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AWAKE
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Awake is the story of rich business man Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) and his two major troubles: his struggle with a heart condition and his mother’s disappointment with his secret relationship with girlfriend Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba.) The robotic Christensen mechanically tries to be his own man as he makes decisions about his girlfriend and upcoming heart transplant without his mother’s approval. The selling point behind the entire movie comes with the circumstances behind Clay’s heart transplant surgery.
No. He couldn’t. A razor-sharp scalpel cuts into Clay’s chest and the consciousness of Christensen sort of screams. He didn’t even have to physically act since his body was paralyzed -- all he had to do was convey overwhelming fear and pain in a voice over. I’m not an actor, but the thought of having my chest ripped into and being fully aware of the pain would give me enough direction to scream, cry, and squeal my way into believability. I swear Christensen could have said ‘Does not compute’ and I would have felt the same way about his reaction to being sliced down the middle. Besides my bias against Christensen, I also didn’t like the way his out of body experience was conveyed. In his state of ‘anesthetic awareness’ Clay learns that his friends have screwed him over for a chance at his fortune. Clay just walks around yelling at people and then eventually gives up and lies down. What?! “Man up you douche! This is not the time to take a cat nap. Do wandering souls even get tired?” I guess he was supposed to be some type of pseudo-ghost, and I have no real suggestions on how that could have been presented better, but nevertheless, those parts of the movie didn’t grab me.
Alba: I am a goddess
of beauty. Bow before me!
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Despite my distaste with the role Christensen plays, my interest in the
idea of the movie never waned. The director, Joby Harold, really played
up the ‘anesthetic awareness’ angle which kept me watching the film in
anticipation of what would happen next. The sight of a hospital under
normal conditions makes me queasy, let alone the fact that there is a
possibility I could feel pain while in surgery. It didn’t matter that
the chances of this happening were very small, it just mattered that the
chance was there. That little tidbit of information was the driving
force behind my sustained interest, and for the clever use of that
information, this film will keep a few moviegoers engrossed.
In two words: Hayden Christensen. He is ‘The Bad’ actor, ‘The Bad’ love
interest, and ‘The Bad’ leading man. It boggles my mind how this guy
still works in a business that is notorious for chewing people up and
spitting them out. I can honestly say I’m not a fan of his acting
ability, but the fact that he gets to work across from Jessica Alba and
pull her into a bathtub with him, puts me in a jealous rage that
amplifies my irritation.
Awake
was the definition of an average film. For me, Christensen took a lot
away from the film and some of the direction In particular, the ‘out of
body’ scenes could have been done better. If you have the time, Awake
may be worth a fleeting look, if not, here’s what you’ll miss: