Buried
2:2
Director: Rodrigo Cortés
Cast: Ryan Reynolds
I’ve never liked Ryan Reynolds. Whenever his particular blend of easygoing Canadian-ness, sarcastic quips and washboard abs grace our multiplexes I purposely avoid them. It’s not that he’s a terrible actor, or does the most terrible films-I just think he’s bland. So going to see Buried held a Catch-22: while the prospect of Ryan Reynolds being trapped in a coffin and left to die did have its appeal, at the same time it would mean I would have to watch a whole film about Ryan Reynolds in a box and nothing else.
The film tells the story of Paul Conroy, a civilian contractor in Iraq, who wakes up buried in a coffin with a mobile phone, a Zippo lighter, knife and no clue where exactly in the middle-east he is. From here we watch as Conroy desperately tries to call for help while contending with terrorist demands, low oxygen, the occasional snake and a rapidly depleting mobile battery. Despite the film never leaving the 6×4 foot setting, it still manage fairly exciting paranoia thriller. However, most unexpected is the surprisingly decent performance Reynolds gives. This combined with Cortés’s slick Hitchcock-influenced direction means that despite its limited premise, Buried just about manages to keep the tension throughout.
