Mark Williams directed and co-wrote Blacklight, a 2022 American action thriller. “Under Cover of Darkness,” a 1970s historical drama about the Nixon White House’s participation in the true FBI surveillance operation COINTELPRO, was written by Williams from a screenplay by Nick May. Taylor John Smith, Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Aidan Quinn also appear in the movie, which centers on Liam Neeson as an FBI agent who becomes engaged in a government plot. On February 11, 2022, Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment launched Blacklight in the United States. Movie critics predominantly gave the film unfavorable ratings.
Despite the fact that the film appears to be quite typical at first glance, it contains numerous vehicle chases, explosive sequences, and an FBI wrap conspiracy to intrigue genre enthusiasts. Travis, now a father and husband, becomes the subject of a governmental cover-up after uncovering some incriminating classified documents. He also learns that the Director of the FBI on his track is the same person he used to safeguard. Because of the fascination of conspiracies that the tale contains, you have to question if the film is based on a true story?
Is Blacklight Based on A True Story?
‘Blacklight,’ to be clear, is not inspired by a genuine story. Conspiracy thrillers seldom contain any reality. Even when this happens, movies frequently change the names and actions to avoid legal wrangling. Nick May, who is also a lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission, wrote the script for the film, which was produced by Mark Williams. May worked on the script with Mark Williams and Brandon Reavis, based on a story they came up with.
There was some uncertainty about the scripting credits at the beginning of the project. May registered a lawsuit against Mark Williams in March 2021, as per Variety, alleging that Mark illegally seized a writing credit. Mark just changed the period of time and flipped some sentences, according to the allegation. According to Nick, though, Mark received sole screenwriting credit, with May receiving only a “story by” reference. May’s stance was eventually disregarded by the director, who described it as “overzealous.” The movie was still in the post-production period when the complaint was made in May, and no credits had been assigned. For the time being, we can see that Nick May is given full screenplay credit.
The Mark Williams directed film deviates from the usual action fare by giving the character an interesting backstory. Nick May appears to have given the story an appearance of authenticity thanks to his expertise as a federal prosecutor. However, the sophisticated conspiracy tale shown in the film has no basis in reality. As a result, we conclude that ‘Blacklight’ is a work of fiction, despite the fact that the realistic language and action make it entertaining to watch.
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Blacklight Reviews
The star explained in an interview with Sunday TODAY that he will stop at a certain point, but his screen personalities appear to be irrepressible. “I assume Hollywood movies will come to an end soon – they might.” You ought to be aware that viewers aren’t stupid. ‘Oh, f— this man, Liam Neeson,’ they’ll say. He must be 71, 72, or 73 years old.’ “At some point, I’ll stop,” he added. 4 percent of 45 review scores on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes are favorable, with an aggregate score of 3.6/10. “Turn that off,” says the site’s agreement. The film earned a 33 out of 100 scores from Metacritic, which utilizes a weighted sum, depending on 15 reviewers, signifying mostly unfavorable reviews.
If you encounter it with adequately low expectations and have memorable moments of the ’70s neurotic dramas that evidently motivated director and co-writer Mark Williams, it might be your house-brand groove,” said Joe Leydon of Variety. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that without a complex plot or memorable main figure, the movie is a by-the-numbers sci-fi thriller that coasts on its actor’s heartfelt gravitas and limited personal power.
The majority of ‘Blacklight’ takes place in urban areas. The movie’s principal shooting destination was the island continent of Australia, which was chosen by the production team. Because Australia is such a diverse nation, it matched the filmmakers’ objectives and enabled them to develop a film that is graphically pleasing at times! Shooting began in November 2020 and lasted a few months before wrapping in early 2021.
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