Whoops! I had this post all written and ready to go in a draft for Friday, but completely forgot that I hadn’t posted it! Now I’m late, and Awake has dropped to 4th spot. Well, better late than never, I guess. This review does contain minor spoilers!

Awake caught my attention right away. For one, JANE GLORIANA VILLANUEVA (Gina Rodriguez)!! I really enjoyed watching her in Jane the Virgin, (although I do need to do a complete rewatch and finish out the show). Seeing her as a completely different character in Awake was quite refreshing. She’s strong, but fallible and very flawed, and I loved her in this roll.

The premise of the movie is that something happens that kills all the power and cars, and no one can sleep. Whatever happened even wakes up people in comas. Without sleep, it only takes days for society to fall apart. This is absolutely an amazing storyline. I loved the premise right away, and I will say that this is my favorite Netflix film that I’ve watched since I started the reviews, not counting Lucifer. That’s like comparing apples to oranges.

No one can sleep. What an absolute nightmare.

As for Jill, she’s a single mother who does not have custody of her two kids. She’s struggling to make money, which means doing things that might not be completely legal, but it’s obvious she loves her children. The catch is, her daughter is one of the only people that can actually sleep. Also, setting up a story where you have to protect a small child can really twist my insides, but I trusted Jill. She is smart, capable, and quite frankly, a badass.

One of the tests Jill keeps doing in the movie is reading off a phone number and then trying to write it down exactly. This is how she tests her mental sharpness and if she’s declining, but I can tell you, I can’t do this on a good day.

It’s one thing to watch the mental decline of those around them, which is pretty zombie apocalypsish, but watching the main characters decline is absolutely harrowing. Throughout the movie, as Jill is declining, she is also trying to teach her daughter survival tactics in case they don’t make it. It’s heartbreaking to watch.

They are also jumping from tense situation to tense situation, and I was on the edge of my seat through most of the film. Of course, the cure is pretty obvious to the viewer early on, and it was frustrating to wait for the main characters to figure it out, but I was still eager to see if that reveal was going to be satisfying at least, and I found it acceptable.

And the ending… I thought the ending was absolutely fantastic. Not every movie can pull this off well, but for this one, it was very fitting. It leaves the viewer with a semblance of hope and knowing a goal was accomplished in a now post-apocalyptic, extinction level event.

Final verdict, I really enjoyed this film.

Sorry the review ended up being posted late, but I’ll do my best to be on time this week. Until then, Happy Reading!