Am I Supposed To Still Hear You?

2007s Awake definitely has an interesting base concept, that of remaining conscious though unable to move, speak, anything whilst under anesthesia. It opens up a whole range of things that could happen to the patient or those around them. I guess, even the rest of the story in Awake, that secret wife Sam (Jessica Alba) has conspired with surgeon Jack (Terence Howard) to murder patient Clay (Hayden Christensen) for his wealth and the malpractice settlement, which would naturally go to the widow. It's just that the film is executed so terribly badly.

Who is Joby Harold? Anyone? He wrote and directed the film, with nothing listed on his IMDb page as far as previous credits go. He's married to the producer, though, so maybe that got him the gig. It looked pretty enough (helped by the presence of Christensen... did I get across that I think he's real perty here? In case I didn't, he's real perty), in a very generic Hollywood teen thriller kind of way. But the script is. Appalling. Everyone just muddles their way through (with the exception of the fabulous Lena Olin as Clay's mother! She's the only saving grace of the film. Well, her and Hayden's prettiness), so you never care overly much about what's going on. And then it's over - it's a short movie. I can see that it's trying to power along, it kind of almost gets there in points, but it doesn't ever hit the mark. It's just not a very good film. I'm sorry. It's not.


Why is Hayden doing roles like this, when we know what he can do from Life As A House? Did he just get lazy after the success of Star Wars turned him into a marquee name? Such a pity. Apparently he replaced Jared Leto in the role as well, so no matter how it had turned out, it was going to be pretty. Small favours. 1.5 stars.