“Awake’s” big screen premier this weekend had most of its reviewers falling asleep-at least the ones who could not appreciate the originality of the new-age thriller.
Admittedly though, writer/director Joby Harold can be held accountable for many of the film’s negative reviews. One of its biggest setbacks is the poor development.
“‘Awake’ is sub-par material that, incidentally, could have been the year’s most unusual comedy were it not so trapped by its own pretense to be a dead-serious thriller, complete with a connect-the-dots assortment of ringleaders, femme fatales and red herrings. “Awake” manages a weak pulse for a time but dies ultimately in its makers’ hands,” critic Jay Antani said in his Nov. 30 review on Boxoffice.com.
The story centers around Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen), an incredibly wealthy, good-looking, intelligent and romantic 22 year-old, who is also a venture capitalist and the CEO of dear-old-deceased dad’s company. All of his promised success is compromised when he has a heart attack and discovers he needs a new heart.
The beginning of the movie tells of Beresford’s overprotective mother and her wishes for his heart transplant and the passionate yet secret love he and fiancée Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba) share with each other.
The conflict begins, awkwardly enough, when a heart becomes available. Clay goes into surgery and although he is given anesthetics, he is awake the entire time. “Anesthetic awareness” is a dilemma experienced by one in 700 people who go into surgery every year, stated during the previews to “Awake”. Their body is completely paralyzed but their mind is fully functioning.
This won’t spoil the plot (because the trailer of the movie totally gives this away), but the doctors who perform Clay’s surgery want him dead. During his anesthetic awareness, we discover, along with Clay, why it is him they are after.
For the audience, suspending all disbelief is a must. It is highly unlikely that people who experience anesthetic awareness have an out of body experience and wander the hospital while discovering the conspiracy against them. The portrayal of the operation room, too, seems sparse and unpractical. Anyone who has seen “Grey’s Anatomy” more than once knows that there would be an O.R. and gallery full of during a heart transplant.
Once viewers can acknowledge that it is a movie (not real life), the true pleasures of the $8.50 experience can begin. Roger Ebert agreed in his Nov. 30 review of “Awake” on Rogerebert.suntimes.com. He said, “I got involved. I felt real suspense. I thought Lena Olin [Clay’s mother] gave a nuanced performance as the mother, who is deeper than we first think, and that the tension between her and Alba was plausible. And I thought the scenes where Clay imagines leaving his body, roaming the hospital, and having psychic conversations were well-handled.”
Awake” exceeds its poor Tomatometer reviews in its plot twists and realistic thrill of being caught in Clay’s state of anesthetic awareness. It happens to one in 700 people every year. Could it happen to you?