Awake suffers at every turn from a script that\'s never entirely sure what type of movie it wants to be. Attempting to throw in bits similar to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jacket and a poor trick-ending, Awake doesn't have much going for it.
Clayton Beresford Jr. (Hayden Christensen) runs a firm, which as far as the audience can tell, does nothing but employ people. No real business sense - their business is to create jobs without ever going as far as to give details. After the Santa Claus clad death of his father, Clayton steps into the shoes of his father to run the business and becomes a 22 year-old head honcho. When he's not wining and dining with Japanese clients to achieve a merger (in order to...get this: make more jobs) he's having sex with Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba), the sizzling personal assistant to his equally business-minded mother (Lena Olin). The movie makes it pretty clear from the start that it hopes to get through the 84 minute duration relying solely on Alba's looks. Proof: the opening scene involves Alba in a wet tank top.
While the film's opening message reveals how some people placed in anesthesia never actually go unconscious and remain awake during the painful procedures for which they were to be sedated - we sit for the first 30 minutes wondering how that relates at all to the plot. Somewhere in between the wedding of Clay to Sam, the revelation of their engagement to his mother and the introduction of the buddy doctor figure Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) we learn that Clay has a heart problem and will be going under the knife in the second act of the film. Yippee kai yay.
Clayton gets knocked out and the film's intrigue gets amped up. The plot starts to unfold. Betrayal. Jessica Alba looking sexy. Repressed memories. Jessica Alba looking really sexy. A new lease on life. Jessica. Alba. They really want you to pay attention to her.
The story isn't the most original considering how in today's thriller film world every writer feels compelled to throw in a tricky ending. Towards the end they decide to throw in a really unnecessary flashback to a traumatic event in Clay's past that the audience doesn't care about at all. In fact I was trying to figure out why they felt that to be a key part of the plot at all.
The acting will make you cringe. Hayden, as two-dimensional and cardboardesque as ever, ruins another movie. As if ruining two episodes of Star Wars wasn't enough he's branching his crappy career even further. Good for him. Bad for us. His dramatic screams sound like he was sitting in a phone booth and doing takes. Which is exactly how it went. But we shouldn't be painstakingly aware of that. His line delivery falls flat every time. Not only is he the Sam's Choice Brand Cola of the actor-soda pop metaphor, someone left the cap off and he is eternally flat. No carbonation here folks.
Jessica Alba's beauty overshadows the rest of this movie. The director knew this. The director depended on this. What the film lacks in substance it makes up for in eye candy. Tsk tsk tsk.
Terrence Howard can do better. Has done better. He was better in August Rush, so if you need your Terrence Howard fix - go see that. He has perhaps the best performance in the entire film - but that doesn't say much. Though if I really had to choose I'd say Howard was overshadowed by Christopher McDonald who only had a 15 minute part but stole every scene he was in. McDonald plays the substitute surgeon who you never quite know what to think of until the very end.
Awake feels like a combination of better thrillers and dramas from the last five years. Instead of seeing this one I'd recommend renting the Jacket and Eternal Sunshine, but if you truly want the cinema experience there are worst choices than this. Just don't expect too much. If Awake has anything going for it - cinematography. There are some really interesting shots by Director Joby Harold.
"Awake" opens November 30, 2007 and is rated R. Drama, Thriller. Written and directed by Joby Harold. Starring Terrence Howard, Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Christopher McDonald, Lena Olin.
