Ever since each of the Keanu Reeves classics arrived, there’s been countless pretenders to the throne that have been dubbed as either “the new John Wick” or “the new Matrix,” but Prime Video’s Awareness has decided that it wants to seize both cakes and devour them, too.
While comparing it to a pair of stone-cold greats of the action and sci-fi genres sounds lofty, it’s not an unfair method of boiling the story down to its essence. Co-writer and director Daniel Benmayor’s ambitious feature follows a teenager living on the outskirts of society with his father, where he uses the ability to create visual illusions to manipulate, dupe, and coerce unsuspecting victims.
Of course, one such scheme inevitably goes awry, leading to a pair of rival organizations with a vested interest in the youngster’s otherworldly abilities making it their mission to track him down, bring him in, and then exploit his gifts for their own means, all while there’s no shortage of pulse-pounding shootouts, explosive action sequences, and effects-heavy manifestations of those powers.
High concept fare is an easy sell to streaming subscribers, something Awareness has maximized to the fullest after it debuted as the biggest new hit on the on-demand circuit so far this week. Per FlixPatrol, as well as reaching the number one spot in 45 countries on Prime Video, it’s debuted on the Top 10 in upwards of 60 more, easily the biggest launch of the week… at least until tomorrow, when the numbers for Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher come in.
Published: Oct 12, 2023 12:32 pm