Buried (2010)

3.5/5 -- A killer concept and, surprisingly, Rodrigo Cortés manages to make a film almost entirely confined to a box a rather gripping watch.


This might be the worst time to hear the words: "Your balance is low"

Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Writer: Chris Sparling
Stars: Ryan Reynolds

Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), a truck driver working in Iraq, wakes up to discover he has been buried alive in a coffin, with nothing but a mobile phone, a lighter, some whisky (probably), a torch some glow sticks and a knife – I know, sounds like a summer festival shopping list, right? All he remembers is that his convoy was ambushed and that some of his colleagues had been shot, the film follows his struggle to be discovered through his phone conversations with the outside world, including the Iraqi who buried him.

This film shares many similarities with 127 Hours, another film I really enjoyed, but neither should be watched by those who suffer from claustrophobia, for obvious reasons. In addition to being a really interesting concept, through Paul’s conversations with people in Iraq and the US, the film makes interesting observations about bureaucracy-obsessed modern America and also, very subtly, questions the Western-held notion of terrorism. I don’t want to say any more for fear of ruining the film, but I’d recommend it.

Ryan Reynolds was surprisingly good. Up until now I hadn’t been convinced by any of his performances; I thought he did a good enough job in the Amityville Horror, but the majority of his other roles have been in textbook RomComs (Just Friends, Definitely Maybe, The Proposal) to the extent that I assumed his career was going to follow this path and fizzle out. Don’t get me wrong, I could never see him winning an Oscar, but it’s nice to see he has some range.