Review of Red Lights (2012) by Dillinger P — 07 Jun 2014

Red Lights is a mystery, suspense thriller that will have you well and truly intrigued but ultimately leave you feeling short changed by the conclusion. Rodrigo Cortes, the writer/director/editor of his brake through hit Buried, is hot on the heels of that previous films success, you can almost smell the big names pushing every other actor aside in order to make sure they got the part in his new feature, almost remenisant of that of Chrisopher Nolans beginnings, Insomnia being his red lights.

This film is crafted well but just is no where near focused enough to pull it off to the successful level Buried did. We follow Dr Matheson and Dr Buckley who challenge themselves day in and day out to debunk all forms of paranormal activity, psychic ability and magic to prove to the world these people are frauds.

So much so, they teach university students about their findings on a weekly basis. As their career starts to become stale, long time magic man and rival of Matheson, Simon Silver, emerges for a string of U.

S. dates, which gets Buckley wondering, what if the duo could debunk the biggest psychic, paranormal performer there ever was. Matheson however doesnt like the idea of it and protests against Buckley to take any further action.

Then the story twists and turns all over the place and to write anything more down will just ruin the entire film for you. First of all, this movies strong points, firstly it has a phenominal cast, Cillian Murphey, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Toby Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, they do their best, lending their thespian expertese towards this film.

The film also looks great, merging loads of different styles and themes and presenting them in a polished and entrancing manner. For example watching a gritty talk show gone wrong segment, Cortes decides to use uncomfortable close up shots and pans the camera constantly, pulling focus abruptly, in order to give a sense of disorientation.

Other scenes include some lovely tracking, dolly, jib and steadi-cam shots, all effortlessly edited into sequences that its hard not to applaud the visual style within this film. The idea and general story is also one of intrigue.

Where this film is let down however is in its script writing and its dramatic jump into the ludacrous within the space of 30 minutes. Watching these performers is all good and well, however well Cortes can write a monologue, his dialogue suffers immensely.

Its all well and good when Sigourney Weaver is reciting the first heart felt moment she found out her child was ill and how she could have debunked Silver years ago but never. But this film is so full of small talk and awkwardness that you kind of wish nothing was said at all between the larger character speils.

Another issue is that Cortes also hasnt a clue what kind of film he wants this to be, or even what side of the fence he wants us on. This film thrusts us back and forth like a rag doll every five minutes, which keeps us on our toes yes, but only if the pay off is worth it and sadly that is Red Lights biggest flaw, its finale.

In the last 5 minutes you will be so taken aback by the movies revalation, it will chuck you so far out of the movie, only to try and wangle you back in with a few minutes of flash backs and exposition.

The result feels jarring and unwanted. I cant quite work out wiether the movie was trying to be too clever for its own good or if Cortes created such a rabbit hole, the only way he could return would be to knock the most illogical thing possible out, in order to make this film feel more logical, if that makes sense? However there is quite a bit to like about this film, you cant knock Cortes for wanting to broaden his horizons and attempt something challenging.

However had another script writer been involved, this film could have been a lot more feasable and fun.