Awake
(2007/Weinstein Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C-
Joby
Harold’s Awake (2007) was sold on
the near-torture porn gimmick that people sometimes are not asleep during
surgery, no matter the amount of anesthesia they have been given, with a
would-be thriller built around it. The
film turns out not to be as gimmicky as the promo would have you believe, but
it is especially hard to believe when the film had likable leads like Hayden
Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard, they hardly showed up in the
promotion!
Even more
disappointing is that, despite the premise of a murder mystery built around
this medical conundrum, Harold just can’t seem to make it work and the film
starts to unravel early on, as uneven and unoriginal, as it is boring and
wastes all this talent. Too bad, because
these leads (along with Lena Olin) have serious potential chemistry and very
little of it is realized here.
Howard is
on his way up despite the strange Iron
Man affair where dropping him is a mistake (no matter how much I like Don
Cheadle), while Alba is still on top after her Fantastic Four run.
Christensen is the one who is really suffering when he should be
building up, but at least this was a choice that made more sense than many
other commercial options. Though Awake didn’t put me to sleep, it is a
missed opportunity of a thriller that should not have failed.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image did not look good at first, but we hoped
this was just a stylized lapse, until it turned out every scene looked
overstylized and strained, then we realized how bad the picture was all the way
through. Too bad, because the camera
likes these actors and some of the locations are good. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is a bit better than the
regular Dolby 5.1, but this is quieter than it should be for a new film, let
alone a thriller. The combination
disappoints. Extras include the trailer.
storyboard/film comparisons, deleted scenes with optional commentary by Harold,
who also does a feature-length audio commentary and a making of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
