He brought down the White House, now he’s bringing down the FBI.
Blacklight is a 2022 action thriller film starring Liam Neeson.
Travis Block is a government operative coming to terms with his past. He later uncovers a conspiracy involving targeting U.S. citizens and soon finds himself within the sights of the FBI.
Previews: Official Trailer
This film provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Explosives: In one scene, Travis uses road flares to detonate a bunch of propane tanks to distract an armed mob. In real life, a road flare is very unlikely to cause a propane tank to explode.
- The Bad Guys Are Cops: In the case, the FBI.
- Daddy Didn't Show: Travis forgets to go to Natalie's school play in the course of his investigation into Gabriel, and Amanda reads him the riot act for it.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Gabriel does not actually want to harm Travis' family and only puts them in the witness protection program.
- He Knows Too Much: Gabriel's default response to any threats is to kill anyone who could be a danger to him. This includes Dusty and Drew.
- Hunting the Rogue: After former FBI agent Dusty Crane tries to go public about Operation Unity, the FBI sends agents to kill him and eventually succeed.
- I Have Your Wife: Subverted. Gabriel simply has Travis' family put in witness protection. While this is still a dick move, he clearly has no intention of actually hurting them, even if Travis doesn't comply.
- Intrepid Reporter: Mira is dedicated to uncovering the truth behind Gabriel and Project Unity even as she comes under its crosshairs.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Sofia Flores and Drew Hawthorne are both assassinated under the guise of car accidents.
- Neck Snap: After the corrupt FBI agents run Drew off the road, one of the agents kills him this way.
- Obsessively Organized: Travis is outright described as pathologically obsessive-compulsive, often fixated on his own little rituals or making sure everything is in order. It makes him a good operative, but a lousy husband and father.
- One-Word Title: Blacklight.
- The Paranoiac: Travis shows paranoid tendencies, always on the lookout for danger (to the point of installing security cameras in his daughter's home without her knowledge or permission). Worse, his granddaughter Natalie is emulating him from an early age.
- Stealing the Credit: Drew publishes Mira's story himself when she stops working on it. While he tries to apologize for this, it ends up getting him killed when Gabriel assumes it was his story.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Natalie displays disturbing signs of paranoia at a young age, which are learned behaviors from her paranoiac grandfather. Travis takes steps to correct this at the end.
- The Vietnam Vet: Both Travis and Gabriel served in Vietnam. They walked in on their commanding officer about to rape a woman, only for Travis to shoot him thinking he was armed.
- Villain Ball: If Gabriel was really serious about protecting his files, he would have used something like hidden volumes so that even when Travis forced him to unlock the drive, he wouldn't discover any incriminating information.
- We Used to Be Friends: Travis and Gabriel start out as friends, but Travis finding out just how far Gabriel is willing to go in the name of "maintaining order" drives a wedge between them.
