When the power goes down globally inexplicably, and no one can sleep, a mother is tasked with leading her daughter, the only person who can sleep, to a hub in search of a potential cure.
A suspenseful story with anticlimactic execution. I’ll cut to the chase. Gina Rodriguez does a great job as a struggling mother who does what needs to be done. Undeniable! She’s a brilliant actress and deserves a lot of praise. Actually, Rodriguez and story writer Gregory Poirier deserve all the praise in the film.
Unfortunately, the story’s development to a script and Mark Raso’s directing proved problematic. In reality, all the obstacles the mom and the kids have to face would have been next to impossible. But in Raso’s Awake, solutions are easily found to the point of a gimmick, and horror fans don’t like easy ways out.
Problems, though, start way before that as the global catastrophe just happens, and its symptoms just spread with nothing building up in the process, keeping the suspense (just) at the lowest possible level. Once again, Rodriguez’s performance saves parts of the film, but despite her efforts, its anticlimactic narrative damages an otherwise good story. Mainly, I blame Netflix! They have all the money in the world and could have overseen the script and its plot holes before they green-lit it.
If I go on, I’ll probably start talking about the clichéd American reactions and emotional responses to certain stimuli as well as how the numbers don’t add up with the mom’s age and the kids’ and the subplot. So, I’ll stop here and hope that Raso’s next film will avoid all of the aforementioned and Rodriguez will star in an existential drama that will fully unfold her thespian skills.
P.S. For a proper parent’s struggle throughout a global catastrophe (and obviously main influence of Awake), see The War of the Worlds (2005).
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Solidarity for all the innocent lives who suffer the atrocities of war!
Stay safe!
