Awake (2007)

Awake: Directed by Joby Harold. With Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin. A wealthy young man undergoing heart transplant surgery discovers that the surgical team intend to murder him.

“Some of the hardest reviews to write are the ones where you donu0026#39;t know what to say. u0026quot;Awakeu0026quot; is one of them. Let me just start with the basics. Do I recommend it? Yes. Is it GOOD? Thatu0026#39;s whatu0026#39;s hard to say about this movie. Some parts of u0026quot;Awakeu0026quot; are good, but some are merely okay.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLike many thrillers, telling much about the plot defeats the purpose of seeing the movie. However, I will tell as much as I can.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story goes like this. A rich young man named Clay (Hayden Christensen) goes into the hospital for a heart transplant, and he suffers from anesthetic awareness (meaning he can feel and hear everything, but canu0026#39;t do anything about it). This is key because what he hears changes everything.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThatu0026#39;s about all I can say. u0026quot;Awakeu0026quot; is an entertaining little thriller, and Jody Harold certainly has potential as a writer/director. His low-key handling of the film makes for an interesting, almost dreamy approach, but I donu0026#39;t know if it works like itu0026#39;s supposed to, because I have a feeling that it decreases the amount of suspense that the material warrants. That said, the unusual tone makes up for this deficiency.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe acting is solid too. Hayden Christensen became famous for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the second and third u0026quot;Star Warsu0026quot; episodes. His first outing wasnu0026#39;t great, and called into question his acting ability. However, his second round with the light saber was terrific, and his performance here shows that u0026quot;Episode 2u0026quot; was more likely to be an anomaly than the norm when it comes to his acting ability. His co-star Jessica Alba isnu0026#39;t as good, but it proves that she has more acting ability than many people give her credit for (her reputation for being a tabloid sensation and the limited acting options that result from it are probably to blame). Terrence Howard is solid, but he isnu0026#39;t given much to work with. Same goes for Lena Olin.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePersonally, I think it sucks when you like a movie but a lot of that feeling disappears when someone points out something that causes that to decrease. Such a thing happened with me and reading a review after watching u0026quot;Awake,u0026quot; but I wonu0026#39;t say it because itu0026#39;s still a good movie to see.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo, is u0026quot;Awakeu0026quot; a good movie, or just a movie with enough good points to warrant a viewing? Iu0026#39;d say itu0026#39;s somewhere in between, leaning more towards good.”