The Awakening is streaming on Amazon Prime. It's a 2005 super hero movie that looks a bit like a TV pilot from a decade earlier. It starts off like a lot of super hero movies with a character who is weak and dying and someone who loves her doing desperate to save her, which in turn winds up giving her super powers. This "cure", however, comes with more than just super powers, it also brings along insanity as a bonus.
The F/X are, as I mentioned, good for a late nineties TV show. They're not on par with what many will expect now in our age of a new Super Hero blockbuster every month and multiple super hero and fantasy TV series on every platform possible. Still, they're fun in a "comic book", retro kind of way. Mike Conway, the director, also made good use of sets we've seen in his earlier movie, Terrarium.
Lara, our unwitting super hero is played by Tamra Ericson Frame . She gives a solid performance most of the time and does the physical acting well. Her character goes through some changes that at first are easy to follow. At first, the movies plays a bit as a lesson on how "power corrupts", then it becomes a bit of a "husband vs wife" struggle, then it starts to look like something resembling a condemnation of feminism, almost suggesting that a powerful woman will finally be able to demonstrate that she actually hates men and would rather break male necks than be in a relationship with one. I'm not saying this was the movie's message, but in today's political climate, I definitely saw things that could be interpreted that way. Maybe you'll see them too. Maybe they're not there.
It's a bit of a slow build, so plan on multiple sittings or gear yourself up to get through story and character development before the real action begins. All origin stories are like this and they should be. When the action does hit, it hits hard. Lots of gunplay, demonstrations of super strength and things you just don't expect from an ultra indie. Mike Conway can stretch a budget like nobody else.
If you've seen every comic book and super hero movie out there or long for the days when characters with super powers were a bit more flawed than the polished nuggets of team fighting they are now, give this movie a go. I'd say watch it for the "grittier" F/X too (like what Lara does to a van), but in reality, a lot of the F/X are the digital predecessors to the movies we see now, proving that Conway was a visionary when he made this movie, even if the technology was in its infancy (at least for home users and small producers).
The F/X are, as I mentioned, good for a late nineties TV show. They're not on par with what many will expect now in our age of a new Super Hero blockbuster every month and multiple super hero and fantasy TV series on every platform possible. Still, they're fun in a "comic book", retro kind of way. Mike Conway, the director, also made good use of sets we've seen in his earlier movie, Terrarium.
Lara, our unwitting super hero is played by Tamra Ericson Frame . She gives a solid performance most of the time and does the physical acting well. Her character goes through some changes that at first are easy to follow. At first, the movies plays a bit as a lesson on how "power corrupts", then it becomes a bit of a "husband vs wife" struggle, then it starts to look like something resembling a condemnation of feminism, almost suggesting that a powerful woman will finally be able to demonstrate that she actually hates men and would rather break male necks than be in a relationship with one. I'm not saying this was the movie's message, but in today's political climate, I definitely saw things that could be interpreted that way. Maybe you'll see them too. Maybe they're not there.
It's a bit of a slow build, so plan on multiple sittings or gear yourself up to get through story and character development before the real action begins. All origin stories are like this and they should be. When the action does hit, it hits hard. Lots of gunplay, demonstrations of super strength and things you just don't expect from an ultra indie. Mike Conway can stretch a budget like nobody else.
If you've seen every comic book and super hero movie out there or long for the days when characters with super powers were a bit more flawed than the polished nuggets of team fighting they are now, give this movie a go. I'd say watch it for the "grittier" F/X too (like what Lara does to a van), but in reality, a lot of the F/X are the digital predecessors to the movies we see now, proving that Conway was a visionary when he made this movie, even if the technology was in its infancy (at least for home users and small producers).
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