Awaken
A Perfect Vacation

USA 2015
produced by
Natalie Burn, Scott Martin, Michael Thomas Slifkin for FPTL Productions, 7Heaven Productions, Archstone Pictures
directed by Mark Atkins
starring Natalie Burn, Michael Copon, Jason London, Robert Davi, David Keith, Edward Furlong, Daryl Hannah, Vinnie Jones, Michael Paré, Christa Campbell, Daz Crawford, Augie Duke, Philip Tan, Malgorzata Baclawska, Benny Nieves, Benny Urquidez, James Young, Mykayla Sohn, Jeremy Timmins, Katrin Assi, Adrienne McQueen, Philip Coc, Brent Toombs, Tom Hitchcock
story by Mark Atkins, Natalie Burn, Scott Martin, Ryan Priest, Michael Thomas Slifkin, screenplay by Ryan Priest, Mark Atkins, music by Kays Al-Atrakchi, Brian Ralston, stunt coordinator: Philip Tan

review by
Mike Haberfelner

All Billie (Natalie Burn) wanted was to track down her sister (Christa Campbell), who has gone of the track somewhen, and she figured herself tough-as-nails enough to do so after having been trained by her father (Benny Urquidez) for years ... and all of a sudden she wakes up on a tropical island with no memory of how she got there, her first sight is a girl (Katrin Assi) being hunt down by soldiers, and then she is whisked away by what - for lack of a better term - seem to be the good guys. Apparently there is a group of people, led by Quentin (Robert Davi), who have been stranded here, but none of them know how they got here, and all they know is every few days one of them is snatched by the soldiers and taken off the island, probably to a fate even worse ...

Quentin, the elder statesman of the island, is all about not challenging fate too much and instead giving those with him a relatively safe haven, but Billie has never been one relying on fate alone, so she gathers a small group and they build a raft and make it to the next island ... where the soldiers inexplicably are waiting for them, knock them out - and take them back to their original island ...

Thing is, there's a reason to all of this, a "businessman", Rich (Jason London), has found a new lucrative branch of business, keeping himself a host of captives with rare blood groups on an island on a healthy diet of fruits with none of them knowing what's happening, and every time some amazingly righ person needs an organ of a specific blood group ... well, here you go.

Problem is, with Mao (Daryl Hannah), his latest client, he has taken a bigger bite than he could chew on, as she has brought her own militia to see that everything goes right with the surgery of her daugher (Mykayla Sohn), but the girl might be too far gone to be saved. And just about that time, Billie and her two closest allies (Michael Copon, Daz Crawford) have finally made it off the island and tracked down the source of all their torment's to Rich's mansion - in other words, everything's set for a (very) explosive finale!!!

In essence, Awaken is just a really cool horror-action blend that's done just right: It's extremely well paced, with plenty of fights and shootouts and whatnots throughout, it has all its scary bits at exactly the right spots, it's very well structured so it gives away its story only by the by, and despite relying heavily on action, the film does respect the intelligence of its audience and spins a complex yarn. And Natalie Burn really does give a powerful central performance, framed by a great ensemble cast, quite a few rather well known not only in the genre.

Totally worth a look!!!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned)

The links below will take you just there!!!

Find Awaken at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Awaken here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai Something naughty? (Must be over 18 to go there!)   find Awaken at adultvideouniverse.com

Thanks for watching !!!