Awareness Review: The Prime Video film stars Carlos Scholz as Ian, Pedro Alonso as Vicente, Lela Loren as Adriana, Oscar Jaenada as Perceiver, Maria Pedraza as Ester, and others. Directed by Daniel Benmayor, he has co-written the story with Ivan Ledesma. The Spanish action thriller has English subtitles, and it is also dubbed for non-Spanish speakers. The cinematography is by Juan Miguel Azpiroz, and the runtime is 112 minutes.
Awareness Movie Review Rating: 2.5/5
Awareness Trailer
Awareness Review Contains No Spoilers
In Awareness, a young man named Ian is born with the power of illusion. In the first 15 minutes, we see him using his fingers to shoot a shop owner who feels like she has been hit by a bullet. But it’s just an illusion. Some people from the “Agency,” led by Adriana, capture Ian and his father, Vicente. They warn Ian of some powerful forces spying on him to misuse his power, especially someone called the Perceiver. She also mentions “The Mule”, the biggest threat of all. However, Adriana herself wants blood samples from Ian to create a formula.
Who is telling the truth? Will the Perceiver be a threat or someone who will help Ian? What does The Mule want?
In the Spanish movie Awareness, certain individuals were injected with a chemical that gave them special abilities to create illusions during the Cold War. It can deceive anyone through mind tricks while making a person question reality. However, these spies were killed later in a process called “Disinfection.” But a handful of them survived, like Ian’s parents and Perceiver.
The opening scene of Awareness plays out well, immediately getting your attention so you can learn more about Ian and his father. However, the Agency team arrives very quickly in the story, and without us getting to see more of Ian’s power, the narrative focuses more on a hide-and-seek game. When the Agency “saves” (captures) the father-son duo, I thought the secrets would unveil themselves at a reasonable pace. Sadly, that doesn’t happen; we have to sit through some dragged-out scenes to reach the big reveal, which becomes predictable.
Ian knows how to use his powers very well; he can go extreme and also control them. However, despite having the ability to manipulate anyone he wants, it is he who easily gets manipulated. When Ian learns a particular secret about his father, Vicente, he abandons him and trusts a stranger. It is easy for anyone to play mind games with him. The character of Ian sadly makes him the weakest part of the story.
However, the entire suspense of Ian’s mother, who is the Mule and the truth about the Perceiver are revealed in the latter hour of Awareness. But after the first 30 minutes, Perceiver is brought back into action after such a long wait that I started doubting his intentions. That’s exactly what his plot mainly focused on—his motive, which may or may not be morally right.
The makers created so much hype about “The Mule”, considered the most powerful of all. However, we are never given a clear picture of this person or how he reached the full potential of whatever the makers showed us in the flashback.
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The execution, cinematography, action, and fight sequences remind me of some popular sci-fi thrillers. But the last two altercations are dragged out with dialogue and drama. The tagline “Reality is an Illusion” is elaborated in the story, with people questioning what’s real and what’s not, something that Christopher Nolan’s Inception did. In the film Awareness, Ian can get into people’s heads and peek into the past, which helps him understand reality. Sometimes, flashback scenes are played out for the character to understand what’s real and what’s an illusion.
In terms of performances, Carlos Scholz played his part as Ian well. However, despite being a 112-minute movie, there’s very little offered to root for the protagonist. I wish the makers had given more depth to the character. Oscar Jaenada has kept your interest in Perceiver with his mysterious personality and lack of dialogue for quite some time. However, as the narrative moves forward, his arc becomes predictable. Pedro Alonso, Lela Loren, and Maria Pedraza were satisfactory in their performances. However, their characters rarely shine.
Awareness Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, the 2023 film Awareness offers us an interesting concept of special powers. It had a promising start and had characters with the power of illusion, but the story lacked a compelling factor. The main person of interest for the bad people often appears frail. The lack of solid turning points makes it a bland sci-fi action thriller.
The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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