Kashif Ahmed, 06/08/2009
Not quite thrilling enough to be a thriller, nor dramatic enough to be a drama; 'Awake' is essentially an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' unnecessarily stretched out over 90 minutes. Hayden Christenson (still struggling to act his way out of a wet paper bag) plays nice-but-dim heir to the family fortune; Clay Beresford Jr. whose spur-of-the-moment marriage to sexy maid Sam Lockwood (daft-as-a-brush beauty Jessica Alba) provokes the ire of his domineering mother (the magnificent Lena Olin). But that's not the half of his problems; for Clay's about to have open-heart surgery under the knife of friend Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard, good as usual) an MD with a less than enviable track record. 'Awake' has an excellent opening hook with a title card that informs us of Clay's impending predicament: "Of the millions of people who go under anaesthesia each year, a minuscule number experience anaesthesia awareness, unable to move, speak or otherwise indicate they are wide awake". Wow, you think, Anakin Skywalker's about to be operated on and he'll be, as the title suggests, awake throughout his procedure. But don't get your hopes up, for it's a good 40 minutes of boring exposition before we finally cut to the commendably suspenseful, but hysterically convoluted, surgery scene. 'Awake', when it works; works well and when it doesn't, we're forced to endure God awful, toe-curling lines like: "I think my new heart will love you as much as my old one". Somebody slap this guy already. But when they finally get down to what the synopsis promised, it makes for compulsive viewing and that's why 'Awake' is such a frustrating experience: for all they needed to do was trim the edges and settle on a tone or, if they really had to, shift the tone once for dramatic effect. Instead, director Joby Harold's haphazard approach to the material makes the film feel like an unconvincing hodgepodge of half-baked ideas. As it stands, 'Awake' won't put you sleep but it's not a movie you're ever likely to watch again. In the end; for all its flashily tricks, misdirection and tacked on subplots 'Awake' has one message and one message alone. The moral of the story? Always Listen To Your Mum. Worth a look.
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colette allport, 24/02/2009
This is a great film and one you need to watch to understand. It kept me guessing what would happen next, right to the end, I love films that do this. It has a good twist to it and the ending was unexpected. This is a good film if you like films like the Sixth Sense.
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laura eardley, 16/09/2008
The movie can be perceived as quite slow in the begining although overall it reaches a good climax and makes a really good thriller with lots twists and keeps you guessing. Not for those who have a weak stomach or are frightened of surgery.
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