The Awakening is yet another haunted house film. However...this time, much of the material is elevated by the lovely Rebecca Hall. She is both charming and intriguing as Florence-a hoax hunter who goes to look at a boarding school run by Robert (Dominic West) that supposedly has the ghost of a boy who died long ago haunting it.
Although Hall and West are both excellent in their roles..The Awakening gets bogged down in too many ghost movie cliches and goes on for much too long. It feels as if first time director Nick Murphy took a reel of old ghost films and put different scenes from each one together and then proceeded to put Hall and West in each scene using editing software. Not to say this is a bad thing..Hall and West are great but the film lacks any bite, wit or originality.
The film also features a pretty cool twist but then drags it out for an unnecessary amount of time. That brings me to the question-why should we care what we are watching? Why should we want to see more if all of it drags out to an unacceptable length? Ultimately...the film is too bland for me to answer yes to either of these questions.
Sure-The Awakening does features two terrific performers but is that enough for a recommendation? Perhaps in another film it would be. As it is...I have seen way too many ghost films just like this one to warrant any sort of recommendation.
(2 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars..The film is rated R for some violence and sexuality/nudity)
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