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It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Very good until just past the half-way mark when it takes a downward spiral where very little makes sense. The twist ending is more of a let-down than a surprise and renders the film just plain silly.

Robert DeNiro, Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, and Toby Jones star in "Red Lights" from 2012. When I first started watching this I thought, "Robert DeNiro and Sigourney Weaver in a horror film?" I don't like horror and was shocked that such fine actors would do one.But "Red Lights" isn't a horror film despite some horror elements. It's about a paranormal debunker Margaret Mathison (Weaver) and her assistant Tom (Murphy) who go around the country exposing faith healers and mediums. Weaver teaches a class at the university, in direct opposition to the work of a fellow professor (Jones) who has a well- funded parapsychology research department.When renowned Uri Geller type Simon Silver (DeNiro) decides to come out of retirement, Tom insists to Margaret that they work on debunking Silver, and she refuses, giving her reason in a moving monologue.Nevertheless, Tom persists, putting himself in danger, bringing the film to a powerful ending.I am not sure why this film has such a low rating - I enjoyed it. True, of the two big twists, one was easily guessed. The acting was wonderful, and as someone wrote, it was great to see Sigourney Weaver, who like many actresses has aged out of leading lady status, regrettably. When she was in her twenties, she had the voice lesson after mine. She went on to a wonderful career, and she should still have one.I love Cillian Murphy, one of the most interesting-looking actors around. He gives an excellent performance. DeNiro as Silver is his usual strong presence.I thought the ending was fabulous! The film itself is slightly reminiscent of a '60s film, "The Power" starring George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette.

I will admit that I was very enthralled with "Red Lights" and its interesting storyline. Right up to the ending, at least. Director Rodrigo Cortés managed to have the audience in his grip with a very unique storyline that has the audience in the dark and guessing at what is actually going on.There was something profoundly interesting about the movie and the way it was directed. However, in my opinion, that everything just fell to pieces at the end when Buckley faced Silver. It was just such a poor choice of direction to take the story.The impressive cast really carried the movie so well, and their performances really made the movie come to life. You have Robert De Niro, Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy together for a spectacular ensemble. Just a shame that Sigourney Weaver didn't have more screen time in the movie than she was given."Red Lights" does raise some interesting views and questions about phenomena that we can't explain. Are they real or fake? That is, of course, a question answered individually by the audience.The movie started out great and kept getting better and better. But for me, then the ending was very anti-climatic and totally sunk the entire movie experience down from great to mediocre. And it was as shame too, because this movie really had potential."Red Lights" is well-worth watching, if not for anything else then for the performances by De Niro, Weaver and Murphy.

(48%) A movie that really should have been a whole lot better than it is as it had the cast, the director, and a good concept, but for some reason this just squanders it all. Biggest issue for me is that I really didn't find anything this threw at me scary, nothing at all, although I was intrigued by the evens as they unfolded, I just wish they ended up somewhere else. It seems to lack that little something extra as when some decent tension is built up, it's quickly dropped, particularly early on when the two researches are meeting people who claim to have supernatural power that in the end leads nowhere. What this really needed is a rewrite and some real freaky, yet clever and unique goings on to happen somewhere, anything, and this just doesn't, so because of that shortfall this sadly has almost nothing to offer but a good cast and a interesting plot with little to no pay-off.