“Awake” is about the phenomenon “intraoperative alertness“. According to studies, this occurs in 0.1 to 0.2 percent of surgical procedures with anesthesia. The patients continue to perceive their surroundings despite the anesthesia of their bodies. Such an experience can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. If the person on the operating table – as in the case of screenwriter Joby Harold’s (‘Army Of The Dead’) directorial debut – then also realizes that the doctors snubbing him have sinister intentions, this should be almost guaranteed. Due to the poor quality of the film, we must warn viewers about possible side effects such as rolling eyes, confusion and/or boredom.
“Awake” is on April 29, 2023 at 10:10 PM on Servus TV. The station offers a repeat at 1:20 am that same evening. If, despite our warning, you still want to take a look but only discover this article after it has aired, you can of course simply order “Awake” on DVD/Blu-ray. Optionally, the FSK 16 title is also available there as a paid video-on-demand:
Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+, stars. He will return in the upcoming Star Wars: Ahsoka series
Joining Christensen in Awake are Sin City star Jessica Alba, Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), and Stranger Things sheriff David Harbour. You know all three from Marvel blockbusters like “Fantastic Four 1+2”, “Iron Man” or “Black Widow”.
There are also other familiar faces such as Lena Olin (“The Nine Gates”), Arliss Howard (“Full Metal Jacket”), Christopher McDonald (“Requiem For A Dream”) and Fisher Stevens from “Succession”.
“Awake” on Servus TV: that’s the story
Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) lives a seemingly perfect life in New York City. The young man looks dazzling and has successfully taken over his late father’s multimillion-dollar business. Plus, he just got engaged to the handsome Sam (Jessica Alba), his mother’s (Lena Olin) assistant.
However, Clay suffers from a serious heart defect. When a donor heart is finally found, he asks his friend, the surgeon Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), to perform the life-saving procedure. However, the anesthesia does not work. Motionless and therefore defenseless, Clay, who is conscious, must overhear Harper and his team pursuing a murderous plan that includes his death…
“Awake” – a dramaturgical disaster
“Awake”, which was completed in 2005, did not hit US cinemas until more than two years later. Studio MGM wisely decided not to show it to the press in advance and relied solely on an advertising campaign featuring the attractive stars. So the film was able to pull in four times its fairly manageable budget of over eight million dollars before it became known that it wasn’t exactly a masterpiece.
In our FILMSTARTS review, we reward a skinny star and call “Awake” a “dramaturgical disaster”. Not only starting director Harold condemns his audience to complete passivity. He causes the story to drift into gross dreamlike realms, opening up unnecessary side scenes and presenting overly constructed twists and turns that separate the protagonist from the actual plot. No wonder then that the air is quickly out and the tension is gone.
To make matters worse, the cheesy commercial look of “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” cinematographer Russell Carpenter is extremely exhausting and both Christensen and Alba deliver anything but brilliant performances. So if you don’t necessarily have to see everything with the two stars, you can safely skip “Awake”.
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