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Joby Harold, Awake

by Stephanie Allerdice
12/02/2007

Every year during surgery, one in 700 people will experience a phenomenon known as “Anesthetic Awareness.” This occurs when too little anesthetic medication is used for a patient’s body weight. The patient is paralyzed, but awake and aware. And they can feel everything.

Anyone who has to undergo surgery soon should steer clear of Awake. This thriller will leave you with a nagging since of dread.

The movie stars Hayden Christensen as Clay Beresford, a successful young man in need of a heart transplant. He has a seemingly perfect life aside from his heart troubles. His mother Lilith (Lena Olin) is loving, if a touch overbearing. His heart surgeon, Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) is also his best friend. He is head over heals in love with his fiancée, Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba). But we know that perfect lives have to come crashing down in the movies.

The film starts out slow, inviting us into Clay’s world. The viewer gets to observe him as he spends time with the people he loves. It even gets a little cheesy when Jack tells Clay to live everyday to the fullest because each one could be his last.

Then, suddenly, he gets a heart. Now Clay can live happily ever after... or he could be awake during surgery, able to feel everything, even when the doctors literally cut his heart out. And he can hear his best friend and his fiancée betraying him for money. Good times.

And it happens just that fast. Writer/Director Joby Harold blitzkriegs your mind with the terror of the experience. The powerful images combined with Clay’s narrations were enough to make me have to look away and take a deep breath. The movie started slow but then it hit the gas and never stopped.

As in any good thriller, the characters were well defined, which makes it all the more harsh when Clay’s loved ones betray him.

The acting was generally good. Alba played her darker role well compared to her other, more upbeat characters in movies like Good Luck, Chuck and Honey. Christensen was outstanding; he has officially made up for being a whiny Anakin Skywalker in the last two Star Wars movies. This is Terrence Howard’s sixth movie of the year, including August Rush and The Brave One, and it shows. He seems worn thin in his role, but he puts in enough effort to make his character believable.

Awake is creative and engaging. It will send a chill down your spine and possibly give you nightmares.

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