Plenty of the rich and fabulous have been buried in recent memory: Diff’rent Strokes actor, Gary Coleman, stroking kids musician, Michael Jackson and one of those Corey kids from the ?80s.
Yet, it's hard to imagine anyone whose managed to do it in such a captivating way as Ryan Reynolds in the suffocating thriller, Buried.
Hitchcockian in its nature, Buried has a premise that can't help but intrigue, as one truck driver, Paul Conroy (Reynolds), finds himself waking up in a coffin buried six-feet under in the Iraqi desert. What ensures is a taut, gripping and, needless to say, claustrophobic film, that ensnares the audience up until its breathtaking climax.
It's hard to imagine any film to enthral when confined within the inches of a deathbed for its duration, so it falls to Reynold?s performance to propel the film through a lot of not much happening. Reynolds ? whose CV previously sported rubber-faced buffoonery, crappy comedies and snarky wit ? plays a relatively straight role here but his undeniable charisma and familiarity that an unknown couldn't muster is exactly what propels this film beyond its showboating conceit.
Reynold?s completely convinces of as a blue-collar truck driver in an unenviable situation. With just a mobile phone and a lighter (there's no point hiring a pretty face if we can't see it), he struggles to reach out for help as a man who has no idea where he is, trapped underground with just the worms and the thoughts of his encroaching death keeping him company.
It's not exactly easy cinema, often bold and not afraid to pull punches.
It's within the pacing and script that director Rodrigo Cort?s manages to balance the action, unravelling each beat methodically, managing to heighten the tension of each phone call and every creak of Paul?s wooden box. It rarely falters and even when it does ? a brief visit from a less-than-friendly snake appears nothing but filler ? it still proves nail-biting stuff.
Technically, if we're to indulge in such things, the setting doesn't impound the direction. The camera moves inventively in and outside of the box, without substituting the constant sense of constraint. Cort?s continually pours further bitter ingredients into the mix, whether trickling sand or insufferable bureaucrats on the end of the phone, ?every new flavour adding to the dry dirt filling that is Buried?s sandwich ? by closing credits, it can all get rather hard to swallow.
However, Buried is a brave film. On paper, it sounds as boring as…well paper. Reynold?s delivers the performance of his career in an action movie set inside a box. It can get a little preachy at times but Buried proves that war is hell, even if it's only seen from inside a box.
?spray rating: 4/5
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Tom J says
This was a remarkably good film, I recommend it. Given that the entire movie takes place in a single (cramped) location, it’s impressive how the director manages to maintain the suspense and keep it interesting throughout. My only criticism is the conspicuously infinite air supply – the protagonist spends most of the movie with his Zippo burning and he even sets fire to the inside of the box at one stage (the dumbest part of the movie by far, but a forgivable diversion). I’m pretty sure he would have run out of oxygen long before the end of the movie.
DJ Al says
Buried a film i have been thinking of watching, I can’t say this is my favorite type of movie, I’m more of an action fan.
But from the good reviews, I’ll give it a go.