Reel Time: ‘Awake’ keeps you guessing ’til the end
![Reel Time: 'Awake' keeps you guessing 'til the end](https://thesimpsonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/24f9d946b932dd3ef15ed1b077fa1429.jpg)
December 5, 2007
“Awake” is a psychological thriller that follows the life of Clayton, played by Hayden Christensen. Clayton, who is in need of a heart transplant, trusts his good friend and doctor, Jack Harper, played by Terrance Howard, to complete his surgery.
Clayton, or Clay to whom he is referred to in most of the movie, is secretly dating Sam, played by Jessica Alba. He hides dating Sam for over a year from his mother. Sam has been pressuring Clay to tell his mother about her but he can’t just seem to bring himself to do it.
Clay has been waiting for over a year for a heart donor and on the night in which Clay and Sam secretly get married is the same night in which Clay gets a heart donor.
Throughout the movie the viewer is lead to believe many things about the relationship between Clay and his mother. They grew closer over the years after his dad died and his mom was very much involved in his life. She never knew of Clay and Sam until the night of Clay’s surgery.
One important aspect of the movie is that Clay and his mother are rich. Clay is a successful stock investor and is worth millions of dollars. This makes for a very interesting movie when your life is in the hands of a doctor who is a great friend of yours until a sudden twist spoils his plan of a smooth heart transplant.
While going into this movie I was a little disturbed by the first scene- Clay in the bathtub appearing to drown himself. Obviously, I was mistaken though- otherwise there wouldn’t be a movie. Sam is by his side while he’s in the tub and you see this relationship is strong while he pulls her into the tub and of course engage in some R-rated action.
If this doesn’t draw you into the movie, then the twists and turns will. While Clay is being prepped for surgery his anesthesia isn’t strong enough and is still awake. While by real world standards, Clay would have gone into shock due to his alertness, the anticipation of seeing what was going to happen next was overwhelming.
Viewers were constantly at the edge of their seats waiting to see what was going to happen. These little tidbits can’t be given away purely for the fact that they were so good.
There are many times in the movie in which I second guessed myself but I didn’t see everything that was coming. Clay has an out of body experience in which he witnesses situations from a different perspective and can see past events that have happened. This allows the audience to get a completely different view of the events that happened which changes a lot of things in the movie and makes for some interesting twists.
This movie is a great suspense thriller and the storyline is really well planned out. You will fall in love with certain characters, but by the end of the movie your opinion may have changed. In the end, the message is simple: Be careful who you trust.
4 out of 5 stars.