Review of Awake (2007) by Chads. — 08 Dec 2007
If you're awake during open heart surgery, wouldn't you scream gutturally non-stop for an hour rather than have lucid prosaic thoughts about your pain? "Awake" plays like "Next" meets "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".
That last sentence sounded like a joke. That's my point. It's not a matter of if you think too hard, we're talking about thinking, period. "Awake" is unintentionally funny. It's Robin Cook gone meta.
When one of Clay's ribs is cracked, he forgets to scream. Since Clay(Hayden Christensen) is rich, he chooses Dr. Jack Harper(Terrence Howard), a second-rate doctor, as an extension of his re-education, the crowning touch that follows his first subway ride to Brooklyn and sex with a working-class girl(falling in love with Jessica Alba is not hard).
Clay wants to be one of the common people. But c'mon. We're not talking about eating at Taco Bell instead of a five-star restaurant; we're talking about open-heart surgery! "Awake" is a bad film; a hoot.
But it's undeniably fun. Evil is fun. If you're going to make a second-rate thriller, it's bound to be fun if your main character recovers his memory. Alcoholic fathers in Santa suits are fun.
"Awake" is painless. Clay forgets to scream; you'll forget to, too.
This review of Awake (2007) was written by Chads. on 08 Dec 2007.
Awake has generally received mixed reviews.
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