Liam Neeson has starred in many action thrillers such as Taken and The Grey, but not all of them have been quite up to par with his career-best films.
A Liam Neeson thriller from 2022 is considered the worst movie of his illustrious acting career on Rotten Tomatoes. Since making his film debut in the 1978 drama Pilgrim’s Progress, Neeson has become one of the most recognizable leading actors on the planet.
Neeson’s most notable films expand across all genres, including the action thriller Taken (2008), the romantic comedy classic Love, Actually (2003), the first Star Wars prequel movie Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace (1999), and of course, Steven Speilberg’s harrowing Best Picture winner Schindler’s List (1993), which earned Neeson his first and only Oscar nomination.
Neeson’s celebrated action films have cemented him as a main figurehead of the genre alongside actors such as Jason Statham and Tom Cruise. Neeson has made several career changes throughout his acting career, shifting seamlessly between virtually all genres, which has made him one of the most versatile actors working today.
Neeson recently reprised his iconic role as Qui-Gon Jinn in an episode of Disney’s highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi series and also made a surprise cameo as himself in the fourth and final season of the acclaimed FX series Atlanta. Neeson was also a major part of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, playing Bruce Wayne’s early mentor Ducard / Ra’s al Ghul.
Blacklight Is Liam Neeson’s “Worst” Movie On Rotten Tomatoes
Blacklight has just an 11% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 27 Metascore.
Neeson certainly has a notable pool of poorly rated films in his filmography, which consists of more than 140 movies and television series across his 46-year career.
Despite having a high audience score on Rotten Tomatoes of 82%, Liam Neeson’s 2022 action thriller Blacklight is the worst-rated movie of his career among critics. Blacklight has just an 11% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 27 Metascore. The disparity between the audience score of 82% and the critic score of 11% for Blacklight is alarming, which raises the question of whether Blacklight truly is the worst movie of Neeson’s career. Blacklight is also currently trending on Hulu, indicating that there is more positive feedback and genuine interest among viewers than movie critics. It does, however, have just a 1.9 rating on Letterboxd.
Neeson certainly has a notable pool of poorly rated films in his filmography, which consists of more than 140 movies and television series across his 46-year career. Some of his other poorly rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes include his most recent ones, with 2022’s Marlowe and Memory, which both came out in the same year as Blacklight, both receiving critic scores below 30%. Taken 3 (2014) and The Nut Job (2014) are not too far off from Blacklight’s 11% either, with both earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 13%. Neeson makes so many movies on a consistent basis that it’s no surprise some of them turn out to be duds.
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Why Blacklight’s Reviews Are So Bad
Critics have grown tired of Neeson’s repetitive action movies
The consensus among critics is that Blacklight is virtually unwatchable, while audiences are much more forgiving and supportive of the Neeson film overall.
The massive gap between Blacklight’s critic score and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is the largest one of Neeson’s career. The consensus among critics is that Blacklight is virtually unwatchable, while audiences are much more forgiving and supportive of the Neeson film overall.
Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times described Blacklight as, “The kind of low-wattage, paint-by-numbers thriller that usually signifies a perilous turn toward the action purgatory that is cheap, direct-to-nowhere fare.” Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail wrote, “You will walk away… with many, many, many questions. The first one being: Can I please have my money and 107 minutes back?”
From looking over many of the top critic’s reviews of Blacklight, the common thread between them is a shared frustration with Neeson seemingly settling with another uninspired action flick.
Neeson has demonstrated just how profound and talented of an actor he can be, and many critics would rather watch him be challenged once again as the lead in a great story rather than continue to cash in on the success of his previous action hits like Taken and The Grey.
Even if most critics’ frustrations with Neeson’s career choices nowadays fuel their reviews of his repetitive thrillers, it’s evident that his fans are still enjoying them.
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Why Blacklight Is Not Liam Neeson’s Worst Movie
Neeson’s worst movie is arguably The Other Man (2008)
The Other Man was torn apart by critics and audiences alike, critiquing the film’s waste of a great and talented cast with a convoluted plot and confusing pace caused by poor editing.
Despite most critics disliking Blacklight, it’s not truly the worst movie of his career, even if it is somewhat a copy-and-paste of his previous action hits. Neeson’s worst movie is arguably The Other Man (2008), a mystery thriller that stars him alongside Antonio Banderas and Laura Linney.
Written and directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal, Iris), The Other Man was torn apart by critics and audiences alike, critiquing the film’s waste of a great and talented cast with a convoluted plot and confusing pace caused by poor editing.
As a whole, The Other Man is universally one of, if not the, worst Liam Neeson movie, although Blacklight is not far from it.
Liam Neeson stars in this 2022 Thriller and Action film directed by Mark Williams. Neeson plays Travis Block, a Fixer utilized by the FBI to bring in one of their undercover agents. Things aren’t exactly what they seem and a conspiracy unravels.
