By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Recently, I have had the misfortune of renting a lot of bad movies. I tried everything! Mockumentaries about Sasquatch, supernatural horror movies and remakes of old good movies have all failed to deliver something interesting. I nearly gave up on all modern movies when I took a chance on Red Lights. It starred Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver so I figured if nothing else the acting would be above par.
Needless to say not only was I impressed but I was glued to the screen!
The movie opens with two skeptics Margaret (Weaver) and Cillian (Tom Buckley) investigating paranormal activity at a house where a table raises off the ground. They quickly determine its fraud. Later, Margaret stands in front of her college class and shows how the family faked the entire event.
Afterwards, they attend a church ceremony with a man who claimed to cure his congregation of ailments like cancer. They exposed him to be a fraud and found his wife was feeding him information through a tape recorder. This was based on an actual event where hero James Randi debunked liar and all around real life villain Peter Popoff.
Meanwhile, notorious retired blind psychic Simon Silver (De Niro) returns to the spotlight. He has bent spoons, levitated and passed several scientific examinations that studied his alleged abilities. His fans and loyalists believed his routines to be a special gift rather than a magic trick. His performance was very reminiscent of the exposed fraud Uri Geller.
Margaret has a past with Silver. At one point when she was trying to debunk him, he used her sick son who was hooked to machines to hurt her emotionally which worked. She stood dumbfounded without the ability to expose him for a fraud.
This film is a rare gem. De Niro was fantastic as the charismatic Silver. Weaver delivered as expected as well.
I can’t suggest this film enough. The ending was unexpected and well done. It was an intelligent film without being pretentious or preachy.
Overall Rating: 8/10
