Awake (2007)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Joby Harold

Writer:

Joby Harold (written by)

Release Date:

30 November 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Every year, one in 700 people wake up during surgery. When they planned her husband's murder, they never thought he'd be the one.

Plot:

The story focuses on a man who suffers "anesthetic awareness" and finds himself awake and aware, but paralyzed, during heart surgery. His mother must wrestle with her own demons as a drama unfolds around them, while trying to unfold the story hidden behind her son's young wife.

Plot Keywords:

Surgery | Heart Surgery | Medication | Bathtub | Scalpel

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Fri. July 10	7:30 PM	SHOW
Mon. July 13	8:30 PM	SHOW

Cast

Hayden Christensen	...	Clay Beresford
Jessica Alba	...	Sam Lockwood
Terrence Howard	...	Dr. Jack Harper
Lena Olin	...	Lilith Beresford
Christopher McDonald	...	Dr. Larry Lupin
Sam Robards	...	Clayton Beresford Sr.
Arliss Howard	...	Dr. Jonathan Neyer
Fisher Stevens	...	Dr. Puttnam
Georgina Chapman	...	Penny Carver
David Harbour	...	Dracula
Steven Hinkle	...	Young Clay (as Stephen Hinkle)
Denis O'Hare	...	Financial News Analyst
Charlie Hewson	...	Brian the Orderly
Court Young	...	Officer Doherty
Joseph Costa	...	Dr. Elbogen

MPAA:

Rated R for language, an intense disturbing situation, and brief drug use.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #43173) | Singapore:NC-16 | Ireland:15A | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-13 | Argentina:16 | Taiwan:R-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Chile:14 | Italy:VM14 | Peru:14 | Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Bellevue Hospital - 550 First Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

GreeneStreet Films

Trivia:

Jessica Alba replaced Kate Bosworth after she dropped out to shoot Superman Returns (2006).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The surgeon starts prepping the op site even before the anesthesiologist intubates the patient. Usually you first sedate, then anesthetize & intubate the patient before any preparations starts b/c the sedatives and hypnotics tend to make a person susceptible to hallucinations & bad trips that could be triggered by sensory input (noise, light, the cold from the disinfectant).

Quotes:

Lilith Beresford: Clay, you've got your whole life ahead of you.
Clay Beresford: Do I?

Soundtrack:

No Kind of Life

Silly

AWAKE would be better named 'audience wake up' as the minimal novel idea of the story loses credibility so quickly that the development of the subplots become increasingly tedious and silly. Joby Harold both wrote and directed this film and despite the presence of some fine actors, the film remains grounded.

Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) has inherited his dead father's multi-billion dollar fortune and shares the wealth and control of his empire with his domineering mother Lilith (Lena Olin). Clay apparently has a genetically determined cardiac pathology, is medicated, and awaits a heart transplant. The only semblance of honest life Clay has is his love for his mother's secretary Sam (Jessica Alba) who, despite Lilith's objections, marries Clay after disclosing their relationship. Clay's beeper warning that a cardiac donor is available cuts short their night of honeymoon and Clay is rushed to the hospital to his constant friend, Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), who just happens to be a heart transplant surgeon and who Clay prefers over Dr. Neyer (Arliss Howard), the superior cardiac surgeon friend of his mother who has been the designated surgeon all along. The gimmick of the film is 'anesthetic awareness', a state of anesthesia when the patient is paralyzed but aware of the talk in the OR as well as the pain of the surgery. What Clay hears 'under anesthesia is a ridiculous, convoluted plot involving all the people he thought he could trust and about which he can do nothing: in order to keep the storyline rolling, the script gives him an out of body experience so that Clay can be his own detective in solving the myriad discrepancies of his situation. The ending is very predicable and begs viewer indulgence.

Perhaps the credibility of this story would have been better if the director and actors had paid more attention to OR technique: walking into an OR in street clothes, handling patients without gloves or masks, allowing outsiders to enter the OR during a transplant procedure, beginning surgery without documentation of complete anesthesia or before the donor heart arrives, etc. etc. etc. are such breaches of surgical rules that even the casual viewer of TV medical dramas knows. But the real problem with the script is that we are left caring very little for any of the characters, despite the fact the roles are assigned to some heavy hitters! Sadly, the movie is just silly.

Grady Harp