A better movie lurks within the disappointing thriller starring Sigourney Weaver.
The previous film from writer-director Rodrigo Cort�s was the Ryan Reynolds-trapped-in-a-coffin thriller "Buried" and it feels as if with his new "Red Lights" the filmmaker wanted to purposefully go to the other end of the spectrum, making a film as openly unrestrained as possible. Combining bump-in-the-night scares with an investigative mystery, the film begins with a prologue in which someone actually says, "It's starting." That sets up Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy as a pair of scientists who specialize in debunking apparent paranormal events, sort of like "Ghostbusters" meets "Mythbusters" but serious. They are then pitted against an acclaimed psychic (Robert De Niro) who has mysteriously come out of retirement after 30 years, all three locked into a game of wits, nerves and perhaps something more. The film wraps up with a reveal along the lines of"The Usual Suspects" or"The Prestige" in which it turns out there was another story being secretly told in tandem all along. That Cort�s lets his ah-ha montage play out for as long as he does signals that even he may not be totally convinced. It's not so much the narrative sleight-of-hand that is irksome, as the implication that there may have been a better movie lurking in there the whole time. Following the cheated containment of "Buried" and the expanded misdirection of "Red Lights," Cortes has proven himself to be a filmmaker not as clever as he seems to think he is. If only he would disregard the conceptual window-dressing and focus on the core elements of storytelling, he might yet make a more complete and satisfying movie.
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