If there is a cinematic version of comfort food, Liam Neeson is surely the Chef. That’s not a criticism.

 The Academy Award nominee showed his acting chops in respected art films such as Michael Collins and Kinsey, but how many people saw those? Relatively few.

These days, if you say you’re watching a “Liam Neeson film,” people know exactly what you mean, and you know exactly what to expect. The smaller details change, but the basic framework is the same.

And so, here is ‘Blacklight,’ in which a decent man with a Northern Irish lilt and  a vaguely pained look in his earnest eyes will do the right thing, in spite of every obstacle put before him, and overpower the bad guys with his utter goodness.

Of course, he’ll have to seriously kick some ass along the way.

Neeson plays Travis Block, an off-the-books FBI fixer who retrieves agents gone astray, among other chores. An agent who has apparently slipped into mental illness tells him that the head of the FBI is involved in some sort of government conspiracy. Meanwhile a young journalist (Emmy Raver-Lampman), skeptical at first, believes that something rotten is going on and becomes a kind of partner to Neeson in the case.

There are fight sequences, car chases, and enough action to keep you from questioning the plausibility of the plot–hell; I don’t even remember what the plot was. Aidan Quinn as the baddie FBI chief who has leverage over Neeson due to a dark story in their shared past, is a good villain.  I didn’t even recognize him with his white hair!

In the end, though, it’s all the same. There is comfort in knowing what you’re in for. And Neeson, now almost seventy years old and playing a grandfather in this movie, is our link to decency and flawed good over movie evil. I’ll happily watch anything with his name on it.

Blacklight Opens in Theaters February 11th. Show times and tickets available HERE.