THE FIRST HALF — It isn’t Hitchcock, it isn’t an Oscar contender, it isn’t even the best film of the last three weeks. But “Awake” also isn’t the trash a lot of critics are calling it.
First-time writer-director Joby Harold still has a few things to learn about sweating the details of an operating room and getting inside the heart and mind of a torn man, but he knows how to create an intriguing plot and a mother-son relationship that moves the mystery along.
The son is Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen), the wealthy heir to his international businessman father’s fortune who feels he forever falls short of dad’s standing. The mother is Lilith Beresford (Lena Olin, a fine actor who raises this film), who at first seems to mirror the Angela Lansbury character in “The Manchurian Candidate.”
In the middle of this Oedipus complex comes Sam (Jessica Alba), Lilith’s personal assistant and Clay’s secret love. He finally lets the secret out to his mother’s dismay, and Clay and Sam are wed in a late night ceremony.
But Clay still has a broken heart, literally, and faces a heart transplant under the care of his trusted doctor and friend, Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard). That’s when things get sticky for Clay and queasy for the audience.
The Terrence Howard character narrates the beginning and end of the story, and he should have been a more compelling figure. The surgical proceedings also seem far too spare for a heart transplant, with unrealistic details such as a whisky-sipping doctor on the team.
But this is a capable and creative thriller otherwise, with a twist in the plot and in the stomach. Three-and-a-half hearts.
THE BETTER HALF: It’s a widely-assumed fact in movie reviewer circles that when filmmakers don’t show their movies to critics beforehand, it’s usually a dog.
Well, the new thriller “Awake” didn’t preview for critics, and it may have shot itself in the foot by doing so. The film, which only earned $6 million in its opening weekend, is actually quite good, especially for its genre.
I wouldn’t advise going to see “Awake” if you or someone close to you is facing surgery anytime soon, but otherwise most moviegoers will find it suspenseful, surprising and entertaining.
Be warned, though, it is very graphic and disturbing, with open heart surgery being performed on someone who is not completely under during anesthesia.
I can’t give too much of the plot without ruining some of the twists and turns, which even I didn’t expect, and frankly the previews and ads give away too much as it is.
The film revolves around a very wealthy young businessman, Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen), who has a protective and controlling mother (Lena Olin). Clay is in love with and secretly engaged to Sam (Jessica Alba), but he’s afraid to tell his mom.
Further complicating the situation is the fact that Clay needs a heart transplant and has a rare blood type. Urged by his doctor (Terrence Howard) to stop wasting time, Clay ties the knot with Sam and lo and behold a heart becomes available the very same night.
Soon Clay is in a nightmare, not fully knocked out during his transplant and learning some things he believed and people he trusted are not who and what they seemed.
You could get nitpicky with some of the details in “Awake” afterwards, but watching it you are caught up in an engaging thriller a cut above most. Three-and-a-half hearts.
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