Red Lights

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, Elizabeth Olsen, Toby Jones, Joely Richardson, and Robert De Niro
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller 2012
Running time: 113 mins.
Rating:★★½

Veteran paranormal researchers Dr. Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) debunk fraudulent claims of ghost whispering, faith healing, and other psychic phenomena by detecting what Matheson calls "red lights," the subtle tricks behind every staged supernatural occurrence. But when the legendary blind psychic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) comes out of retirement after 30 years, his once-fearless adversary Matheson warns Buckley to back off, fearing reprisal from the powerful Silver. Determined to discredit Silver, Buckley and his star student (Elizabeth Olsen) use every tool at their disposal to uncover the truth behind the charismatic, spoon-bending, mind reader. But Buckley is forced to reexamine his own core beliefs as his quest builds to a mind-blowing conclusion in this taut psychological thriller.

With an all-star cast, you would think nothing could go wrong and with a modern film noir opening credits, one would think this is going to be great. Yet with the introduction of De Niro's character, where it ends with him taking off his glasses and then putting them back on, was a bit over the top and too theatrical. Yes, his character is blind, but it isn't necessary to hit the audience over the head with it? There are more subtle ways of giving that personal character detail.

However, that little detail allows the audience to question with what is real and what is staged or a desire to debunk the claims along with the main characters. A brilliant decoy that leads to a dangerous and compelling journey.

Love the use of blue and green undertones along with the dark contrast. Great cinematic compositions from the close-ups to the panoramics. Alfred Hitchcock influenced suspense.