Directed by:
Joby HaroldScreenplay:
Joby HaroldCinematography:
Russell CarpenterCast:
Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin, Christopher McDonald, Sam Robards, Arliss Howard, Fisher Stevens, Georgina Chapman (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
22-year old Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) has a successful career with a capital investment firm and a beautiful fiancee named Sam (Jessica Alba). His life would be perfect but for the heart condition that requires him to have a transplant, and the fact that he has to hide his engagement from his mother, Lilith (Lena Olin), because Sam is her personal assistant. His friend, Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), is scheduled to perform the operation but Clay's family thinks he should go to a better clinic with a more experienced surgeon. After a row with Lilith over his relationship with Sam, Clay asks Dr. Harper to arrange a quick wedding. After marrying in a church at midnight, Clay goes to the hospital for his operation. However, after being given the anaesthetic, Clay finds that he's still awake and aware, but completely paralysed. While seemingly under, he discovers a plot to end his young life, but how is he to supposed stop it? (Icon Home Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (8)
After Derailed, this is another clever premise botched by a not so clever director. Weinsteins once again tried to skimp on the director and thought that in order to have a big hit, they just needed an interesting screenplay and good cast. And once again they ended up with something between a box office bomb and a direct-to-DVD release. Awake has a unique atmosphere, which is nice, and we have seen Hayden Christensen in worse roles, but the “dramatic twists” that are supposed to turn the plot upside down are just as awkward as in Derailed, and what’s worse, they are sometimes predictable. The fewer dime-a-dozen American thrillers you’ve seen and the more beer you drink before watching Awake, the fewer problems you will have with that.
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A good premise buried by a run-of-the-mill directorial approach and a shabby script that delivers every twist a moment after it can be predicted. The way it squanders its potential pissed me off, really. And on top of that, and let’s be honest, the actors aren’t that great, so, instead of living characters, you only get chess pieces that the screenwriter moves according to a previously drawn plan (which, as I’ve already mentioned, is not that hard to predict). As a result, Awake is a modern sterile thriller without a hint of atmosphere that at times shows great potential. The creativity began and ended on one point: the initial premise. Had it been longer, the rating would be lower.
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I have read a few comments here and they all mostly agree on the fact that the topic of the movie was not bad at all. If only it was made by someone with little more experience who can turn a good topic into a great thriller. The acting was ok but I kind of missed a bit more of the drama. The end is way over the top, but the story was made to shock and it actually succeeded in doing so. Although I still can’t shake off the feeling that this was just an average job.
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A huge surprise that I'll probably be chewing on for a while. I love it when a movie gets me like this and then I have to show it to everyone around me. This will be one of those that everyone around me will have to watch with me. What I like about the movie are the few unexpected twists and the constant intrigue. At the end I would have liked some kind of encounter between Clayton and the traitors. Jessica Alba's performance is good, Hayden Christensen surprisingly even better. A nice thriller. 4.6 stars.
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The subject is not bad at all, as it's based on a truly original idea, but in my opinion, it is too directed and played for effect. The same can be said about the screenplay. For the film to work in my eyes, it would have to abandon the traditional Hollywood thriller framework and have a much higher-quality cast. Like this, it is a stylish but pretentious game, where logic suffers in some moments. Overall impression: 45%.
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A film shot in a captivating way, with intimacy and impassioned romance that perfectly harmonize with an excellently crafted screenplay and an original idea that I may not have seen in the world of cinema before. For the first time in her life, Jessica Alba is not just an ornament, and Hayden Christensen is not a laughing stock. This fact alone is so rare that it is impossible to watch the film without enthusiasm. Add excellent supporting roles and a minute-by-minute brutal and uncompromising attack on emotions, and both Hayden and the viewer cannot help but be amazed at how everything eventually turns out. The final transformation is hardly believable, but conceptually entirely acceptable. An original and disarming film, in an intimate and heartfelt way.
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On the one hand, Awake is quite a cleverly constructed thriller with fine elements and an unforgettable atmosphere, but on the other hand, there are too many missteps, nonsense and bullshit to make it a good film (people going to the operating theatre as they please, some far-fetched twists and turns, unrealistic behaviour of the characters, etc.). I have quite mixed feelings with the result, some passages were very good, but as a whole it is a kind inconsistent and in the end it is "only" average and doesn't go anywhere higher. And yet the idea is one of the most original we could wish for...
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If we were to operate on the basis of FilmBooster genre labels, this movie would be more of a romance/drama/mystery/thriller. Whereas for the first half hour it sticks only to the first two boxes. Then comes mystery, and not long after that we have thriller. This development is Awake's greatest domain, because thanks to it we find ourselves several times running out of ideas on how the plot could continue and taking it practically from scratch. Personally, I was very pleasantly surprised by the two plot shifts, to the point where I almost forgot who was playing the main role, a fact that had worried me quite a bit at the beginning of the film. High praise indeed for the script.
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