Gimme That Blink, Sweetheart

Awaken Review

Awaken

There are a number of things that get me interested or excited to watch a film; it could be an actor who is starring in it, the film’s director, or even just a really badass trailer. Nothing is more disappointing than when you finally watch this exciting film to find out that it isn’t exciting at all, and even worse, it just really sucks. Unfortunately, this has happened with my latest viewing, Matt Atkins’ Awaken.

Returning to consciousness on a remote island, Billie (Natalie Burn) is thrust into a group of strangers who all seem to be stranded without any recollection of how they got there or why they are there in the first place. Along with a few supporters from the group, Billie makes it her mission to escape the island and find out who has kept them hostage and why.

Awaken is an action film that could not seem to pick up any momentum throughout its entire 89 minutes. I could not get involved in this film one bit. The plot, which consisted of capturing people for the purpose of organ-harvesting-for-profit, is original enough, but it just couldn’t hold my attention for longer than 20 minutes at a time. I found myself pausing the film multiple times to go do things I actually cared about, only to return and repeat the process 20 or so minutes later.

The cast of this film consists of some pretty popular names, but the likes of Eddie Furlong, Daryl Hannah, and Vinnie Jones could not save this one. The actors involved all have talent as witnessed in many other films they’ve performed in, but for whatever reason, no real talent was displayed here. The acting felt flat and I didn’t care one bit about any of the characters. On top of this, I couldn’t get past Natalie Burn aka Natalia Guslistaya’s Ukranian accent that was shining through her forced American tongue throughout the entire film.

I kept hoping for some excitement to come my way, but sadly it never did. Even the choreographed fight scenes seemed dull and lacked any type of impact whatsoever.

I always like to recommend films to you guys because I know everyone has different opinions. Just because I didn’t like this one, doesn’t mean it’s not for you. If you support independent filmmaking and like action flicks, you might actually enjoy Awaken. Awaken is available on DVD from RLJ/Image Entertainment today.

I give this flick 1.5 hairdressers making rafts out of 5.

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