DVD Review: Awake

Writer: Joby Harold
Director: Joby Harold
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin, Christopher McDonald, Sam Robards, Arliss Howard
Rating: R
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: March 4, 2008

Awake is one of those movies that plenty of people have seen, but few will hold onto after they have seen it. It reminds me of one of those movies that when someone mentions you say, “Oh right, I’ve seen that.” However, it’s not one of those things that you watch 100 times over. The premise has amazing promise. It is frightening just in thought. The idea of waking up during surgery and not being able to move scares me witless. I am sure it does most other people, as well. In fact, when I was looking for someone to watch this with me, all the men I knew adamantly refused because they were all chickens. There was no way they were watching this. So, I had to do it on my own. There were moments of creepiness, but those ended quickly and the movie was fair. There were faults, as there are in just about any movie, but it wasn’t bad.

The premise would have been better suited with a plot that was airtight. There were problems, moments of slight boredom, and then there were a lot of good moments. Having the main character spend a huge portion of the film on the operating table made the plot somewhat tricky. Obviously, by the name of the film, you can figure out the character is awake, but there is a lot that will need to be pieced together. While the acting is fair by all included cast members, the story needed more work to be one of those absolutely haunting films that you cannot turn away from.

Release Information:
Many people felt this film was troubled from the get go. For starters, it was shot about two years before it ever came out. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the powers that be refused to let press pre-screen the movie so there wasn’t a lot of tangible press out there trying to convince people to see this movie. In fact, I had heard so little about it that I had assumed it was a documentary about the medical phenomenon. Obviously, I was wrong, but if I thought that, who knows what anyone else might have been thinking.

Awake hit DVD shelves on March 4, 2008 courtesy of the Weinstein Company. You can pick this up for $22 at Amazon or probably for much cheaper at any local retailer in your area. The DVD contains the movie along with a few special features tossed in for good measure. In the end, whether it’s a bargain or not will depend on how much you like the feature film.

The Awake Plot
Awake revolves around a young, rich businessman with a bad heart that brings up the need for a heart transplant. Clay Beresford (Hayden Christiansen – Star Wars II Attack of the Clones) lives with his mother, Lilith (Lena Olin – Queen of the Damned). Playing the controlling mother to a tee, Lilith very rarely wants to let her son make his own decisions. In fact, she is so controlling that he has yet to find a way to tell her about the woman he has been dating for over a year. Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba – Good Luck Chuck) is the elusive girlfriend that just so happens to be Lilith’s personal assistant, as well. As you can imagine, mommy is none too thrilled to see her baby boy mingling with the lower class.

However, this is just a secondary issue, as the primary plot involves the relationship that Clay has with his heart surgeon and the fact that he needs an operation at all. Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard – August Rush) has been with Clay for quite some time and though he has been a part of numerous malpractice suits, Clay feels he is the best surgeon for him. Lilith doesn’t agree and wants him to go with someone more qualified. When the time comes for Clay to roll into surgery he ignores his mother’s begging and rolls into surgery with Dr. Jack and his team of trusty surgeons.

Things get somewhat interesting when Clay is put under and we soon realize that the anesthesia doesn’t take properly. Clay is awake through the operation, able to hear everything that goes on and feel everything they do to him. Without giving too much away, Clay hears a plot for his surgeons to try and kill him and listens to the surgeons plan his death while he lays there incapacitated.

The acting is fair. Jessica Alba does a fabulous job as Sam and the transformation that occurs in her throughout the movie is interesting to watch. She handles the role of a ‘can do no wrong’ love interest to a woman with a jaded history, quite well. Lena Olin gives a fabulous performance, as well. While this is no surprise, she brings a lot of strength to the role of a seemingly controlling mother, who really just wants the best for her child. Terrence Howard plays a wonderfully flawed surgeon trapped between loyalty and necessity. Finally, we have Hayden Christiansen. While he is off the operating table he appears stiff and rather uncomfortable. However, on the table he is quite amusing at times and offers a range of emotions at other moments.

The biggest problem with Awake is the thriller aspect. The film drags on because the plot is not really strong enough to handle the length of the movie. While the idea is perfect, the follow through needs a lot of work and the fact that it didn’t get the work it needed caused the film to suffer in many unfortunate ways. Awake is a fair, one time thriller, but it doesn’t end up being anything more than that. It’s doubtful that anyone would claim this as their favorite movie. However, plenty of people will be able to watch this without hurling something at their television.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The video quality for Awake was pretty consistent for movies that have just come out. The movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in widescreen format. There were no noticeable defects as far as the film was concerned. I didn’t notice any grain or picture distortion. Overall, the video quality was pleasing and I cannot think of any complaints that need to be raised here.

The audio works well for what it is, as well. The dialogue is heard throughout moments of creepy sound effects and music that pushes the story in the right direction. Little volume toggling was needed, if any. The sound was presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 with subtitles in English and Spanish for the hearing impaired. All in all, both audio and video were acceptable and make the movie more enjoyable.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
Awake comes with quite a few special features, some of which are actually pretty interesting. To start things off the film is presented with a commentary from the director. You will need to love the film in order to sit through this commentary. It’s not that it was bad. In fact, there was plenty of insight about the film offered in the commentary. However, Harold definitely seems like the kind of guy who is more comfortable behind the camera and it shows in this commentary.

A featurette, “Under the Knife & Behind the Camera: The Making of Awake” last for 12 minutes, offering some behind the scenes production and film story information that you might find interesting. It was a pretty good featurette overall. Finally, there are some trailers, the theatrical trailer, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and a storyboard-to-film comparison.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
I am not going to tell you to run right out and buy Awake because it did not wow me enough to do that. However, I am going to recommend you rent this movie. It’s definitely worth seeing at least once. The reason I am not advocating purchase is because, even though it’s worth seeing once, it’s not a movie that will likely get much use in a person’s DVD library. Renting will ensure that you get to burn a Friday night with something decent to watch, but will not have to pay extra money and waste space on something that’s not going to be important enough for you to watch over, and over, again.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Movie, DVD, Thriller, Jessica Alba, Hayden Christensen, Awake, Operation, Anesthetic

If you like this site, Donate to help keep us going!

---------------------
Written by Dominick - Visit Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dominick Evans is in his late 20's. He spends his days working as a full time writer/editor and a part time musician/composer. His passions in life include music, directing films, watching movies, reading books, watching sports, wheelchair football, politics and spending time with his family (fiancée Ashtyn, son Robert, and shih-tzu Oliver). Other interests include being an advocate for the disability and GLBT communities.