A Perfect Vacation

I don't understand the negative reviews. It's a really well done movie. The action scenes are well choreographed and believable. All the actors are great! The plot makes sense and the lead actress is fierce. We enjoyed it! This is a perfect example of why you should judge a movie for yourself. I wonder if the negativity is due to having a strong female lead in an action movie. Sexism strikes again, perhaps???

A woman named Billie Kope (Burn) wakes up on a tropical island and has no memory of how she got there. She eventually meets other people held captive in this mysterious place, including Quentin (Davi), Berto (Furlong), and Stitch (Crawford), among others. While Billie relies on her combat training - by her father, played by Benny The Jet - to stay alive, she does remember she's searching for her missing sister. Unfortunately, the island dwellers are at the mercy of Rich (London), and his goons such as Sarge (Jones) and Xander (Pare) - who are holding them there so they can harvest their organs. When an important client, a woman inexplicably named Mao (Hannah), shows up with her ailing daughter, Rich tells the island doctor, Walsh (Keith) to snap into action. However, by this time Billie and her compatriots are fighting mad and are intending to get off the island by using lethal force against their captors. Much like Gilligan's Island and/or The Prisoner, will our heroes get off the island? Awaken is sort of a modern-day DTV cross between Avenging Force (1986), The Condemned (2007), and Death Ring (1992). We're glad movies like this are still being made, but it seems the only place for them to go are cable channels (some might describe them as "deep cable" channels) such as Showtime Extreme. The solid B-Movie cast goes a long way towards sustaining its entertainment value, and main star Natalie Burn certainly has the potential to go far, in our opinion. Not only did she star in the movie, she has co-story, co-producer, and stunt credits, and even is solely credited with casting. So I guess we have her to thank for getting all these familiar faces together. She even sings the end titles song, "Awaken", and is/was a ballerina, just like Assassins Run's Sofya Skya. Is this becoming the new trend in DTV action? Hopefully Skya and Burn will be co-stars in a movie together soon. They could be ex-ballerinas/cops who bust a lot of heads and fight their way up a drug ring to the evil mastermind. If anyone reading this produces these types of movies, give us a call.  There are also some similarities to Gina Carano's In the Blood (2014) - and even the recent Van Damme movie Pound of Flesh (2015). Maybe it's not just ballerinas turned action stars that are the new trend, evidently organ donation is hot now too. Thankfully, Awaken combines the two. While the movie as a whole looks good, and you can see Burn's fights well, there are some poor editing choices which mar the overall pretty cinematography. These are especially evident when someone gets tasered, the scene with the shark attack, and the Michael Pare-Vinnie Jones fight. Sadly, not only was the latter edited badly, but it should have gone on longer and been more built up in the movie. That's the match-up we've been waiting for, and it's over in a flash. Fan favorite Robert Davi wears a John Travolta/Nicholas Cage-style wig, Daz Crawford is likable, and Vinnie Jones is his usual head-butting self that we all love and enjoy. Pare isn't in it all that much, nor is Edward Furlong, who...let's just say it's a good thing that people stranded on the island are supposed to look disheveled and tired. Daryl Hannah, fresh off of Death Squad (2014) adds...something, but we're not sure what. It looks like she's finally joined the ranks of us lowly DTV dwellers. But I blame Hollywood for that. Because Hollywood sucks and seemingly only releases remakes, sequels, and superhero movies, there's no place for actresses like Hannah there anymore. And if Hannah's not going to the theater any longer, Furlong et al. certainly aren't either. But they'll always have a home in DTV - surely they can give Natalie Burn a call anytime. It all ends with a very, very silly shootout, just as the audience's patience is wearing thin. Awaken is by no means a bad movie, but it ultimately fails to capitalize on all the assets it had at its disposal. We're hoping Burn goes up to the next level for her next outing.

This low-budget Thriller, here in England called "Left To Die" & not "Awaken", could have been so Awesome but the surrounding cast, even for a B-movie was terrible!!! Here in "England" the cover has a big stupid picture of "Vinnie Jones" & his name written "Big" like he's the main lead? But HE'S just a small role as a the usual mouthy thug!!! Terrible cover art. I don't get it? It was pointless, the Director gathered a load of familiar faces & B-movie stars for an ensemble cast but didn't use any of the actor's properly at all? Felt like a complete waste of all these know the face actors!!! The stand out excellent star was "Natalie Burns" who is so good as a totally convincing bad a##, her performance was full of emotion & anger, she deserved a better film & supporting cast & Director!!! Some of the fights are really good & bloody & Natalie as "Billie Kope" is great, her role is fine & she makes an excellent tough action hero!!! I was gutted that one of my fave old school B-movie actors "Robert Davi" has a tiny & completely pointless little role as "Quintin" a guy who has been on the Strange island for a while & is abit mysterious, i say it's "pointless" because his role should've been a main part in the story as he makes a change half way through the film & should have been a big exciting part where he goes up against the "bad guys" with tough chick "Billie" but he doesn't? He walks off & is never seen again? Such a huge waste of the excellent "Robert Davi" who could have helped with them & done some cool action!!! Davi should have been the 2nd main lead after "Natalie Burn" but he was wasted!!! oh the story is a bunch of people wake-up on a strange island & later find out their all being harvested by black market organ theifs, a good idea but mostly it's too cheesy because of the terrible acting from the supporting cast such as a pointless role for "Edward Furlong" it's terrible, we also have "Darryl Hannah" who is actually ok in a tiny role, theres also "Michael Copon" who is horrendous as an actor here!!! There's a tiny pointless embarrassing tid bit for veteran B-movie star "Michael pare", there's British bad guy "Vinnie Jones" who just does the same in every role, there's "Daz Crawford" another horrendous actor, there's also "Jason London" who is just about ok as a silly villain, there's also a very old looking "David Keith" as a Doctor who looks fed-up in his tiny part & then there's the sister of "Billie", "Kat" played by "Christa Campbell" who is just ok in her tiny role. It just feels like a massive waste of a big cast of B-movie stars!!! Apart from some cool fight scenes that all feature the excellent "Natalie Burns" it often feels abit dull but is strangely still entertaining in it's cheap action way, "Robert Davi" who i love was totally wasted, what the hell was the Director thinking? Or the writer? A shame. Worth a watch for a new & cool female action hero but everything else is abit dull, that being said it's still an ok easy watching B-movie, even if it's just to watch the Awesome & beautiful "Natalie Burn" kick some a##, there's a few good scenes such as the "Shark" bit & like i said some good fights & i like the big Tropical island setting IT'S just a shame because it all felt wasted, just could've been so much better!!! An easy watching cheap action flick that's not terrible & there's way worse films out there.

The term is "campy". Everyone needs a campy movie now and then and this one offers laughs (unintentional or not) as well as drama and just enough whamos to keep you interested. You can't beat the scenery. Filmed in California....but I can't determine where. Jungle scenes are studio work since we don't have jungles here. Some of the acting is weak but there are a few good scenes. Vinnie Jones is always a hoot to watch. I've always liked Daryl Hannah and she doesn't disappoint as the mysterious Mao. It was refreshing to see an action, kick $#?% type of movie without gratuitous "f" bombs. Definitely stronger than most "B" movies.

Personally I liked the movie. It was an interesting plot, one that has been done before but not enough to make it tired. Unlike others, I thought it was well acted. Natalie Burn is excellent in the very rare roll of a woman who kicks @ss. I think she has the potential to do a lot more action roles, if more people would write lead action roles for women that is. It did drag in spots and the music really didn't help with that but I find that to be true with a pretty much any movie or show set in a forest. All in all, I found it to be an entertaining movie for a lazy day.

I can't believe that inattention to common sense detail. Really awful direction. Very poorly crafted fight scenes. Awful tactics. Fingers inside trigger guards. Movements around corners like sleep walkers. Stupid stupid action. Could this movie really make money? How could people stranded on an island have such good hair? How was it possible that a guy on the island head was perfectly shaved every day for weeks? What is up with those pants on the protagonist ? Are we supposed to believe the pants just got ripped that way? And why was she wearing dog tags? She was never in the military? HIRE ME! I would provide the REAL LIFE direction to make this thing believable. Dear sweet Jesus, please please please, no one ever hire this director or writer again!

Let's start with the obvious - this is not a mystery movie and most defenitely not a horror movie. It is a very basic action movie that has a story that has been done a million times before - it adds nothing new and I can't really understand why someone felt the need to do this garbage. The lead actress is annoing and has like one expression. The movie it self is not badly done, they had some budget clearly. Too bad they didn't have a script.

Not too bad for some fairly easy entertainment and intrigue - if you can tolerate the unnecessarily gratuitous violence and blood which at times is pretty sickening for me. But when the intrigue ends about half way through when the mystery is uncovered, the film degenerates into comedic posturing by a ridiculous number of body guards unnecessarily threatening a couple of defenceless men and a morally bankrupt story line which could so easily have raised the tenor of the film if it had included an ounce of humanity. The only attempt at this, with a contrived reconciliation which flew in the face of all normal sensibilities was promptly snuffed out along with the most of the robotic characters that behaved as though they were supposed to have been in a sci fi movie. Even the attempt at romance was more like a pair of the 'Wooden Tops' getting together. An ill conceived plot that started well but completely failed to deliver.

This falls into the category of 'coulda been'. An oft-visited concept, this film had a potentially good plot, location, cast of knowns. But, unfortunately, it suffers from poor editing, acting, and day-for-nightmare. I agree with other reviewers' criticisms of jumpy cuts, direction, and it definitely has some moments of laughably unrealistic dialog. Also irksome is cinematography comes into play. Characters are in harsh daylight, then suddenly in the murky realm of day-for-dusk. The theme for this endeavor is 'unevenness'. It's a shame, because, with a solidified cohesive vision, it could have been a decent movie. But, as-is, it is a riff-fest waiting to happen.

LEFT TO DIE is a B-movie that exists under a ton of different titles including AWAKEN and A PERFECT VACATION. Whichever way you look at it, it's a pretty stupid production that benefits from poor direction turning the whole thing into a very cheesy experience. Like THE CONDEMNED and BATTLE ROYALE before it, the story sees a group of strangers being individually kidnapped and released on a jungle island, where they will become unwitting donors for an illegal organ donation scheme. The story is vapid and clichéd, the script predictable in the extreme. The cheesy fight scenes are about as bad as you'd expect. As the lead actress, Natalie Burn has zero presence on screen. The only reason to watch this is the exemplary supporting cast, which takes some beating in B-movie terms. The triumvirate of Vinnie Jones, Jason London, and Daryl Hannah play the villains, while the protagonists are played by the likes of Robert Davi, Edward Furlong, and Daz Crawford. Even martial arts supremo Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez has a flashback cameo as the protagonist's father. It's not high entertainment, but at least the familiar faces kept me watching.