Review of Awake (2007) by Robert L — 14 Sep 2009

During an operation one in seven hundred people wake up during the procedure, they can feel everything that is happening to them but are completely paralyzed. It is known as "anesthetic awareness". Clay Beresford (Hyden Christensen) is one of the people who wakes up.

Awake tires hard to make the viewing gripping, and I?m sure for some people it will be. The twists are varied and frequent, most of which you probably won?t see coming. However, Awake just never seems to achieve the sum of its parts. It never quite feels like it?s in control or saying one single sentence, it?s more just an implication of what could be the underlying tones of the film. Now while not all films need any kind of undertone at all, Awake seems to want to say something it just doesn?t seem to know what it is properly.

This is in no part the fault of Hayden Christensen who pulls off a fairly difficult role very well. He has an air of maturity about himself, which carries well for him in any film that Hayden is in. I?m sure we will see a lot more of the young man in the future. Until of course he cocks it all up, by being in some kind of rom com, but enjoy it while it lasts. Jessica Alba is as good as she should be as the loving secret girlfriend. Terrence Howard probably steals the film, as the character with just a little more depth and point then everyone around him, constantly questioning and doubting the situation he is in. Lena Olin (who I?ve never really seen before) if firm in her role as the other protective mother.

There is no fault with the directing either, which impressed me with the presentation of how Clay is seeing the world and reacting while in sugary would have been a difficult thing to convey, however Joby Harold does the job unexpectedly well.

Something which I found confusing about Awake is that the plot both seems to go too fast and too slow simultaneously, this is because when a twist is revealed it is done suddenly but the point is made three or four times in a single scene.

I?m not sure why Awake doesn?t quite do it for me, I?m doubtless to say that it will achieve more for other people, but for me if didn?t quite hit the spot. Maybe it?s because the plot, unique as it is, also feels ridged and overused, it?s the same sort of thing we have seen a thousand times before, only in a few different words in a few different ways. This is Jody Harold?s only film as a writer/director and that?s probably a good thing. To me the problem lies in the writing.

Finally, Awake is graphic. Maybe as graphic as Saw, simply because you do see the incisions on the operating table and the chest open and most of the procedure. Awake will make you think twice about having an operation ever again, and probably put most of us off for life. That?s not a good thing.

Think Diagnosis Murder with less heart and more Holby City. oh and that dude from Jumper and Star Wars.... the one that isn't Samuel Mother F*cking Jackson!