Movie Review: Awake

When Netflix launched their original film division back in the fall of 2015, their goal was to bring theatrical quality films into the homes of their subscribers. As they close in on their sixth anniversary of being in the distribution business, the dozens of Oscar nominations they've picked up and multiple new hit franchises they've bankrolled says all you need to know about how that endeavor has worked out. However, establishing a movie machine that is more or less just a modified, beefed up version of the traditional Hollywood studio model isn't all bottle popping and chest pumping. If you're mimicking the blueprint of an established successful operation down to the smallest details, the shit that doesn't work is going to stick with the same stubborn reliability as the stuff that does.

In the case of Awake, Netflix has embraced one of the major Hollywood studios worst traditions: the throwaway thriller that baits viewers in with a cool premise (a mysterious auditory event has taken away mankind's electronics and their ability to sleep) and some familiar faces (Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barry Pepper, Finn Jones, Frances Fisher, Shamier Anderson) before unleashing a flat, generic project that doesn't even have the courtesy to be bad enough to generate an emphatic negative reaction.

The biggest problem with Awake isn't even it's abundant and near instant forgettability, it's Netflix's decision to release it when they did. They've spent the entire year hyping up their massive 2021 movie slate as this groundbreaking moment for their platform and then proceed to hand out a prime June release date to a thriller that delivers so little in the way of tension, intrigue or even particularly disturbing ways to depict people losing their minds from sleep depravation that I'm not sure if it's offensive or impressive.

Even with a business model that measures success by the amount of people who press play when the logline and ear-shattering autoplaying trailer shows up on the home screen, it's completely stunning to me that the distribution team thought this was something that deserved to be released during summer movie season. Awake had completed filming roughly 6-7 months before any COVID disruptions started to take place, so there's basically no shot that this wasn't ready to be released earlier in the year (a January-April date would've been ideal for something so disposable) and I have a very hard time believing that there wasn't something else on Netflix's 824 movie slate that would've been suited to fill such a premium spot. 

Pedaling out uninspired crap like Awake that will struggle to keep the attention of even the most disengaged streaming audiences that care more about having some background noise while they scroll through their phones than being legitimately engaged by a movie or TV show is exactly why there some who question the long term viability of Netflix's operation. It's great that they are able to print money at an astronomical rate and are willing to greenlight projects that nobody else will, but when those things come at the expense of quality control and finding sensible release dates for each project they produce, they might have to reconsider how they handle their business before they start paying for their avoidable mistakes with canceled subscriptions.           

Grade: D+