2008 Woodie Awards
"Awake" could use a script transplant
By: Caitlin Foyt
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Lifeline
- Page 1 of 1
"Awake" is classified as a domestic thriller.
But it's more likely to put you to sleep than pump your adrenaline.
Starring Hayden Christensen ("Shattered Glass," "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith") as a young New York City billionaire with a bad heart, "Awake" is a story based on a disturbing real-life OR phenomenon known as "anesthetic awareness."
The opening scene of the film assures its audience that this happening is very common, immediately grabbing hold of a universal fear of going under the knife.
But the story soon falls flat.
There's too many sub plots in motion before Christensen's character Clay undergoes surgery, which isn't until a half hour into the movie.
Clay badly wants to be as successful as his father, he hides his relationship from his mother, he is disowned and marries his fiancée in the middle of the night, and so on.
And when the moment arrives that the audience has been waiting for, when Clay realizes that he will feel everything throughout the duration his operation, it is anti-climactic.
Clay's narration as the doctors slice and crack open his chest is nothing more than a weak attempted voice over, a near monotone "Oh no! Something's wrong…" as the scalpel easily tears through his skin.
Suddenly, Clay is living through his out of body experiences as he runs around the hospital overhearing present and past conversation that piece together a conspiracy that will end in him dead on the operating table.
Things are no longer suspenseful or intriguing, and instead, very predictable.
What wasn't given away by the movie's trailer is pieced together by common sense.
The acting throughout is decent, the characters are believable in their roles (aside from the voice overs that are supposed to be Clay's psychic conversations).
Some of the best acting in the entire film is by Lena Olin ("Queen of the Damned"), who plays Clay's dominating mother. Mother finally unfolds into a deeper character and the tension between her and Jessica Alba's ("Sin City") character Sam is convincing.
There was a healthy idea beating when Joby Harold, wrote and directed the film, but "Awake" could have used a script transplant.
Two out of five stars
But it's more likely to put you to sleep than pump your adrenaline.
Starring Hayden Christensen ("Shattered Glass," "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith") as a young New York City billionaire with a bad heart, "Awake" is a story based on a disturbing real-life OR phenomenon known as "anesthetic awareness."
The opening scene of the film assures its audience that this happening is very common, immediately grabbing hold of a universal fear of going under the knife.
But the story soon falls flat.
There's too many sub plots in motion before Christensen's character Clay undergoes surgery, which isn't until a half hour into the movie.
Clay badly wants to be as successful as his father, he hides his relationship from his mother, he is disowned and marries his fiancée in the middle of the night, and so on.
And when the moment arrives that the audience has been waiting for, when Clay realizes that he will feel everything throughout the duration his operation, it is anti-climactic.
Clay's narration as the doctors slice and crack open his chest is nothing more than a weak attempted voice over, a near monotone "Oh no! Something's wrong…" as the scalpel easily tears through his skin.
Suddenly, Clay is living through his out of body experiences as he runs around the hospital overhearing present and past conversation that piece together a conspiracy that will end in him dead on the operating table.
Things are no longer suspenseful or intriguing, and instead, very predictable.
What wasn't given away by the movie's trailer is pieced together by common sense.
The acting throughout is decent, the characters are believable in their roles (aside from the voice overs that are supposed to be Clay's psychic conversations).
Some of the best acting in the entire film is by Lena Olin ("Queen of the Damned"), who plays Clay's dominating mother. Mother finally unfolds into a deeper character and the tension between her and Jessica Alba's ("Sin City") character Sam is convincing.
There was a healthy idea beating when Joby Harold, wrote and directed the film, but "Awake" could have used a script transplant.
Two out of five stars
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