Awaken (2015)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A woman named Billie Kope (Burn) wakes up on a tropical island and has no memory of how she got there. She eventually meets other people held captive in this mysterious place, including Quentin (Davi), Berto (Furlong), and Stitch (Crawford), among others. While Billie relies on her combat training - by her father, played by Benny The Jet - to stay alive, she does remember she's searching for her missing sister. Unfortunately, the island dwellers are at the mercy of Rich (London), and his goons such as Sarge (Jones) and Xander (Pare) - who are holding them there so they can harvest their organs. When an important client, a woman inexplicably named Mao (Hannah), shows up with her ailing daughter, Rich tells the island doctor, Walsh (Keith) to snap into action. However, by this time Billie and her compatriots are fighting mad and are intending to get off the island by using lethal force against their captors. Much like Gilligan's Island and/or The Prisoner, will our heroes get off the island? Awaken is sort of a modern-day DTV cross between Avenging Force (1986), The Condemned (2007), and Death Ring (1992). We're glad movies like this are still being made, but it seems the only place for them to go are cable channels (some might describe them as "deep cable" channels) such as Showtime Extreme. The solid B-Movie cast goes a long way towards sustaining its entertainment value, and main star Natalie Burn certainly has the potential to go far, in our opinion. Not only did she star in the movie, she has co-story, co-producer, and stunt credits, and even is solely credited with casting. So I guess we have her to thank for getting all these familiar faces together. She even sings the end titles song, "Awaken", and is/was a ballerina, just like Assassins Run's Sofya Skya. Is this becoming the new trend in DTV action? Hopefully Skya and Burn will be co-stars in a movie together soon. They could be ex-ballerinas/cops who bust a lot of heads and fight their way up a drug ring to the evil mastermind. If anyone reading this produces these types of movies, give us a call.  There are also some similarities to Gina Carano's In the Blood (2014) - and even the recent Van Damme movie Pound of Flesh (2015). Maybe it's not just ballerinas turned action stars that are the new trend, evidently organ donation is hot now too. Thankfully, Awaken combines the two. While the movie as a whole looks good, and you can see Burn's fights well, there are some poor editing choices which mar the overall pretty cinematography. These are especially evident when someone gets tasered, the scene with the shark attack, and the Michael Pare-Vinnie Jones fight. Sadly, not only was the latter edited badly, but it should have gone on longer and been more built up in the movie. That's the match-up we've been waiting for, and it's over in a flash.Fan favorite Robert Davi wears a John Travolta/Nicholas Cage-style wig, Daz Crawford is likable, and Vinnie Jones is his usual head-butting self that we all love and enjoy. Pare isn't in it all that much, nor is Edward Furlong, who...let's just say it's a good thing that people stranded on the island are supposed to look disheveled and tired. Daryl Hannah, fresh off of Death Squad (2014) adds...something, but we're not sure what. It looks like she's finally joined the ranks of us lowly DTV dwellers. But I blame Hollywood for that. Because Hollywood sucks and seemingly only releases remakes, sequels, and superhero movies, there's no place for actresses like Hannah there anymore. And if Hannah's not going to the theater any longer, Furlong et al. certainly aren't either. But they'll always have a home in DTV - surely they can give Natalie Burn a call anytime.It all ends with a very, very silly shootout, just as the audience's patience is wearing thin. Awaken is by no means a bad movie, but it ultimately fails to capitalize on all the assets it had at its disposal. We're hoping Burn goes up to the next level for her next outing.

The term is "campy". Everyone needs a campy movie now and then and this one offers laughs (unintentional or not) as well as drama and just enough whamos to keep you interested. You can't beat the scenery. Filmed in California....but I can't determine where. Jungle scenes are studio work since we don't have jungles here. Some of the acting is weak but there are a few good scenes. Vinnie Jones is always a hoot to watch. I've always liked Daryl Hannah and she doesn't disappoint as the mysterious Mao.It was refreshing to see an action, kick $#?% type of movie without gratuitous "f" bombs. Definitely stronger than most "B" movies.

Review: I must admit, I was expecting this movie to be worse than it was, mainly because it's a low budget Vinnie Jones film but I did stick with it until the end because I was intrigued with the storyline. Don't get me wrong, it isn't anything amazing and I doubt that I would watch it again but it still had a couple of decent action scenes and the wilderness backdrop wasn't too bad. Its about a group of people who wake up in the middle of Island, being chased by some mercenaries, led by Vinnie Jones (Sarge). There main goal is to harvest organs and sell them to an exclusive group of rich people, so when Mao (Daryl Hannah) finds out that her child is dying and needs organs to survive, she turns to Rich (Jason London), who is in charge of the organ harvesting group. When the perfect organs become available for Mao's daughter, the surgeon goes ahead with the operation, which fails and kills her. Meanwhile, Billie Kope (Natalie Burn) and two of the stranded individuals, fight to escape the island and come toe to toe with Rich's henchmen. Billie then finds out that her sister, has been working for Rich and they rekindle there relationship and try to escape together. It sounds quite interesting but it's cheaply made with some dodgy actors. The overall concept wasn't too bad but the script was awful and there wasn't any depth to the characters. Anyway, the movie isn't that great but I have definitely seen worse, with Vinnie Jones in the cast. Passable!Round-Up: This movie was written and directed by Mark Atkins, who is known for making movies that go straight to DVD, like Evil Eyes, Knight of the Dead, Android Cop and Road Wars. This film had low budget written all over it and the, non-heard of actors were pretty poor. Edward Furlong, who became famous after starring in Terminator 2, looked awful and Jason London wasn't the best choice for the villain. Daryl Hannah's career has also gone downhill of late and I haven't seen Robert Davi in a film for some time, so the director didn't really have a cast who are in there prime. Anyway, I doubt that this film will hurt there reputations because there all starring in these mediocre movies to pay bills. I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/horror/mystery/thrillers starring Edward Furlong, Daryl Hannah Vinnie Jones, Jason London, Natalie Burn, Robert Davi, David Keith and Michael Pare. 2/10

This charade starts with strangers waking up on a beach with no recollection of how they arrived and goes rapidly downhill but never recovers. It is a very basic story of bad guys stealing human organs from unwilling donors for the rich.The acting (and I use the term very loosely) is awful throughout.The supposed heroin is a skinny armed woman who would likely struggle to knock over a hat stand let alone out-muscle trained mercenaries twice her size and strength, her leadership is unbelievable over the weakly portrayed men of her little group and her tacky saluting of a dead comrade is the icing on the cake of her over-baked character.The mercenaries are idiots with poor training and absolutely no field craft skills or common sense plus the fight scenes with Vinnie Jones are absolutely terrible and unrealistic.The bad guy is pathetic and weak as he fails to control even the goonish mercenaries whilst his sidekick (the heroin's sister) could have been played by any spoilt, bitch faced teen.The double agent in the field portrayed by Robert Davi, a former bond villain (a massive fall from grace) was predictable and tacky but the so-called "SAS" soldier was an insult to the British Army cadets under 6s group, never mind the real SAS. He was unconvincing, weak and pathetic in all aspects from the uniform (which SAS wouldn't be wearing) to the body language and onto the horrendous dialogue.The crescendo for the bad cast and acting was the introduction of Daryl Hannah as a villainess. She was just, well... awful.One and a half hours of life wasted watching this tripe.