Awake (film)

Infobox Film
name = Awake


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Joby Harold
producer = Jason Kliot
John Penotti
Joana Vicente
writer = Joby Harold
starring = Hayden Christensen
Jessica Alba
Terrence Howard
distributor = The Weinstein Company
released = USA: November 30, 2007
UK/Ireland: April 4, 2008
screened =
music = Samuel Sim
runtime =
country = USA
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:335199
imdb_id = 0211933

"Awake" is a 2007 suspense thriller written and directed by Joby Harold. It stars Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Lena Olin, and Terrence Howard. The film was rated R by the MPAA for language, an intense disturbing situation, and brief drug use.

The film was released in the United States and Canada on November 30, 2007.

Plot

Capital-investment firm chief Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is in love with a woman named Sam (Jessica Alba) but is unwilling to tell his mother, Lilith Beresford (Lena Olin), of their relationship. It is later revealed that this is due to Sam being Lilith's personal assistant. Clay suffers from a heart condition that requires a heart transplant to be carried out by Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) who had previously saved his life and is now his good friend. Lilith and her friend, Dr. Neyer (Arliss Howard), try to dissuade him from using Dr. Harper as his surgeon, due to Harper's spotty medical history and existing malpractice claims. In the interim, he has to disclose his relationship with his fiancé, Sam. Lilith does not take kindly to Clay's haste and asks him to wait until he is older.

Clay becomes upset and leaves with Sam, to be married in a private midnight ceremony with Dr. Harper as his best man and witness. As Clay and Sam begin to consummate their marriage, Clay receives a message via his pager informing him of a heart being ready for his transplant. Clay goes to the hospital to meet with Dr Harper, where Lilith tries to dissuade him again and insists Dr. Neyer perform the surgery instead. Clay, frustrated with his mother's sheltering, brushes aside her concerns and proceeds with Dr. Harper as his surgeon.

In the operating room the original anesthesiologist is unexpectedly replaced by an apparently inept doctor, Larry, claiming to be from another hospital. This disturbs some of the team members and momentarily concerns Clay. During surgery, Clay encounters "anesthetic awareness" and finds himself fully conscious but paralyzed. To escape the pain, Clay has an out-of-body experience.

From the conversations in the operating room Clay discovers his entire surgical team has plotted to kill him on the operating table. The failure or rejection of the transplant would prove fatal without a viable alternative. Dr. Harper is having second thoughts when Sam comes in to encourage him to go through with the plan. Meanwhile, Lilith anxiously awaits for the results of the operation. Sam tries to win the affection of her new mother-in-law during her moment of vulnerability.

Lilith grows suspicious of Sam, who seemed to have a lot of knowledge of the hospital and its personnel. So she looks through her purse, only to find that Sam was a nurse at the hospital where the surgery is being performed before she became her assistant. Sam enters the operating room and from the following conversations Clay discovers that Sam worked at the hospital under Dr. Harper, and realizes that Sam is also part of the scheme. He becomes dejected, and, accepting his fate, walks to his home and awaits death.

Lilith intentionally overdoses and calls her doctor to return and save her son (Clay's blood type is extremely rare, and Lilith is his only hope now due to the failed heart). Dr. Neyer returns to replace Dr. Harper and his surgical team with Lilith as a new heart donor. Larry also seems to know that there was something sinister about the old operating team. Dr. Neyer tells them that the police are on the way, and that he knew the drug they had injected into the transplant heart to cause it to fail. As they try to escape, Larry tells the police where two of them went.

Sam abandons Dr. Harper, saying that she will claim innocence in the matter. So Dr. Harper locks himself in his office and tells Sam that he has the syringe with Sam's fingerprints on it, and awaits his inevitable arrest, expressing repentance for his actions. It is revealed Sam had persuaded Dr. Harper under the pretense that she would use part of Clay's vast fortune to pay for all of the malpractice suits against Dr. Harper as payment for assisting her in the murder.

Although the transplant is a success, Clay refuses to leave limbo believing he has nothing left in the outside world after his mother's death and wife's betrayal. Lilith appears to him and revisits his childhood past with him and shows that during a quarrel she accidentally murdered his father to protect him. After Lilith convinces Clay that he is a better man than his father ever was, Clay decides that his life is worth living and leaves limbo.

Dr. Harper closes the film with the phrase, "He is awake", and his narration admits their guilt. Sam is shown being cornered and arrested.

Cast

*Hayden Christensen as Clay Beresford, Jr.
*Jessica Alba as Samantha "Sam" Lockwood
*Lena Olin as Lilith Beresford
*Terrence Howard as Dr. Jack Harper
*Fisher Stevens as Dr. Puttnam
*Arliss Howard as Dr. Neyer
*Christopher McDonald as Dr. Larry Lupin
*Georgina Chapman as Nurse Penny Carver
*Sam Robards as Clay Beresford, Sr.
*Steven Hinkle as Young Clay

Production

Portions of "Awake" were filmed on Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus (Lowenstein Hall is converted to look like a hospital; the statue of "St. Peter: Fisher of Men" is visible in the scene). In addition, many scenes, included Dr. Jack Harper's office, the cafeteria where Lilith commits suicide, and the elevator bank, were filmed in Bellevue Hospital.

Reception

The movie was not screened in advance for critics. As of July 11, 2008 it had a domestic box office gross of $14,374,840 in the U.S. [mojo title|id=awake|title=Awake] ,and a total of $29,229,620 Worldwide.

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 18% of 34 critics gave the film positive reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/awake/ |title=Awake - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2007-12-02 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 34 out of 100, based on 11 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/awake |title=Awake (2007): Reviews |accessdate=2007-12-02 |publisher=Metacritic] Dennis Harvey of "Variety" said the movie "does have an attention-getting plot hook, but piles on too many narrative gimmicks to maintain suspense or credibility", [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935551.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 "Variety" review by Dennis Harvey, posted November 30, 2007] ] while Wesley Morris of "The Boston Globe" said, "The movie tries going for a laugh or two. It even makes stabs at irony. But since none of the story is suspenseful, remotely believable, or, at the very least, cheaply entertaining, who cares?" [ [http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=11128 "The Boston Globe", Dec. 1, 2007: "A thriller that could put viewers to sleep", by Wesley Morris] ] Among its defenders were Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times", who said, "I went to a regular theater to see it Friday afternoon, knowing nothing about it except that the buzz was lethal, and sat there completely absorbed. ... I did not anticipate the surprises, did not anticipate them piling on after one another, got very involved in the gory surgical details, and found the supporting soap opera good as such things go". [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/REVIEWS/71130001 RogerEbert.com, review by Roger Ebert posted November 30, 2007] ] Frank Lovece of "Film Journal International" appreciated it as, "A pulp-fiction suspense drama that doesn't imagine it's anything else ... delivering on its paperback promise and not gussying itself up with any pretensions to emotional or psychological insight". [ [http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/reviews/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003680440 "Film Journal International" review by Frank Lovece, posted Dec. 3, 2007] ]

A group representing anesthesiologists in Ontario blasted the movie following its release for having its "science completely wrong". Ontario's Anesthesiologists, a section of the Ontario Medical Association, declared numerous scientific and procedural distortions in the film such as the presentation of improper anesthetic techniques. The group disputes the film's claim that anesthesia awareness occurred as frequently as one in every 700 patients, although this in turn is debated by anesthesia awareness advocate Carol Weihrer. [cite web | url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2007/30/c6585.html | accessdate=2007-12-22 | date=2007-11-30 | title=Ontario's Anesthesiologists Criticize the Film Awake | author=Ontario's Anesthesiologists | publisher=CNW Group ] [cite news | accessdate=2007-12-22 | title='Awake' exaggerates anesthesia awareness: doc | publisher=CTV News | date=2007-11-28 | first=Angela | last=Mulholland | url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071128/anesthesia_071128/20071128?hub=Specials ] Also, although Clay's blood type is said to be extremely rare, in reality, his stated blood type, O-negative, is hardly one of the rarest, with 6.6% of the US population]

DVD Releases

The Region 1-DVD was released on March 4, 2008. Bonus material included an audio commentary by writer/director Joby Harold, seven deleted scenes with optional audio commentary, a behind the scenes featurette, and storyboard-to-film comparisons.

A "Blockbuster Exclusive" edition is also available for rental through Blockbuster Video which includes audio commentary, theatrical trailer, as well as outtakes and bloopers. However, it does not include the other extras included with the normal release.

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.awakethemovie.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=31561 DVD Talk discusses the "Awake" release delay]

External links

*imdb title|id=0211933|title=Awake
*amg movie|id=1:335199|title=Awake