Awake (2007)

This Movie Is About: Clayton Beresford Jr. (Hayden Christensen) as one of the 700 people per year that is awake during surgery. Apparantly this is a real number. Damn! isn't that scary just thinking about the possibilities when you go into surgery, God forbid. So Clayton is a successful business man. The most successful business man in New York and pretty much the US and he's under 30! What's more is that he's engaged to the beautiful and sexy Samantha Lockwood (Jessica Alba). They have a beautiful relationship except Clayton doesn't want to introduce Sam to his over protective mother (Lena Olin). Oh, yeah, he has a severe heart problem that requires a transplant. That is where Terence Howard comes in. He is the head surgeon at the hospital that Clayton attends. Dr. Jack Harper is the common man's doctor, but the common man doesn't love him because he's had four mal-practice lawsuits against him and his team. But when the new heart finally arrives, Clayton doesn't want anyone else to do his surgery than his doctor, and his best friend. But once Clayton gets on the table, he has an adverse reaction to the anesthesia and doesn't go under properly and what he hears while his 'best-friend' is doing the surgery really makes him wish he listened to his mother.

You Should Watch This Movie Because: the concept alone should be intriging enough for it to get some consideration. But they went further than just the concept. They added a storyline to the patient that stays awake during surgery and gave him a real emotional back story with the death of his father and his over-bearing mother. It is a nice idea and the movie is loaded with subplots which make the one-location 2nd and 3rd act much more interesting than what people might think.

What's Hot: Jessica Alba is not the hottest person in this movie. Well, she is physically but Lena Olin for me was one of the stars in this film. Not only did she play that role of the over-protective, abused mother with the dark past to perfection, but she looked great for her age. Other than that, Hayden Christenen does well in trying to shed his Anakin Skywalker shell and this film is definitely a step in the right direction. Other than that, the surgery and everything in that operating room is real tense. Some of the best suspense I've seen in while and the set up is clever and although it takes a while for everything to get under way, it just flies by like the rest of the movie. Or perhaps it was because it's only an hour and eighteen minutes long but nonetheless!

What's Not Hot: I hate to say it guys but this nice concept and many subplots just didn't come together properly. This film just felt major rushed. The biggest problem with the film is that Clayton being awake and hearing a whole bunch of stuff doesn't go anywhere. Without spoiling what he hears, it's pretty much something pretty bad that the doctors are planning for him. So he has to wake up and expose the doctors for what they're doing, but in the end, what he hears has nothing to do with the ending. It gets resolved for him. I'm not going to say how or what happens because I think it is interesting but I think they really missed a good note because they must have gotten this flagged at story meetings. Too bad. Other minor things include how convenient everything is. Like everything. That's all I will say. Terence Howard plays that confused character who doesn't know what's wrong or what's right and is emotionally torn. You've seen this character a few times already and it doesn't change.

Last Comments: Awake is a nice concept and there are many interesting subplots that run through it. The tension is great at times and the surgery scenes are especially tense and the direction is fabulous for those scenes. But the story is where the heart is and it's just not there. Other than the fact that what he hears has no bearing on the ending, him being awake or not doesn't really factor into anything whatsoever. The whole set up of the crime or the operation is a bit too easy and what happens is all a bit too easy. And although the backstory with Clayton's father is interesting, it really didn't have enough weight on it to warrant him being alive or dead in the end. I just thought since this film was only an hour and eighteen minutes, they could have taken a bit more time at the beginning and the end to sure up the logic and add a bit more emotional punch to the characters which would have gotten the audience more on board with the emotional aspects of the film.

Breaking It Down:
Story: 6.0 (Joby Harold)
Direction: 8.0 (Joby Harold)
Acting: 7.0
Cinematography: 6.5
Music/Sound: 7.6

Entertainment Value: 6.8 (not an average)