For the young man who has everything - money, a beautiful new wife (Jessica Alba) and a lucrative career, what banking heir Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) needs most of all is a life-saving heart transplant. Having found a donor, his joy turns to sheer terror when he finds himself in a situation few dare to imagine - he is left completely alert during surgery. In this thriller based on a frightening medical phenomenon, things ultimately turn sinister when malpractice starts to look an awful lot like murder.
by seven6guy
on 26/06/2009 2 of 2 people found this review helpful
What I loved most: Scenes between mother and son
Rich guy goes on operation table for heart transplant and realises that anesthesia does not work on him. What transpires is him being in his subconscious where he finds out that a plot was being hatched against him by a group of medical professionals. The story was pretty interesting and had a good end to it. Have never been a fan of Hayden's and still think that his acting lacks a certain wow factor. Jessica Alba attempts to do something different by taking a role other than a goody-two shoes, bimbotic flower-vase or superhero in Awake but fails any better than Hayden. Ok, she is good to look at, full-stop! Why did I give 3 stars to acting then? Cos of Lena Olin, who plays the over-protective and smart mother. Watch to find out! If medical scenes such as splicing and cutting up bodies are not your thing, get ready and go watch on an empty stomach as there will be explicit operating scenes involving blood and guts (however minimal). Awake's not a sleeper hit but entertaining nonetheless. However, it made me feel empty after the screening (translates to "I didn't connect with the movie enough") but still a smart enough attempt.
Luckily for Jessica Alba, bad acting is a bonus for her part in "Awake". She plays a pretender, and pretend she does, very well. In fact, most of her acting career is really her pretending career, but that's okay, because she is easy on the eyes – and hey, if someone looks that good, nobody cares if her acting isn't up to par. Combine her with fellow dodgy actor Hayden Christensen, and you're bound to get a turkey. Right?
Well... no. Like I mentioned, Jessica Alba's lack of acting skills makes her character more realistic, because let's face it, the average Jane on the street couldn't do any better. Christensen's stoic stiffness also made him great for the role of a slightly fragile, nonchalant young man full of bravado. Apparently, the part was first offered to Jared Leto, but he turned it down. Good job he did! I can't imagine Leto doing what Christensen did, bringing his rich-boy character to life in a genuine way; you can feel the maelstrom of emotions bubbling just beneath his calm, poised exterior.
The rest of the cast were good, but it is in fact Lena Olin who truly shines. Olin plays Christensen's overprotective and suffocating mother to a tee, where you initially feel so irritated at her intrusions on her son's life, but learn to understand her and feel for her in the end. While the mother-son bond is so freakishly strong, you appreciate how and why it became like that as the movie progresses. Terrance Howard doesn't display some of his finest acting in the film; I'd say he was pretty much in his comfort zone.
As to the story itself, it might seem as though fans of "E.R." and more recently, "Grey's Anatomy" would be jaded when it comes to gory surgery scenes, but "Awake" will not fail to break through and make you squirm. Combined with the organs, the blood and open chest cavity, there are the agonised screams of Christensen's character who can feel every single cut, slice and crack, yet is unable to give any indication of it, as he is awake but paralysed in what is a medical phenomenon called "anaesthetic awareness".
