Amanda Jimenez

Movie Review

               The movie I am choosing to review is Red Lights, starring Sigourney Weaver and Robert De Niro. This movie is about a psychologist named Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), whom investigates in paranormal activity. Margaret has a son in a coma which he will not wake up from, and she is conflicted about whether or not to let machines keep him alive any longer. So Margaret goes on this journey along with her assistant Tom (Cillian Murphy), disproving announced psychics, and secretly hoping to find evidence of an afterlife for her son’s sake. However, there is one psychic Margaret has not been able to discover the truth about, Simon Silver (Robert De Niro). Simon Silver is a well-known blind psychic who hasn’t been proven to be a fake. Then Margaret suddenly dies, and as a result of her death Tom continues her work and tries to find the truth about Simon Silver.

               This movie is intriguing from the moment it begins. Margaret is a very talented psychologist and very observant. From the beginning of the movie she pulls apart fact from fiction, and catches every slight piece of evidence proving these so called psychics are phony. It isn’t until she comes across an announced psychic and can’t figure out how he does what he does. She warns Tom he is a tricky one, and to leave him alone. But Tom’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he goes through very bizarre adventures. Throughout the rest of the movie, you are trying to figure out if Simon is a real psychic or if he is faking everyone out. There are certain things he does such as bending a spoon in half using only two fingers, or imprinting his thoughts on pictures from a camera. Also, he has a gift of being able to see things, even though he cannot see. Tom goes almost insane trying to figure out what we, the audience, are trying to figure out. It isn’t until the end when Tom comes to his final conclusion. I do not want to spoil the ending, so all I can say is he finds out if Simon is a liar, or if he is telling the truth. But at the end of the movie, it makes you wonder if Tom himself was a psychic all along. This ending is what makes this movie worth seeing. Although this movie is about exposing fake psychics, you can’t help but wonder if there are real psychics out there. It makes you wonder how to be certain about an afterlife. Do we see only things we want to see? Or does the fact that we can prove them wrong mean there may not be a supernatural world?