Awake

Having once spent 42 consequetive hours awake, I understand far better than most all reviewers what the premise of the movie leds to. It's not easy to go without sleep, and the things it does to your brain --- the tricks your mind plays on you --- is not quatifiably demonstrable. That said, the movie actually does a far better job of presenting the facts as they would be.

If you had only 4 days to live --- and knew that everyone else was going to die with you --- what information becomes most important to leave forward to your children who might survive?

You can summarize the entire movie in that question. Most of the other reviewers seemingly die on the question "where's the science?" forgetting that this is not a science movie --- it is a science FICTION movie, grappling with odd concepts and grabbing at possiblities that we're often not prepared to consider. So if you were to pass on IMPORTANT knowledge to your children..... what would you give them, in only 3 days time?

Would you tell them to burn all the books?

Books have a way of codifying information that might not always be factual. This point is made clearly in the escaped prisoner's rant.

Would you teach them the dewey decimal system to make finding information easier?

You're assuming that libraries will survive.

What information would you pass along in only 2 days?

Would you teach them how to drive a car? Would that really be important? How are they ever going to keep an internal combustion engine working? So many moving parts, only one of which needs to break.....

If only 1 day remains, what's important?

You can tell your children "I love you" all you want --- but that's not going to help them hunt for food... stay safe in a blizzard.... how to swim....

Most every reviewer myopically focuses in on the action.... or the plotline..... forgetting the actual premise. In actuality, that's where death comes in --- by becoming so myopically focused on particulars that you lose / lost sight of what's really going on. What's really important.

One hour remains..... what do you teach your children? How to open a can with a can opener? How to fire a rifle? What medicine to take for when you've got a fever? How to use a menstrual pad?

I found this movie to be fascinating as well as terrifying. I found this movie to be just as good as "Children of Men" --- another movie talking about the end of all life as we know it. And the questions it raises.... were well worth considering.

Movie has an interesting premise but like Greenland, another "disaster" movie I watched recently, it's as if the writers imagined the film as sci-fi but hadn't a clue how to actually write a plot with science, so they threw a few crumbs in the plot to get it going then Awake turned into a road trip to nothing. The characters were unable to sleep but I didn't have any trouble....

The movie is more about a former soldier/mom/recovering drug abuser and her vulnerabilities, which is generally fine, but like Greenland, Awake falls into one complication after the other in an attempt to get to safety / find a cure which, again is generally ok, but it should have had some science along the way to make it seem like a, well, sci-fi. In the beginning of the movie just after the accident the movie seemed to actually skip an important piece of information--where the characters become aware of the inability to sleep. Seems there would have been more buzz about that moment. Instead the movie jumps ahead like we're supposed to know that the world, except for two people, can't sleep and will go crazy and die. Well, nothing interesting (sciency) really happens from there. And the ending? What ending? It is a CHEAP shot by a writer to avoid a real ending. Go ahead and watch the film if you have nothing better to do just to check out that... ending. The little girl who couldn't sleep did a fine job acting. Gina Rodriguez is good a playing a vulnerable but tough mom who does a lot of sobbing like mom's are supposed to do. She's also good at playing characters who sound like they have asthma and no inhaler.

Could have been a better movie. I wouldn't have paid money to see it (well I sorta did since I'm a Netflix sub). Was hoping for more.

Movie couldn't hold my interest much but I finished it hoping for a good climax, but it ended in disappointment.

I saw Awake when it first came out on Netflix but just watched it again to review it for here.

I remembered liking it the first time. I loved the story idea. Not being able to sleep. I've had a severe case of insomnia for 6 weeks and was in out of ER because of it. I know how much I was in despair, so the idea of this film creeps the hell out of me.

The film has a certain amount of predictability to it, but that is what is to be expected.

Gina Rodriguez as Jill is good. I was a huge fan of Gina's and loved her in Jane the Virgin until it became so woke and focused on politics that I stopped watching it.

Regardless, if you like films like Bird Box, The Silence, even War of the Worlds or I am Legend, you should like Awake. The acting is all good.

Yes there are definitely flaws, but its a movie.

It's enjoyable.

Sure, "Awake" was watchable, but the movie was just one of those movie that you watch once, because it is adequately entertaining, but then you forget about the movie and never return to it again.

And that is because there were just way too many things in the movie that made so little sense. I especially found it ludicrous that society would break out in anarchy after such a short time. Sure, I get that staying awake for prolonged periods of time starts to affect the brain, but come on, for people to start looting, killing each other and such, nah, that was just a bit too far fetched.

The storyline in "Awake" definitely had some interesting enough aspects. But ultimately, then writers Joseph Raso, Mark Raso and Gregory Poirier just managed to come up with a mediocre storyline.

I will say that the acting performances put on in "Awake" were fair, and while I am not overly familiar with actress Gina Rodriguez, she actually carried the movie quite well with her performance.

I had expected a bit more from director Mark Raso with this 2021 movie. Sure, it made for an adequate enough watch, but it just wasn't a wow-moment.

My rating of "Awake" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.