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      After this scene the two make it to a hospital to discuss business not friendly matters. Clay is going under the knife for some open heart surgery as soon as Dr. Jack Harper and his staff can find a donor. In the meantime Clay decides to let his mother in on his engagement to Sam but she doesn’t seemed please whatsoever. Instead of complying to his mother demands of not going through with it he gets married to Sam that night. Shortly after his marriage Clay gets an on call page from the hospital, meaning his new heart is available. 

      Once arriving at the hospital his mother brought in the doctor she believed to have a better track record and more experience. Clay is loyal to Dr. Jack Harper being that he is the doctor that saved his life and they are good friends. Dr. Jack Harper has had four malpractice suits in the past but they were all from grieving relatives of the deceased who needed someone to blame. During Clay’s surgery Sam does her best to make up with her soon to be under the knife.  

      The first few scenes establish what’s next to come as there are plenty of plot twist and a very cool story line. Anesthetic Awareness is what the plot revolves around, or at least that’s what the trailers lead me to believe. When Clay gets his pumps of anesthesia one of the doctors tells him to count backwards as he is expected to be out cold for the duration of his surgery. Instead his body is paralyzed in a sense and he is fully aware, not to mention he can feel each surgical slice. The scene displaying this accidental torture is okay. I felt some intensity was missing. The off screen dialog displayed the anger and fear but there was nothing but the words. I guess the surgery and the fact that he is supposed to feel everything was supposed to be effective.  

      Instead of being a film about this phenomenon, this film is more of a thriller about a bunch of greedy doctor’s that plot a scheme to get Clay’s massive fortune. I’d say in terms of a thriller the film is well written and stylishly shot. The films sky dives out of the reality plane into a sky of absurdity. Still everything is well paced and Writer/Director Joby Harold made sure to leave as many clues although all the bad guys are exposed pretty early. 

      Clay’s character ends up having some out of body experiences and can see things that are going on in the waiting room. This is where the movie gets silly. The scheming doctor’s are under the gun to fail their patient in order to make an easier living than being a doctor entails. I can’t complain about the acting as I believed everyone served this thriller to the best of their ability. This film reminds me of the more ludicrous phenomenon inspired movie “White Noise”. Now while this film is not nearly as bad, I do think that this film would have been more intense if it was more about the painful surgical experience. Joby Harold kept everything tight and I believe some people will have fun with this film or think that the surgical scenes are creepy. Terrence Howard is one of the busiest character actors/stars in Hollywood and he steals the show without being the typical villain. The perfect thing about his acting is I can’t tell if he is just showing up for a paycheck or if he is just making his character more reserved. The one true thing that I can say about him is that he always comes off natural. His character is persuasive and he hits all the right notes as Joby Harold wrote a character that needed to deliver the goods in certain scenes.  

      Basically this is a decent thriller about double-crossing, greed and a mother’s love for her son. Lena Olin is involved in the more dramatic scenes as she is worried to death about her son the whole time. Once she figures out the plot against her son she becomes a major asset to Clay’s survival. Jessica Alba is sexy and sweet but she is more sinister than she appears. I am sure the role was fun for her to do. The film has plot twist but I feel it was more about Clay figuring out the puzzle than the audience. 

      To be objective as I can I am sure this film will satisfy the anyone who isn’t used to morbid ideas. This film could have been very creepy but it wasn’t trying to be a fright film. Still those who are easily squeamish will be shook when learning about Anesthetic Awareness. The fact is that this rare but real phenomenon is stretched to make a more interesting story. I can’t see how a writer can go from such an interesting idea to making a traditional thriller. Instead of Clay dealing with the pain, he sucks it up to play paralyzed detective to figure out who is all involved in the plot to have him killed. My point is that this film could have been an claustrophobic buried alive kind of movie but instead it was typical. It’s a breezy story and will intrigue those interested in backstabbing soap opera plots. It’s brainless fun that I could have admired, and at one point the film required the brain to be turned on. One critic mentions this film does “for operations what Jaws did for the Beach”(Frank Scheck- Hollywood Reporter). First of all that is silly quote baiting and Jaws is a classic. I am scared to death of sharks because of Jaws and sharks are scary. This film uses greedy doctors willing to kill for money many instead of enjoying their already wealthy salary. This film would have made me scared to go into surgery if the pain, claustrophobia and inability to connect with speech were explored more often than not. 

      Special Features include Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Joby Harold, Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary, Under the Knife & Behind the Camera: The Making of Awake, Storyboard to Film Comparison and a Theatrical Trailer. 

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