Since streaming service Netflix started pumping out its own content in the form of Netflix Original films and series, they've made an interesting reputation for themselves. Some of their original content and exclusive properties are massive successes, and others fall flat. In fact, many fall flat.
Netflix always seems to be very current and in time with trends and what's popular, but often the works themselves just don't deliver. This feels especially true with their selection of original horror and action content. While they have some movies and series with amazing ideas that feel very fresh and current, many of them don't follow through with the actual piece of art. A perfect example of this is found in one of their recent releases.
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Released to the platform on June 9, 2021, Awake is a sort of dystopian horror/thriller with a really interesting baseline idea. It's set in a world where some sort of catastrophic event has occurred which makes sleep impossible. Of course, this means that people are growing weaker, losing their minds and hallucinating, and don't have much longer to survive. Main character Jill, played by Jane the Virgin's Gina Rodriguez, is the mother of a young girl who is one of the only people now capable of sleeping. The film is meant to follow their dangerous journey to a research institute where another person who can sleep lives, and they can potentially save the world.
This seems like such a neat idea that could have made an amazing movie. Unfortunately, Awake just really doesn't deliver. The premise makes viewers expect some sort of take on a sensory horror, with mind-bending psychological hallucination scenes and scary moments. What they get though, is a pretty boring and nonsensical film that doesn't have much of a plot and is very predictable. It's a huge disappointment.
Awake's ultimate downfall is really that nothing happens. There is a goal and a bit of a story progression, but the way it all unfolds is just so bland and slow that it's very hard to get into. Most of the film involves the main character driving with her two children, occasionally meeting good and bad people along the way. However, none of these encounters feel particularly dangerous or scary despite the potential. There's one scene towards the end where people start hallucinating and it becomes very chaotic and confusing, and it is the best scene in the film. Awake should have had a lot more of that, instead of just normal apocalypse bland action drama with the mental side effects of their problem as a background issue.
The little plot points that the story did have, either made no sense or were entirely too predictable. Jumping ahead to the ending and their eventual resolution of the issue, any viewer who was paying mild attention in the beginning would have been able to figure it out. The one saving grace that predictable plot points have is that they are predictable because they make sense, but most of this film was not like that. Things happened that seemed important, but had basically no explanation as to why. The backstory of the main character is alluded to but never explained, and neither is this strange cyberattack that took away everyone's ability to sleep and shut down every electrical device. That's the film's central conflict, and it's never learned who did it or why it happened.
Jill isn't the only character who suffers from bad writing, as her children and the villain are remarkably bland as well. Matilda, the daughter who can sleep, seems overly smart to the point where she's very annoying. She also seems to have some weird psychic ability that is not addressed. Noah, the older son, is very much the "generic teen boy" trope. He's a little grumpy, he doesn't like his mom, but in the end, his sweet and protective side comes out. And the film's central "villain", besides the event itself, doesn't even feel like a villain because she basically does nothing. The acting as well, as a general cast performance, is bad.
Even though this movie was bad and this wouldn't have totally saved it from that, there could have been some redemption in the visuals and the scares. Unfortunately, Awake has terrible visuals and literally no scares at all. What they try to do with some gory moments and more horror elements ends up looking awful and not being effective whatsoever. Just the general special effects as a whole are really weak, with even the stars in the sky looking like bad animation. It's a complete shame and very distracting.
Good movies have to have a good idea, but the idea can't be the only thing a good movie has going for it. When something sounds so interesting and then doesn't deliver, it ends up just being really disappointing and probably worse than if it seemed bad to begin with. Ultimately, Awake seems like such a wasted opportunity to make a great scary movie about a cool premise. Maybe, someone will do it right another time.
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