This film angered me
I caught Red Lights on TV the other night. I didn't really know what it was about but wasn't expecting much. As the premise initially unravelled, I thought it was a really interesting idea. It seemed to be an attempt at turning the paranormal thriller trope on its head. Sigourney Weaver was putting in what seemed to be an intelligent performance. The cast was impressive. It was cheesy but was different enough that I felt compelled to stay with it.
What a mistake that was. This film must take the biscuit for lazy writing. Before I get onto some my more trivial gripes, I'd first like to say that the final 'twist' was a complete betrayal of what the film was selling itself as. It was a total cop-out, probably conceived because the writers couldn't think of an intelligent way of wrapping up a difficult premise.. so opted for lame melodrama instead. Enough has been said about how rubbish it is so I won't needlessly strain my finger muscles repeating those points.
What really bothered me about the film - even before the ending - was how vague it was. So Margaret died of a heart attack. Was this a massive coincidence (given what happened to Silver's previous critic), the illicit work of Silver's goons, or did Tom do it by accident? And why did the original critic die of a heart attack anyway? Elsewhere, there was no explanation for some of the ostensibly supernatural things Silver did. How did he bend the spoon? Why didn't he think it was strange that lights and windows started smashing when he clocked Tom in the observation booth, considering that it wasn't him doing it? How did he start LEVITATING twenty feet in the air on the *beep* stage?? Did he have strings attached to himself? This wasn't explained at all. Did he believe that he had these powers or was he faking it all along? It seemed that given the watch stunt etc he probably knew.. But this doesn't explain some of his behaviour throughout the film. It's as if the writers just pulled these ideas out of their arses just for the sake of lazy - but entirely unexplained - gimmickry.
And what the hell was the final act? Tom gets jumped in the toilet by one of Silver's goons, who initially seems to be trying to strangle him to death. Notwithstanding the fact that it makes no sense that Silver would risk blighting his comeback by having one of his critics murdered in a really obvious way, the goon seems to give up. Instead, he just punches Tom a lot, and then leaves without finishing him off. What the hell was the point in this scene?? Then Tom confronts Silver in a face-off so melodramatic and OTT that it makes Skywalker vs. Vader look like a domestic between Garfield and Jon. "SILVERRRRRR!! SILVERRRRRR!!" Why weren't security intervening, anyway?
And what was the underlying message? Again, impossible to say. That rigorous methods of inquiry may seem all very well and clever but that scientists are just denying themselves?? That psychics do exist among all the fakes??? Seriously, what the hell was this steaming sh*t pile of a film trying to say?