Awake (R)
Silly surgery thriller is bloody, convoluted.
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- Studio: Weinstein Co., Weinstein Co.
- Directed By: Joby Harold
- Cast: Lena Olin, Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba
- Running Time: 84 minutes
- Release Date: 11/30/2007
- Video/DVD Release Date: 03/03/2008
- Genre: Thriller
- MPAA Rating: R
- MPAA Explanation: language, an intense disturbing situation, and brief drug use.
Parents need to know
Families can talk about what makes a movie a thriller. Do you think this qualifies? Why? What characteristics do most thrillers have in common? Families can also discuss what -- if anything -- the characters in the movie learn. How would you describe the movie's version of morality? Are the characters' sacrifices worth it?
Message
Social Behavior:
Scheming, careless doctors; anesthesiologist drinks on the job; an accidental murder appears in a flashback; mother and son relationship at first seems too intimate and codependent.
Consumerism:
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Lots of prescription pills are taken and shown in bottles (Clay has a heart condition). Minor cigarette smoking. Drinking and toasting (one hallucination includes a room full of schoolboys lifting wine glasses in a toast). An anesthesiologist drinks from a flask during surgery. A drunken character snorts cocaine.
Violence
Much bloody and yucky imagery related to surgery. Incisions show blood, organs, and internal goo; operation shows rib separator, cuts into heart; bloody surgeons' gloves. As Clay is "anesthetically aware" during surgery, he yells, screams, and expresses much pain. Clay and Lilith discuss his memories of his father's death. A character is hit with a fireplace poker; the body falls over a balcony, and there's a shot of the crumpled corpse on the floor three stories below. Suicide by pill overdose (body shown). When the cops arrest a woman, they smash her face against the floor.
Sex
Clayton appears in bathtub, then pulls Sam in with him (they engage in "sexy" talk during the seduction, such as "I was picturing you soaking wet with all your clothes on"). They kiss and embrace passionately before the scene cuts (sex is implied). They stand side by side in front of a mirror, naked; she's brushing her teeth, and the outline of her naked breast is visible. Several scenes show passionate kissing between the two, and at least one other scene shows the side of her breast. She appears in her bra and underwear beneath Clay as they kiss, preparing for sex -- but the scene cuts away before they get all their clothes off.
Language
Many uses of "f--k" and "s--t" (some with "bull"); other language includes "hell," "ass," "damn," and "son of a bitch."
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs
Is it any good?
First of all, Clay's unfortunate condition is discovered by an out-of-body version of himself, who proceeds to run around the hospital in scrubs (why is never explained, as he lies on the table in a hospital gown), yelling at various relatives and doctors in an effort to get them to see that he's "awake." What's more, there are so many betrayals by so many characters that it's hard to care much about what happens to them -- unless you worry about the careers of folks like Howard and Olin, who outclass this silly material in every imaginable way. By the time Lilith has to explain to Sam how she can "feel" something is wrong in the operating room ("He's not just my son: we grew up together"), you've got the feeling that something is indeed very wrong -- with this film.
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Parents and kids say
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