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Movies / On DVD / Awake
Awake

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Awake (2007)

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Reviews Counted:54

Fresh:13

Rotten:41

Average Rating:4.3/10

Consensus: Awake has an interesting premise but would have benefited from tighter performances and more efficient direction and editing.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language, an intense disturbing situation, and brief drug use.

Runtime: 84 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:04-04-2008

Synopsis: Writer/director Joby Harold's debut feature, AWAKE, is an unsettling thriller that highlights a deeply troubling medical problem. "Anesthetic awareness" is a rare but dangerously prevalent... Writer/director Joby Harold's debut feature, AWAKE, is an unsettling thriller that highlights a deeply troubling medical problem. "Anesthetic awareness" is a rare but dangerously prevalent condition that affects nearly 30,000 individuals a year, in which patients who have been put under anesthesia before surgery remain paralyzed while still being aware of their present situation. AWAKE tells the story of Clayton Beresford Jr. (Hayden Christensen), a successful young businessman who lives under the roof of his overbearing mother, Lilith (Lena Olin). Afraid to expose his engagement to Lilith's beautiful assistant, Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba), Clayton decides to do so when he realizes that, thanks to a rare heart condition, he might not live much longer. His best friend and personal surgeon, Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), supports his decision to take the plunge, and also advises him to get a much-needed heart transplant as soon as a donor is found. After he marries Sam, a donor arrives, but when Clayton is put under to receive the complicated surgery, he is shocked to discover that he's still cognizant of everything that is happening to him. As he fights through the pain to hear the doctors' voices, the more he learns about his best friend and his new wife, adding further trauma to an already horrendous situation. Featuring standout performances from the film's principal cast (Christensen, Alba, Howard), as well as its supporting players (Olin, Fisher Stevens, Christopher McDonald), AWAKE is a tense journey through the mind of an innocent man who's on the verge of losing his lease on life. [More]

Starring: Jessica Alba, Hayden Christensen, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin

Starring: Jessica Alba, Hayden Christensen, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin, Sam Robards, Arliss Howard, Fisher Stevens

Director: Joby Harold

Director: Joby Harold
Screenwriter: Joby Harold
Producer: Joana Vicente, Jason Kliot, John Penotti, Fisher Stevens
Composer: Graeme Revell
Studio: Weinstein Company

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Reviews for Awake

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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Less painful than having your chest cut open, but a disagreeable experience just the same.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/06/08
James Dyer
James Dyer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Imagine it's a comedy and pray for the end.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
04/25/08
Matt Glasby
Matt Glasby
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Accuracy is not the point. Suspense is. And from the moment Clay realizes he is not fully under anesthesia and can hear and feel everything that is happening, the movie had me.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment 8 Comments
12/02/07
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The filmmakers of Awake have crafted a domestic thriller that just may end up putting you ASLEEP.

Full Review Source: Maxim | comment 4 Comments
11/30/07
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Maxim

You'll laugh out loud when you see the operating room, which looks like something out of an early Woody Allen comedy.

Full Review Source: Houston Community Newspapers | comment 3 Comments
12/01/07
Gary Brown
Gary Brown
Houston Community Newspapers

With better actors in the two main roles, this movie would probably have been great, but with Christensen and Alba, it's just okay.

Full Review Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com | comment 2 Comments
11/30/07
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ShockTillYouDrop.com

It's not a great movie by any means, but as a throwaway thriller with a terrific mid-movie twist, it's not bad way to spend 84 minutes.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment 2 Comments
12/03/07
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Film Journal International

The plot has more holes in it than a tea bag and the film should come with a warning label: don't go see with anyone with even a modicum of medical knowledge, because they'll surely spend the film huffing and rolling their eyes skyward.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment 1 Comment
12/03/07
Bruce Demara
Bruce Demara
Toronto Star

I'm sure if I saw Awake again, I'd find plot holes you could drive a monster truck through but, on first viewing, I thought it was slick, goofy entertainment.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment 1 Comment
12/03/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Debuting writer-director Joby Harold’s thriller does have an attention-getting plot hook, but piles on too many narrative gimmicks to maintain suspense or credibility.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sometimes in their urgency to prevent critics from seeing their dreck, film companies throw out the baby with the bathwater. Such is the case with this nifty little thriller.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Silly, but fans of Christensen and Alba should be pleased.

Full Review Source: Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine) | comment 1 Comment
11/30/07
Gina Carbone
Gina Carbone
Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine)

Possibly the worst movie of 2007, and certainly the worst movie ever made featuring the spirits of dying people discussing their futures and sharing mortal flashbacks.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

The way characters interact with each other and the manner in which the master plan unfolds will stretch the credulity of even the most generous viewer.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Awake manages a weak pulse for a time but dies ultimately in its makers' hands.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Boxoffice Magazine

Awake is filled with risible medical behavior (the sterility of the operating room is repeatedly compromised) and a horizontal Mr. Christensen screaming variations on "Oh no, I can feel that!"

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

an exercise in dramatic paralysis.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment 1 Comment
12/02/07
Jesse Hassenger
Jesse Hassenger
Filmcritic.com

I can't think of less business-savvy premise for a movie than that of Awake...

Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) | comment 1 Comment
11/30/07
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

What a waste. Check out [Hitchcock's] Breakdown or Aldo Lado's 1971 Italian giallo Long Night of the Short Dolls for a far better treatments of the same subject.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 1 Comment
11/30/07
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

While the film kept my interest to a degree, it was more out of sheer curiosity of how much sillier writer/director Joby Harold would make the thing.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment 1 Comment
11/30/07
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
Film Threat
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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