Tonight:
5°c
Evening Standard rating
Painful operation
3 Apr 2008
What terrible thoughts it inspires to be told that 30,000 people who are put under general anaesthetic each year are paralysed but feel everything that is done to them. It happens to Clayton Beresford Jr, an unlikely young entrepreneur of untold riches, in Joby Harold’s thriller. The fact that he is having a new heart tacked in makes matters worse.
But that’s not the end of it. When not screaming (silently) with pain, he hears that his surgeon and best friend (Terrence Howard) is in cahoots with his new wife (Jessica Alba) to kill him and get hold of his boodle. If only he had listened to Mother (Lena Olin) and got his heart replaced by Arliss Howard’s swish cardiologist (“I’ve had my hand in Presidents!”).
Awake, the distributors warn, may not be suitable for those about to undergo anaesthesia. I can understand that all too well — but would add the rider that the rest of you might fall asleep in the cinema without any medical prompting.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
