WubsTheFadger Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerThe story begins with a bang but grinds to a halt. The middle part of the film is very slow and labored. The ending is great. The realizations and the twists are what make the film very good.The pacing is very slow but it builds up towards the end. The pacing is the worst part about the film. The runtime is also overlong.The acting is good. Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, and Isaac Hempstead Wright all do a great job.Pro: Great beginning and ending, good acting, and seeing Rebecca Hall naked is a plusCons: Very slow pacing, the middle part of the film is extremely slow, and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 7.0

TragicBloom I feel numb after watching this on netflix, and I'm just blown away by reading all the positive reviews afterwards. It seems it's no longer possible to make a good movie, and it's pretty clear the reason why is that the majority of us no longer remember what a good movie is! I'm 35 for Christ sake, not 80.This movie started out great; everything was going good. It had a certain direction, and I was eager to see where it would lead. Then about midway through everything is flushed down the crapper. This is well before the twist at the end too, which itself was utter crap. I'm incapable of going into anymore detail, because that would require more time than this movie deserves. What little mind I have left just won't allow it.

Mr_Ectoplasma "The Awakening" follows Florence Cathcart, an atheist in 1921 England whose career has been based on disproving faux psychics. She is invited by Robert Mallory, the headmaster of a remote boarding school, to assess the apparent ghost of a child who has been tormenting (and possibly causing the deaths of) the current children. I went into this film a bit skeptical myself, as the plot outline rings of just about every contemporary ghost film out there. This one has the distinguishing factor of being a period piece, which is quite nicely done, and while the film does offer some solid twists and turns, it isn't a landslide success. Where the film does hit its marks is in atmosphere and performances. The cinematography is lovely and the film has a cold, ominous sensibility akin to "The Others." Foggy forests and the empty hallways of the sprawling school lend the film a deliciously creepy atmosphere. The performances are also strong, with Rebecca Hall as a formidable and convincing lead; Dominic West plays her counterpoint as the headmaster of the school.Where the film seems to lose its bearings is in plot and tone. Some have complained that the narrative is convoluted or difficult to follow, which I didn't think was necessarily the case—in fact, that twists of the last half hour were quite intriguing— but it also begins to feel like a film that doesn't really have an identity. It haphazardly turns into a borderline murder-thriller for one moment before reverting back to its original ghost story obligations, and then awkwardly turning inward to Hall's character with a sentimental twist. It is not so much convoluted in terms of narrative, but convoluted in tone; the flashback scenes near the end are also awkwardly edited, which is a shame as they are key to the film's real clout.Overall, "The Awakening," in spite of its shortcomings, is a considerably mature and effective ghost story. It does feel tonally uneven which is probably its greatest pitfall. That said, Hall's performance is great and understated, and the film captures a chilly, early-twentieth-century England phenomenally. It's not a flawless film, but as far as ghost stories go, it's one of the better of its contemporaries. 7/10.

David Roggenkamp What happens when a bunch of people awaken on an island? They find themselves against all odds trying to get off. There is some great potential plot wise, but it is hardly a new one since the time of the television series "LOST". I also couldn't help but feel it seems to play out the same, at least the first part, while it later reminds me much of the same was as the movie "Predators"; further, there are moments I swear it was back out of the 80s film "Predator".Having said that, the movie is definitely a drama and action film. It stars a few different characters plucked from around the world – most of the premise is the same, they ended up at a bar, drank something just a bit too much that night, and found themselves blacked out and awaking on an island somewhere in the ocean. Why they are here, none of them know. What they do know is they must get off of the island.This is where it slowly transitions from "LOST" into an action flick; they do manage to get off of the island and into another nearby island that has civilization. Turns out one of the guys present was lying. As the movie later reveals, they in fact are being squared away on the island as organ donors for nefarious purposes on the black market. Sounds intriguing, but this plot point isn't investigated much and it quickly turns into a series of revelations as why the operation works the way that it does.There is one military guy that seems to be a cut above the rest, and there is a girl that trained in fighting; the rest of the characters seem to be unremarkable and unmemorable, save the one guy that turns out to be a traitor – but it may just be looks on his part.The movie is good for a weekend morning thriller, but I wouldn't push it as creme of the crop.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/?p=9656).