid. While I’d like him to maybe be a little more discerning with his material, I thought The Marksman was one of his better recent movies. Hopefully, one of the new ones will be as good.