Awake not Woke!

This was cancelled after 1 season only but thought I would give the first episode it a try. There's DEI casting and the lead investigator is a woman who says she has a wife. This is typical of something you would see on network tv. The acting is average to poor and at this point Sutherland is basically the same character in everything he does. The writing is pretty bad with unlikely coincidences or just flat out unbelievable. It sets up the lead and his team to be framed for a crime. The problem is as far as I can tell they are actual criminals who's business is for hire illegal corporate espionage. They pretend to have some sort of ethical high ground because they screw over rich people but they are really just basic criminals. They aren't careful and just do everything right out in the open yet the lesbian investigator (who seems to know everything) can't seem to catch them? I was already bored with the first episode and seemed like it was going in the usual cliché direction of all these types of shows. I guess if you like this kind of stuff you may find it better than I did, but at only 1 season still isn't really worth it.

The 1st movie was from the perspective of the elder, and this one is from the perspective of the children. The continuous tense, horror, & serious feeling of the 1st movie aren't exactly present here. The actress/actors were a bit too unserious/jolly/modernish compared to the 1st movie, which takes a lot of horror feel away from the movie. I just don't think one of the best horror films, "Sinister (2012)," needed a sequel. This one just feels like a typical slasher movie (even though this is a continuation of the 1st movie, unlike most of the usual slasher movies). And for the woke part: the married woman Courtney Collins kisses the ex-deputy while both were drunk. Maybe that's a Western/european thing, to kiss a married woman. I know Courtney's husband was very abusive, but at least get a divorce first before trying to settle with another man.

A sci-fi action movie that feels like a throwback to 80's and 90's movies. The acting is decent and it's a basic alien invasion type movie but it's well done. The FX, story and writing are all pretty decent. There's nothing deep here but it's a great action sci-fi movie. I think the only thing that really started to bother me was the characters constantly just standing there and staring at the alien instead of instantly taking off running. I can see it at the beginning but even at the end of the movie they were still doing it. It's a small thing and I'm probably rating it higher than it deserves but I enjoyed it. As for woke, I don't see it. Yes there's a few black characters but race is never brought up and the amount of black characters in a cast this size is well within reality. There is also a female character but again, it's only 1 and there have been plenty of female rangers so having 1 is not a stretch. She also is just a normal character, not the angry violent feminist overpowered type. Would definitely recommend this for action sci-fi fans.

Keeps you stuck to your seat and in constant surveillance mode in case anything is going to show up in the background. Liked the subtle "symbolism" 🎩 (if it was meant to be symbolism, of course) at the end.