Red Lights [2012]

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro and Cillian Murphy, Red Lights seemed like a sure thing. Based purely on the cast I started watching it, without any expectations, and Red Lights slowly started to win over my heart. I think that this is one of the few cases where we can see, instead of classic, paranormal investigation as it should be: purely scientific. We follow professor Margaret Matheson and her assistant Tom Buckley as they debunk and expose one fraud after another. Not only do they prove that they’re all hoaxes, but they show us how they did it in details. It is very similar to a magician showing us how some magic tricks are done, and I was totally amazed by this part of the movie. Excellent performances from all three leads made it even more convincing.

But then, the plot thickens as Simon Silver, world famous for his supposed powers, makes a comeback after a thirty year break. During his last show, one of his biggest critics had a heart-attack and died, so this added even more mystery to his name and powers. While professor Matheson is determined to stay clear of Silver and his shenanigans, young Tom Buckly is eager to prove that Silver is a fraud. As soon as he started snooping around him, strange things started to happen, birds falling dead from the sky, unusual sounds… Who will prevail in this struggle is up to you to find out…

SPOILER ALERT – – – SPOILER ALERT – – – SPOILER ALERT

So you have been warned, and if you continue reading you will find out some major plot twists that might ruin your viewing experience, but than again when you find out whats the plot twist you might not even see the movie. I leave that decision to you. Now, back to the “twist”, as strange things happen, in the finale we find out that young Tom Buckly is actually a human being that has some sort of special powers. Yeah, you read right, he has special powers and abilities that he wasn’t aware of all his life, and all that weird shit that we thought Simon Silver is doing are his subconsciouses emotions being transmitted unto the world. Dear lord what a mistake! They have been pumping throughout the movie this vibe that all psychics are frauds and that the world is as it is, but in the end they ruin all that for one lousy twist that isn’t that good to begin with. It’s like watching an atheist movie, and in the end they say: wait, but there’s god, and he waves from the sky. So instead of 8 or even a 9 this movie gets only 6 from me, on account of the beginning of the story and the actors… What a mess…

Not to mention couple of other things that annoyed me, like the sudden death of Proffesor Matheson, for no apparent reason and no hints to Silver as this should be his doing. Still if you are willing to look past all these things you will have a good time, apart from the end.

And one last thing, since the director needed that big plot twist this is how he could’ve done it: basically everything is the same, with the return of Silver unexplained things start to happen, and in the finale we find out that he was behind it all, and they show how he did it. For example killed Matheson with stronger meds, used sexy assistant to set Tom Buckly up, and so forth…

Director: Rodrigo Cortés

Cast: Robert De Niro, Elizabeth Olsen, Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Jones

Fun Facts: In the video lab where Buckley works there is a copy of the famous poster “I Want To Believe” from The X-Files, but the quote is changed to “I Want To Understand”.

Rating:

IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748179/