Despite all the bad reviews I read for this film when it was in theaters; I find myself once again in the minority. Awake is a very well written smart film that takes an easy plot and adds a twisty concept to a a disturbing phenomena known as anesthetic awareness. At the beginning of the film we are told exactly what anesthetic awareness is and it’s not pretty. Basically it’s a phenomena where a person who is put under anesthesia does not fall asleep from the gas but rather gets paralyzed and can feel every move a doctor makes. That essentially is what this film is about.
Awake is about a young very wealthy man named Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen). He has all the money a guy can need and is a very good business man for his age. His mother is always up his ass however to do great things and find the right women. However Clay is far from perfect. He has a very bad heart and is on the donors list to find a brand new heart for him. The problem is that his blood type is rare so he has to wait until his doctors can find him a match. They eventually do and he is due to get his new heart soon. His best friend Dr. Jack Harper ( Terrence Howard) happens to be his doctor, the guy who is going to put his new heart in him and his girlfriend Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba) happens to be his family housekeeper. Unbeknown to his mother Clay marries Sam the night before his surgery, because they are so in love with each other. Clay’s mother does not approve of their relationship, nor does she approve of Dr. Harper doing the heart replacement surgery on him. She wants another more high class doctor to do it. Clay goes in for his operation and is put under anesthesia, however he’s not asleep but does have anesthetic awareness. Clay then learns that this is going to be more than just a painful open heart transplant. If I say anymore I’ll ruin the movie for you so you’ll just have to buy or rent the DVD and watch the outcome of Awake yourself.
The script for this film is actually very good. It starts off a little slow as we thrust into many scenes full of dialogue and character development, but once the plot gets moving the story really starts to develop and the plot twists and turns are revealed to us one after another as the story unfolds. It’s a very clever well written script. The story is very well though out and is presented in such a way where the story is very easy to understand.
Hayden Christensen is a guy whom whenever I talk to people about his role is Star Wars and the new film Jumper, they tend to complain about his acting. None of my friends care for him as an actor at all. Personally I never really noticed his acting as being bad, but never thought of him as great either. In this film it’s no different his performance in nothing great, but it’s not half bad either. He does a decent job with the role of Clay Beresford, but his voiceover work after a while did get to me. His co-stars Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard were pretty good in their roles, however I personally think the best performance came from Lena Olin whom played Clay’s annoying, yet loving mother.
The production value for this film was actually pretty simple. There is not much in terms of special effects or anything. We do get a Clay’s open chest and see his heat and all, and there is some make-up effects involving him getting cut open but that’s about all the blood and graphic content we get. All the sets are pretty much on location shot throughout New York City and inside a hospital. So there are no elaborate sets or anything. It’s your basic, well directed, produced film on a small budget of around nine million dollars.
Overall, Awake was actually a very well put together film that didn’t get much recognition when it made it’s small theatrical run back in December of 2007. It did however make money and almost doubled it’s budget so the film was a small success. It should do well on DVD, and hopefully it will find it’s audience. It’s a very simple well made film, with a simple script and a great thriller. Well worth checking out.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
