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Review of Blacklight (Mark Isham)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you know that a vengeful assassin is on his way to kill you and you'd rather be bored to death first by Mark Isham's totally mundane music for this film.

Avoid it... if you continue to wonder what happened to Isham's lyrical capabilities, the decent themes in this work going absolutely nowhere within the bland, largely synthetic environment of suspense.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Blacklight: (Mark Isham) One might almost forget that fine actors like Liam Neeson and Denzel Washington once had promising careers in leading dramatic films. Both seemed so permanently typecast as vengeful killers by the 2020's that Neeson finally played one such agent of death in 2022's Blacklight with the bonus depiction as a grandfather in the story. Pushing 70 years old, the actor still scowls at the camera and menacingly holds a gun on the movie poster, the tagline "They're gonna need more men" reaffirming that no meaningful context for the lead's bad mood is really needed anymore. But, alas, he does have something to be angry about in Blacklight. A black light is normally what you use to expose all the otherwise invisible urine stains on the walls around your guest toilet, but this movie instead reveals corruption in America's much-maligned FBI. Neeson is a somewhat rogue agent who is proof that the FBI does actually assassinate undesirable people in America, but his formerly friendly FBI director (played by Neeson's good friend, Aidan Quinn) ultimately sends the agency's goons after him for getting out of line. The movie is, to nobody's surprise, another excuse to see Neeson think, grimace, say something cool, and kill those who deserve an early grave. The fact that he's protecting a granddaughter in this instance is only proof of the man's viability. Director Mark Williams had been on this joyride with Neeson for Honest Thief a few years prior, and contributing to that muck was composer Mark Isham. While his career has remained fairly steady and included ventures in an admirably wide variety of genres on screens big and small, Isham hasn't enjoyed significant mainstream success over the ten years prior to Blacklight, his thriller music for The Mechanic films and Williams' production of The Accountant among the notable entries. His techniques in this genre are generally consistent, proficient, and tiresome, and Blacklight is a predictable extension of that same sound. The composer has struggled to supply some of his scores with meaningful identities, this one no different from that trend. Like The Accountant and Honest Thief, there are a handful of more palatable, character-centric cues that merit attention, but the whole is forgettable.

The substance of Blacklight is provided by Isham's synthetic array, with string, brass, and percussion sections perhaps partially virtual in "Garbage" and "Security," among others. These orchestrally-styled passages sound very much like John Powell's Jason Bourne franchise formula of ostinatos, so an organically dynamic presence for their contributions is really not necessary for the desired effect. Extremely abrasive electronic and percussive rhythms exist for the FBI villains, "The FBI's Dark Side," "Car Chased, and "Battle of the Henchmen" all monotonous action-thriller cues not worth your time on album. Low key electronic ambience prevails in "Funeral," "History," and "Missed the Play," these mundane cues causing the middle act to drag badly. A climax of rambling synthetic dissonance erupts in "The End of Operation Unity" and will damage eardrums if not turned down. Thematically, the score underdelivers, with its three discernable ideas not consistently developed. A theme for Neeson's Travis Block character contains repeated, ascending phrases of ass-kicking attitude throughout "Travis Block," a deconstructed version following in "Good Soldier," vague hints in the dramatic swell of "Who Are the Good Guys," and softly tender, distant shades lingering in the latter half of "The End of Operation Unity." A separate family theme contains pleasantly soft keyboarding in the second half of "Home" and is faint in "Day Care," brief early in "Security," and closes out "The End of Operation Unity" on strings. It's a wishy-washy identity that sadly achieves nothing but absolutely basic positive feedback. The most compelling idea in the score opens the album in "Sofia Flores," that character's theme containing a descending set of four ascending phrases in a totally cool demeanor; this theme has a good structural dichotomy that should have keenly informed the rest of the score. The idea influences the more determined rhythms of "Figuring Out the Story" but otherwise does not figure into Isham's larger equation. The whole score suffers from a lack of coordination between these motifs. There is merit and potential in each of the three thematic modes, but Isham seems to have zero interest in doing anything intelligent with them in a way that average listeners can register. The production of the score is fine, the layers well mixed, but there's so little unique substance here that the ambience is all you ultimately feel. The long album is a sloppy release with no dedicated cover art. Outside of the brief and unspectacular thematic highlights, expect this music to bore you to death. No vengeful assassins necessary.  **

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 67:12

• 1. Sofia Flores (2:25) • 2. Travis Block (1:55) • 3. Trailer Rescue (3:11) • 4. Home (1:19) • 5. Dusty Crane (1:43) • 6. Good Soldier (2:14) • 7. Day Care (1:49) • 8. Garbage (3:07) • 9. This is Really Important (1:19) • 10. Searching (1:32) • 11. Security (3:46) • 12. Saving Agent's Souls (1:41)

• 13. The FBI's Dark Side (6:12) • 14. Funeral (1:50) • 15. History (4:32) • 16. Missed the Play (1:59) • 17. Who Are the Good Guys (1:32) • 18. Car Chased (2:55) • 19. Where Are They (1:19) • 20. Figuring Out the Story (4:27) • 21. Important Safes (3:16) • 22. Battle of the Henchmen (7:00) • 23. Dusty's Interview (1:14) • 24. The End of Operation Unity (4:55)

NOTES & QUOTES:

There exists no official packaging for this album, with not even dedicated soundtrack cover art produced for the release.

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Black lights don't only expose dried urine stains on the walls of your home; they also reveal old blood, saliva, semen, and shit stains, too.