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Thursday 28 June 2012

Red Lights Review 2012


It has been a rough few years for Robert De Niro. He deserves great credit for his continuity and sometimes desperate attempt at reviving that "Foot stomping" character that once brought his be- loving ego to our screens. Not that his success or noticeability has lessened, but I for one have witnessed some horrors featuring his face lately. 

Red Lights follows the story of psychologist Margaret Wilson (Weaver), along with her partner in paranormal crime, Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy). They both travel the state seeking to expose those claiming to be factual based Psychics.

Margaret, who has seen and done it all before, distants herself from any beliefs such as religion and particularly the ability to perform such dark magic. Her past is a troubled one. She is famous for her debates and enthusiastic ways of revealing the fake to those who are paying to be lied to.

The job at hand is dull and becomes routine to Tom and Margaret as the movie starts by showing them in numerous situations where they both seem clearly aware of certain folks trying to make money from the gullible. It all seems quite mundane over their years of experience but It is only when Simon Silver returns to America after 30 years that begs the question. Is he as genuine as his reputation speaks for?

Simon (De Niro) is an original paranormal psychic, who has always claimed as well as having a cult following to this extraordinary power. As blind as can be, his abilities speak for themselves as he returns home to perform one last show. Tom, who is a very eager and ambiguous individual, sees this as an opportunity to expose the one guy the public would always believe in. Margaret, who has a past with Simon, warns Tom of his presence and the people around him.

As goes, the eventual plot (That takes so long to reach) is whether Simon holds the power he claims to have carried through-out a generation. It is clear he has an apparent past of healing, mind-reading, floating on air and numerous ways of wooing his audience.

As for "Red Lights", it is the term used by Margaret and Tom as as they seek to spot certain individuals roaming the area before a show begins. They apparently stick out and are always related to the performer in some way. (This is the performer’s way of sending people to infiltrate his audience to be. Their way of cheating the people).

The movie is indeed, awfully boring. It seemed a risky concept that in fact might have been original but unfortunately it felt slow, dull, and extremely irritating to watch at times taking into account the great actors trying to develop strong characters. You find the excuse to see this because of De Niro and the rest, but Red Lights does nothing for any of the guys involved. De Niro’s character Silver is blind, so on that note De Niro pulls off what seems a lazy performance in what almost seems like a forgetful cameo! It is strange because the reputation of the cast involved speaks for itself.

To be honest I was not sure if Red Lights were a horror or thriller flick? In fairness there were some jumpy scenes (Maybe one), but all in all, the movies climax was always failing, leading to a forgetful trip to the movies. A scene right after Simon Silver abandons a performance; it shows a streak of around eight journalists in a row. It seemed like it went on for almost ten minutes yapping about the incident in the rain making a big deal out of nothing! Indeed there are a numer of scenes you might find your mind shouting "NEXT"!

Red Lights can be frustrating at times the way it occasionally cuts to a cable TV screen, talking news stuff about how Silver came and left! It is just hard to care about this movie unfortunately.

Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy and the rest gave a performance; I just think they chose a bad movie to represent...

Like most of these supernatural flicks they do tend to offer some nice twists, basically to change the mind of the audience last minute. Red Lights seemed destined to go down an unexpected road but left a climax that was indeed surprising but in no way memorable.

De Niro’s appearance is not surprising though. "Killer Elite"..."New Year’s Eve" “Righteous Kill” "Hide and seek"...what next?  Cillian Murphy was by far the best even though you could not care less whether he lives or dies in this flick!

I will say,  Elizabeth Olsen plays Sally, a student of Margret and Tom’s paranormal class. She tags alongside Tom while he sets the path to exposing the great Simon Silver! Elizabeth Olsen (3 of a kind?) has a bright future ahead of her...honestly she is quite good.

Overall: Boring and pretty Mundane = Skip

4/10

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