Awake [2007]

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"You have to live, Clay." -Clay's mother

Back in 2007 I was not the movie buff that I am today for one main reason- there were a lot of movies my parents wouldn't let me watch due to that oh so interesting R rating (I was only 15/16 that year). Well, Awake was a movie I really wanted to see back then but alas I was not allowed. Today I got the chance to finally watch this movie that I have wanted to for the past 3 years!
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The movie's main character is played by Hayden Christensen who is of Star Wars and Jumper fame while his love interest is played by Jessica Alba of Fantastic 4 fame. There is also Terrance Howard of Iron Man fame that played the heart surgeon. This movie, in other words, had quite the star cast considering this movie was the first for the screen writer/ director behind it.
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~Synopsis~
The twenty-two year old Clay Beresford is a genius of finance secretly in love of his mother's secretary Sam Lockwood. Clay has a complex, expecting recognition from his mother Lilith Beresford that he is as capable as his father was, and he needs heart transplantation. When Clay finds a donor compatible with his rare blood, he requests his friend Dr. Jack Harper operate him under the protest of his mother that wants the famous Dr. Jonathan Neyer responsible for the procedure. On the eve of his heart surgery, Clay marries Sam and during the surgery, he experiences an "anesthetic awareness" that leaves his conscious but paralyzed. Clay witnesses the dialogs in the room and discovers dark secrets about his surgery.
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~Characters/Casting~
Clay (Christensen): Clay, the main character, was a very interesting one. At first in the movie he seemed way to submissive to his mother (in fact ditching his love interest when his mother is near, and going as far as hiding their engagement), but the reason to this is revealed later on in the movie and this made me realize that Christensen was able to portray the character very well. As far as being an 'awake' patient, I found his portrayal to be very believable- though this is considering my far from extensive knowledge of being awake while under anesthesia.
Sam (Alba): I'm not used to seeing Miss Alba playing such a manipulative character! Oh my gosh, you have to see this movie simply to see the way Alba plays the Sam character. She is able to.... ah snap! I can't really say anything about her character without ruining the movie :(
I feel like this movie was well casted, especially when it came to the mother and surgeon characters. The others were good as well, but the ones casted for Clay, Sam and the Mom were really good choices.
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~Overall Impression~
While this movie is listed as a physiological thriller, it really isn't all that much of a thriller as it is a story about how a character's situation from child hood can really screw him over in the long run.
Not much is revealed about how Clay got his wealth, but it is very apparent from the start as to why he still has the wealth; and it is even more apparent why he was chosen for.... -AH SNAP. Like this is about to be a serious spoiler so do not read it if you're planning on watching this movie because it's a movie where not knowing what's going to happen 'till it does is what makes this a good movie- ... being the patient to kill.
The way this movie was executed was tre perfecto. The story was amazing and the casting was top notch. There's really nothing I can complaine about with this movie. There is really no soundtrack to comment on and I can say the medical practices in this movie were not dead on which is the main reason why this movie gets a 3 stars rather than 5. The medical staff was dangerously short, and I'm pretty sure if the staff was that short an realistic replacement would have been found rather than some last minute one.