Hayden Christiansen and Jessica Alba star in "Awake."

Dull, listless, lifeless, predictable.

What else can I say about "Awake"? It's all smoke and mirrors, tidbits of ideas tossed together and acted out in front of movie cameras.

It is devoid of any spark whatsoever, and even the film's central gimmick, anesthetic awareness (i.e., waking up from general anesthesia during surgery) is wholly unnecessary to the plot.

The story: young billionaire Clay Beresford (Hayden Christiansen, aka Anakin Skywalker) has a heart condition that requires a transplant. Instead of going with his mother's choice (Arliss Howard), he is going with the doctor who initially saved his life (Terrence Howard), despite the fact that he has four ongoing malpractice suits against him.

He's also keeping his engagement to a beautiful girl (Jessica Alba) from his overbearing mother (Lena Olin).

When he goes under the knife, he finds himself embroiled in an intense inner dialog (that we hear every agonizing second of), only to soon realize he's not asleep. He can feel everything that's going on, but is paralyzed and powerless to do anything to stop it.

Then all sorts of oddball things happen that have nothing to do with being awake during surgery. What those things are...well, you'll have to find out yourself, but take my word that they're pedestrian, pseudo-shocking (I actually wrote in my notes about 15 minutes in what was going on, a good half hour before it happened).

The leads are horrible (excepting Howard, who is collecting a paycheck here). Christiansen hasn't made a good movie or put forth a decent performance since "Shattered Glass," and Alba, while she's plenty fun to look at, couldn't act her way out of a parking ticket.

The film tries to be clever by throwing in twists and turns in the plot, but "Awake" is nothing but a missed opportunity.