Anesthesia is used every day in hospitals as patients undergo surgeries. Most remember nothing, but some are not as fortunate. They remember everything, from the pain to the sounds of their body being ripped apart.

Awake is a movie about this phenomenon, known as anesthesia awareness. Starring Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba, the movie follows the story of Clay Beresford, a young rich businessman as he undergoes a heart transplant surgery, but doesn’t fall asleep from the anesthesia. Instead, he is trapped, unable to move a muscle but forced to feel every part of the surgery.

Not long into his surgery Clay realizes, from the sounds of the doctors voices, that this is no ordinary surgery. They are not planning to save Clay, but to kill him as a means to get his money. Although this sounds thrilling, the entire thing takes place while Clay is physically trapped on a surgical table while his wife, played by Alba, waits outside.

Although he seems to have an out of body experience and be able to travel through his past, Clay cannot talk to anyone he encounters nor can he change anything that has happened. The movie never brings you to the edge of your seat or makes you tense. In fact, the whole thing seems very mild for its R rating. The surgical scenes are not graphic and the adult content is negligible. Take out some of the language and this could have easily been PG-13.

Awake has a unique story, showing a phenomenon is not widely known and does a good job of exploring the trauma of the experience. The story line is creative and does keep the viewer guessing, however it still comes up short of a good movie. There is no humor, not enough dialogue and not enough real story.

Christensen may have shined in Star Wars but without his light saber and faithful sidekicks he comes up far short in acting for this movie. As for Alba, she is better for men to look at than to listen to and perhaps her roles should be limited to those with minimal speaking. Combined together they are even worse. Their looks may compliment each other but this does not make up for their lack of talent. The supporting cast of the movie did not receive nearly enough screen time to make up for the two of them. (one star)