It’s been a while since there’s been a good “twist ending” movie, but Red Lights certainly fits the bill; there were some tasty red herrings served (so it was hinted at), though you wont see it coming all; and the full blunt force of the twist will hit you with a pain as sharp and longing as a kick to the knackers.
Red Lights sees university professors Doctors Matheson (Sigourney Weaver, Alien) and Buckley (Cillian Murphy, Inception) give lectures on debunking fake psychics and being real life E.S.P. ghostbusters in their spare time. With the sudden return of controversial blind psychic Simon Silver (Robert De Niro, Raging Bull), Buckley’s investigation starts to lead him, Matheson, and his students, down a dark and obsessive path.
It’s actually quite a well done movie too (something not usually associated with ‘twist’ thrillers); director Rodrigo Cortés clearly knows his cinematography, and he captures the misery surrounding the plot very well, especially in a few neat shots where the camera surrounds a mad Murphy (spinning around him as he bellows Silver’s name out). What’s worrying however, is if this becomes his break out movie; as Cortés’ last offering (Buried) whilst stylish innovative had a twist ending to it too, and while it’s only two in a row it’d be a shame to see someone as talented as Cortés have his career go down the route of M. Night Shyamalan, a man who has been typecast for his constant twist endings over all o his actual movie making merits.
The best thing about Red Lights is that Buckley is such a driven character; as the film rattles on you can see why the man is so committed to his work, and why he wants to find out about Silver; the lengths this university professor goes to are unreal, and Murphy is such a fantastic actor, he really brings Buckley to life, and delivers a really good performance. The rest of the cast is also sublime; De Niro is a quality actor as always, and his acting goes to new levels when he portrays a blind man so convincingly, while Weaver is serviceable and Toby Jones (Captain America) does what he does best – be Toby Jones and play a scientist.
Red Lights‘ depressing mood also works really well; the constant weather effects of gloomy cloud and the build up to torrential rain adds to the utter misery following the driven Buckley, while rusty hints of red in lighting and locations are exceptionally well placed; tying in with the title of the film and reflecting the rage; making it a surprise to learn the majority of Lights was filmed in Barcelona (a place which you normally associate with being a sunny and happy). Watching Red Lights will definitely give you second thoughts about going to Barcelona, and whilst it’s not entirely a horror film is does have some good solid horror moments, and the seconds before Buckley turns on his anti-psychic detector at one of Silver’s performances are truly chilling.
Red Lights‘ ‘ghostbusters’ bits; wherewith Matheson and Buckley go around debunking supposed psychics; were also enjoyable, and have an almost X-Files feel (going around America and investigating weird stuff, before turning around and going back to university and ripping into the pranksters that they’ve just seen). In fact, both sides of the coin get treated quite well, with Toby Jones’ character representing professors trying to find E.S.P. whilst Matheson and Buckley do believe in it, but are still trying to find fault with the science.
There are far too many films where the twist just happens and you think why bother? But for a twist film, Lights works rather well. Take The Village for example – there’s no real reason for that ending; there’s no build, no clues, it just happens; it feels like an afterthought to tack it out when they couldn’t decide how to end the film. Red Lights doesn’t have that problem; the build-up is right, you will smack yourself for not spotting the obvious clues and should prepare to be genuinely shocked at the twist.
Red Lights is a class film. It’s up there with The Sixth Sense in being one of the great ‘twist’ films. In fact, Red Lights is better than The Sixth Sense, with the fact that Buckley is an engaging, driven, character who you want to see go far. Great plot, fantastic characters, excellent twist, and well worth your time.
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
