Buried is a claustrophobic experience that is tense and gripping for the entire time. This may be hard to believe since the movie is about Ryan Reynolds being stuck in a coffin for 90 minutes, but this simple concept brings so much excitement and entertainment. At the beginning, you don’t know much, but as the story moves along, pieces begin to come together and perhaps the hope of being able to escape becomes more real.
Paul Conroy (Reynolds) is an American truck driver who goes to Iraq to transport supplies to re-build the country. Him and his fellow employees get attacked by a group of Iraqis, and Paul wakes up in a coffin to realize he has been buried alive. The only two things he has is a cell phone and a lighter. One number leads to another number which leads to one name after another. While Paul is trying to find help to get him out, the people who put him there want some money. Being held for ransom while desperately trying to find a way out, Paul is in a race against time to get out of the coffin and back home to his family.
Director Rodrigo Cortes does a fabulous job making the time Paul spends in the coffin exhilarating and excruciating. And it keeps the audience in suspense because of the feeling of wondering if Paul can get out or if he will die inside that coffin. For a film that only takes place in a coffin, Cortes makes it suffocating yet intriguing. He puts you right in the thick of things and makes a strong statement about how people and companies act when we need them the most.
Cortes brings out the absolute best in Reynolds. Reynolds plays a guy who is just trying to provide for his family, and ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a physical and mental toughness to Paul and Reynolds is excellent at showing both. Like James Franco in 127 Hours, Buried is all Reynolds for the entire time. It is up to him and his performance to carry this film, and he does it brilliantly. This is easily the best performance of his career so far.
Buried is a confined, thrilling, almost terrifying yet enjoyable film. It may have a straightforward concept, but what Cortes and Reynolds do with it makes it so much better and more powerful. With a great new director, an emotional, unforgettable turn by Reynolds, and an ending that will make your heart pound and maybe even make it stop – Buried is made to impress and it definitely does.
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“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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