Red Lights (2012)

   The film I went to see this week was Red Lights, a film based on the paranormal and the 'magic' behind psychics. The film stars Sigourney Weaver as psychologist Margaret Matheson and Cillian Murphy as her assistant Tom Buckley.
    Matheson and Buckley are both eager to prove to the world that psychic powers are all myth and that psychics are essentially, con-men. Matheson believes that everything can be explained by science, something which has a heavy emphasis on the film from the start. This theory proves correct as Matheson and her partner foil several fraudulent psychics, healers and ghost hunters - until they are put up against the famous Simon Silver.
   Silver (Robert De Niro) is a famous psychic who has recently come out of retirement, who has a particularly dangerous past, after strange circumstances surround the death of his biggest critic. Even though Matheson warns Buckley not to mess with Silver, Buckley defies her and pursues the psychic regardless. 
   Straight away, I will tell you that this film is a waste of time. When I saw that the film starred De Niro, I expected it to have been of a certain quality - which it was not. Don't get me wrong, it was certainly watchable, I didn't despise the film and at no point did I consider walking out of the cinema, but it was a poor effort as far as the storyline was concerned, in my opinion. The ending in particular, I felt was almost rushed and sort of 'Hey, we've run out of ideas but we need to finish this film, so.. whatever, eh?'.
   The acting wasn't bad at all though, I cannot fault that. Certainly not one of De Niro's best, but still aside from the ending he produced a good enough performance and could not be faulted. I also felt Sigourney Weaver was fantastic throughout, despite not being in it till the end (abruptly and unnecessarily being kicked out of the storyline, may I add). She was probably in my opinion the best thing about the film, but there wasn't much to chose from really. Also, Cillian Murphy - an actor I wasn't too familiar with other than Inception and Batman Begins, was good enough to hold the role he was given, and didn't seem out of place alongside Weaver and De Niro.

Murphy as assistant Tom Buckley 
© Nostromo Pictures

    The ending was the real trainwreck of this film. I can't say much without giving away the ending, which would then render the other hour and a half of the film useless but, what a moronic plot twist. The ending really does make you feel like you've just wasted your time. The film leads you in one direction for 90 minutes, before going the complete other way. It's frustrating to say the least.  
    Camerawork and cinematography wise the film wasn't too bad either, there was several 'jumpy' bits which made you feel like you were in a cheesy horror film, but credit to the director Rodrigo Cortés, the tension was built up in an admiral fashion, and wasn't just scare after scare like most films of that genre.
   All in all, the film was poor. There were certain scenes where the film portrayed itself as intelligent, but these scenes were rare, and hard to find amongst scenes of nonsense and just pure dullness. The concept for the film itself isn't fantastic, there are obvious errors and noticeable plot flaws which make even the most incompetent of viewers could work out. Even De Niro couldn't rescue this one. Worth a watch if it's on television, or in a bargain DVD sale, but don't waste your money on watching it at the big screen. 4/10