“Each year, over 21,000,000 people receive general anesthesia.  The vast majority go to sleep peacefully.  They remember nothing.  30,000 of these patients are not so fortunate.  They find themselves unable to sleep.  Trapped in a phenomenon known as anesthesia awareness.  These victims are completely paralyzed.  They cannot scream for help.  They are awake.” 

Above are the words you are greeted with upon hitting play from the main menu of The Weinstein Company’s Awake Blu-ray.  Talk about intimidation.  Those are some pretty scary statistics if you ask me.  This premise alone hooked me right from the beginning when I heard about this movie being produced back in 2006.  The addition of Jessica Alba to the cast only heightened my interest even more.  I am not one for medical dramas by any means, but the intriguing plot and the leading lady sealed the deal for me when this movie was released theatrically in 2007.  It is funny because I can watch someone get hacked up into a thousand pieces on the screen, but as soon as you get realistic and medical on me, I squeamishly cannot take it. 

Awake is a 2007 psychological medical thriller written and directed by Joby Harold.  This film is his debut in both writing and directing.  The film stars Jessica Alba (she needs no introduction), Hayden Christensen (aka whiny Anakin Skywalker), Lena Olin (the mother from the hit TV show Alias) and Terrence Howard (most recently seen in Iron Man).  The film was released in the United States on November 30, 2007.  It took a long time to be released on the Blu-ray format as The Weinstein Company patiently sat out the format war.  According to some research I did, this film is supposedly based upon real events of a woman in Carolina, who was having a heart transplant when she experienced anesthesia awareness during the operation.  For obvious reasons, due to the graphic nature of the medical scenes in Awake, it earned a R-rating.  This was my second viewing of this movie and I usually don’t eat right for a day after watching this one.

Before we begin, let’s take a minute to discuss what anesthesia awareness really is.  When this phenomenon occurs on the operating table, the patient remains physically paralyzed, but is mentally aware of everything going around them and happening to them.  Conditions may range from only being able to hear conversations to extreme cases where patients actually feel the work of the surgeons with no way to alert them of their pain.  The medical staff is unaware of the patient’s consciousness.  According to some statistics I researched, for those who experience anesthesia awareness, about 42% feel the pain of the operation, 94% experience anxiety and 70% experience lasting psychological symptoms.  These kinds of statistics make me very uneasy about ever going under the knife for anything major.  If I ever have to have any kind of surgery, I am going to make sure to mention this film and how I want nothing to do with any of the traumatic experiences we witness in Awake.

Before I discuss the plot, I want to discuss three key points I took away after watching this movie a second time.  First and foremost, mother always knows best (you will understand this more after you have watched Awake).  My second point relates to the subject of money.  It does not matter how rich you are, all the money in the world cannot necessarily prevent you from health problems and/or dying one day, no matter how old you are.  Last but certainly not least, I still hate watching these medical dramas!  I swear, every bone in my body ached as I watched this movie and the various graphic medical scenes.

Awake tells the story of successful capital-investment chief Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) who suffers from a heart condition that ultimately requires a heart transplant.  He has selected Dr. Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) to perform the eventual operation as Clay is placed on the donor list.  Clay became friends with Dr. Harper after the doctor saved his life once before when he was rushed into the hospital.  Meanwhile, Clay is in love with a woman named Sam (Jessica Alba), his mother’s (Lena Olin) personal assistant, but is unwilling to tell his mother in fear of her disapproval.  To make matters worse, Clay’s mother is also disapproving of Dr. Harper as his surgeon, due to his four existing malpractice claims.  After everything blows up at home, Clay and Sam sneak off and get married in a private midnight ceremony.  Dr. Harper is Clay’s best man at the ceremony.  Immediately following the ceremony, Clay’s donor pager goes off notifying him of a heart just recently made available for him.  Clay and Sam rush to the hospital only to find his mother and her preferred surgeon waiting there.  After yet another disagreement between Clay and his mother, he stands his ground and remains under the care of Dr. Harper.  While being prepped for surgery, Clay and the medical team find out that another doctor from a nearby hospital has unexpectedly replaced the original anesthesiologist.  Can’t you see the trouble already waiting in the wing?  Here is where are story kicks into overdrive as Clay encounters the state we now affectionately refer to anesthesia awareness and not only feels things he should not be feeling, but he hears grave things he was never meant to hear.  Does someone want Clay dead for any particular reason?  We have quite the conundrum happening and unfolding here.  Unable to let the doctors know that he is still awake and fully aware of everything, Clay must find alternative ways and methods to go about saving his life.  How in the world can he accomplish that when he is paralyzed on an operating table you ask?  Well…you will just have to watch and find out won’t you?  What a tease I am…did it work?

Video

The Weinstein Company brings Awake to the Blu-ray format with a very detailed and impressive 1080P AVC MPEG-4 video transfer on a BD-25 disc.  The feature film is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.  While the film looks stellar for the most part, there are problematic areas we need to discuss.  Awake is like watching the ultimate High-Definition version of television’s ER.  The colors are vibrant, the details are sharp, the characters and objects are three-dimensional and the outdoor scenic shots are breathtaking.  Upon the very first shot of the movie, we are endowed with incredible detail as you can clearly see every piece of candy in the bowl sitting on Dr. Harper’s desk.  For the most part, and I will get to this in a moment, the flesh tones always looked natural.  There was not a single hint of grain or noise in the blackest of scenes.  Every single imperfection in the actors we know and love are present, just like we are accustomed to seeing in High-Definition.  If you ever wanted to know how long Hayden Christensen’s nose hairs are, there is a shot for you.  How is that for the ultimate Blu-ray High-Definition experience?

This video presentation would have won a 5-star rating had it not been for the following flaws.  Around ten to fifteen minutes in I started to notice some fine white speckles in the print.  It was nothing too bad at first, but then I started to notice what looked like fine film scratches as well.  These nuisances continued on ever so slightly throughout the rest of the feature presentation.  It definitely was not something that made watching unbearable, but it was noticeable at times.  My second complaint came on certain indoor scenes where the action was taking place not under the usual hospital fluorescent lights.  For example, there was this indoor Halloween party scene where the colors were very unnatural looking and as a result made flesh tones and objects appear orange-like in color.  My last complaint happens later on in the film during some of the operating room scenes.  I noticed halo effects on the solid colored walls of the operating room.  While this print is obviously not perfect, these three flaws mentioned prior do little to damper the fine visual presentation we have happening here.

Audio

The Weinstein Company delivers a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD surround track with the release of Awake on the Blu-ray format.  About half way through I was asking myself what I was expecting to hear out of the audio track.  Given the genre of the movie I was watching, I found myself curtailing my expectations around a very dialogue-oriented film and was met with quite the aural surprise when Clay was put down to sleep, or so they thought he was.  Up until the operating scenes, the content was very much dialogue driven through the center speaker.  Dialogue remained loud, clear and intelligible.  Enter post anesthetic injection, and now we are talking about a completely different movie here.  During Clay’s bout with anesthesia awareness we are greeted with an audible onslaught of dramatizing special effects presented throughout the sound landscape, as sound effects and vocals are reverberated from speaker to speaker.  Just when I thought I would be writing about the underutilization of the rear channels, I was proven so wrong.  I kind of wish it would not have taken so long for this engaging sound track to have kicked in, but from a filmmaker’s perspective I understand why Joby Harold chose to do so…to create suspense and drama after all…that’s why we are watching right?  Much like the video presentation, Awake screams for perfect scores, but very minute nuisances prevent this from happening.  One such moment that comes to mind is a hospital cafeteria scene where the dialogue becomes low and difficult to understand involving Clay’s mom.  This was disappointing as up until now the dialogue reproduction was outstanding.  All in all, I think High-Definition fans will be very pleased with the audio track presented on the Blu-ray release of Awake, as the anesthesia awareness parts of the film will delight listener’s audible senses, much like the presentation in Fox’s Daredevil release.

Special Features

The only part of the Awake Blu-ray package I feel cheated on is in the department of special features.  It feels like I walked out of the store and the cashier forgot to bag all of my items.  All of the special features, ported over from the previous DVD release, are presented in lackluster Standard-Definition.  It is quite disappointing considering the remarkable quality of the feature presentation.  However, for me I always buy the movie for the film and not its bonus materials.  Let’s take a look at what you can expect to find from the meager inclusion of special features.

• Feature Commentary – Our audio commentary track features only writer/director Joby Harold.
• Deleted Scenes (SD) – We have about 10 minutes worth of additional scenes from the movie.  All seven scenes include the ability to hear optional commentary.
• Under the Knife & Behind the Camera: The Making of Awake (SD) – This is a 13-minute look at how Joby Harold came up for the idea for the film and the amount of time the crew spent in researching how to reenact the surgical scenes.  There are also some interviews with the cast and the crew.
• Storyboard to Film Comparison (SD) – This is a 9-minute look at certain storyboards, presented in a split screen fashion, playing along with the film in certain key scenes.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD) – Finally, we are presented with the 2-minute theatrical trailer of Awake.

Final Thoughts

Awake is not going to be touted as the must-see release on the Blu-ray format.  In fact, I would be surprised to learn just how many people even know about the release of Awake on the Blu-ray format.  I would even venture to say that probably only the select hard core fans of Jessica Alba, Hayden Christensen or Terrance Howard films actually bothered to buy this on day one of its release.  But I will say this…if you go into this film with an open mind, intrigued by the film’s premise alone with the ability to stomach the gruesome medical procedures, then I think you will find a psychological treasure of a movie filled with love, mystery and suspense.  The suspense is not gripping to the point where you will want to watch it over and over again, but I think you will feel that Awake‘s 84-minute runtime was ultimately time well spent.  I believe that once you experience Awake, the thrills and suspense will be void for subsequent viewings, warranting not much of a replay value.  Let’s face it…when considering which Blu-rays people look to lay their hard-earned money down, I think they tend to err on the side of caution with movies they believe will have high replay values.  While Awake is a good movie with high Blu-ray technical merits, I think a purchase is better left to the hardcore fans of the movie whom have already seen it and know what to expect.  Otherwise, I think a watch or two will find most consumers likely to pawn it on ebay.  Is it me or does every movie involving Hayden Christensen remind you of the same whiny character he portrayed in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones?  I just never bought into the hype surrounding Hayden Christensen, and for that matter his acting abilities.  For the fans of Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard, I think you will find Awake a rare treat seeing your favorites play a different kind of role than they are cinematically used to.  Bottom line…Rent it first before a blind purchase.

I hope you enjoyed my review of The Weinstein Company’s Awake Blu-ray release.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments below.  I look forward to receiving any feedback from my readers.

Awake was released on Blu-ray November 18, 2008.  If you like what you read in the review above, then please show your support for our site by clicking the shopping cart link below to order and save with Amazon’s Everyday Lowest Price Guarantee.  Thanks!