Awaken

What a bad movie. Bad plot, bad script, bad directing, bad acting, bad editing…just bad. Except for Daryl Hannah.

But this movie is one of those movies that is bad, but good. This is one of those movies that can't be taken seriously, yet is interesting enough keep watching. It has all the clichéd moments and plot lines, yet is just far enough away from cliché to be worth watching. There is no nudity, the bathing scene is, in context of other movies of the genre, humorous rather than sexy. There were a couple of moments of Commando, but then Vinnie Jones reappeared on screen and I couldn't take the movie that seriously (and I tend to have a fondness for Vinnie Jones movies for some reason).

Overall, this is one of those movies where details are almost completely unimportant, and evidenced by my texting throughout, and not feeling like I missed anything. Of course, as a fan of the Lost series, I did see a few similarities. And like that show, there were a few major story questions that went unanswered. But they did not take away from the overall entertainment. And as previously mentioned, the entertainment was provided by the just-off-cliché moments and plot twists (though one was clichéd).

This is one of those movies that could be a hidden b-movie extravaganza. It has the cast, and the heroine, Natalie Burn, appears to be on the rise. If you really have nothing better to watch on a Saturday afternoon, this is the movie. But really, wait until Ms. Burn becomes well known to watch it.

(btw - the rating I gave is for execution of apparent intent. Compared to much more serious-intent movies, and this is more of a 3 star.)

It is surprising that this was so bad because there were some real actors in it that I actually recognized. But the script was awful and most of the acting was atrocious. The story was an old story that has been told in so many movies it is not even close to interesting. I often wonder how movies this bad get released and what happens to the directors afterwards.

I often wonder what motivates someone to make a movie that is this awful. It can't be money because I can't, in my wildest dreams, envision this straight to video travesty earning enough to even pay the extras salaries let alone the former A-list actors turned C-list losers. Everything about this waste of film is bad. The camera work looks likes it was done by a tweaker with ADHD, he skips from face to face with no rhyme or reason. The fight choreography was obviously done by someone who has never been in an actual fight. And the acting, if you can call it that, is only surpassed in its hideousness by the direction, which reminds me of something from one of those 60's biker exploitation movies. Hannah and Furlong should quit while they are behind. I mean, I still had somewhat fond memories of previous films they played in, like Splash and Detroit Rock City, but those memories are forever tainted by the 90 minutes of stupidity that was Awaken. Pare and Davi have always been second rate actors and this movie confirmed that they have now joined the ranks of 3rd rate actors like Natalie Burn, who by the way, should be deported back to Ukraine before she attempts to act again. Vinnie Jones was the only reason I watched it as long as I did, but even he couldn't save Awaken from being the worst film of the new century.

Review: I must admit, I was expecting this movie to be worse than it was, mainly because it's a low budget Vinnie Jones film but I did stick with it until the end because I was intrigued with the storyline. Don't get me wrong, it isn't anything amazing and I doubt that I would watch it again but it still had a couple of decent action scenes and the wilderness backdrop wasn't too bad. Its about a group of people who wake up in the middle of Island, being chased by some mercenaries, led by Vinnie Jones (Sarge). There main goal is to harvest organs and sell them to an exclusive group of rich people, so when Mao (Daryl Hannah) finds out that her child is dying and needs organs to survive, she turns to Rich (Jason London), who is in charge of the organ harvesting group. When the perfect organs become available for Mao's daughter, the surgeon goes ahead with the operation, which fails and kills her. Meanwhile, Billie Kope (Natalie Burn) and two of the stranded individuals, fight to escape the island and come toe to toe with Rich's henchmen. Billie then finds out that her sister, has been working for Rich and they rekindle there relationship and try to escape together. It sounds quite interesting but it's cheaply made with some dodgy actors. The overall concept wasn't too bad but the script was awful and there wasn't any depth to the characters. Anyway, the movie isn't that great but I have definitely seen worse, with Vinnie Jones in the cast. Passable!

Round-Up: This movie was written and directed by Mark Atkins, who is known for making movies that go straight to DVD, like Evil Eyes, Knight of the Dead, Android Cop and Road Wars. This film had low budget written all over it and the, non-heard of actors were pretty poor. Edward Furlong, who became famous after starring in Terminator 2, looked awful and Jason London wasn't the best choice for the villain. Daryl Hannah's career has also gone downhill of late and I haven't seen Robert Davi in a film for some time, so the director didn't really have a cast who are in there prime. Anyway, I doubt that this film will hurt there reputations because there all starring in these mediocre movies to pay bills. 

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/horror/mystery/thrillers starring Edward Furlong, Daryl Hannah Vinnie Jones, Jason London, Natalie Burn, Robert Davi, David Keith and Michael Pare. 2/10

Let's start with the obvious - this is not a mystery movie and most defenitely not a horror movie. It is a very basic action movie that has a story that has been done a million times before - it adds nothing new and I can't really understand why someone felt the need to do this garbage. The lead actress is annoing and has like one expression.

The movie it self is not badly done, they had some budget clearly. Too bad they didn't have a script.