Buried is an experimental film from director Rodrigo Cortes. Ryan Reynolds, best known for his comedies The Proposal and Van Wilder, takes a break from his norm and plays contractor Paul Conroy, the sole person seen on screen in the entire film, with one small exception that I won't reveal. After an ambush, Conroy wakes up to find himself tied up and in a coffin. He doesn't know where he is exactly, or who his captors are. What he does know is that his air is running out, there is a mysterious cell phone in the coffin, and he is in desperate need of being rescued.
If you're at all claustrophobic, like I am, you'll find yourself looking to the side every now and then just to break from the effective filming style that puts you right inside the contained action. For nearly 100 minutes, we get one set, one actor, and many angles showing the same thing. This will bother some, and impress others. Two people actually walked out of my screening, and I can understand that.
Where the film falters is when our hero starts making unbelievably silly phone calls to loved ones and government officials. Where most people would do anything to be rescued, he loses his cool with almost everyone he talks to - even causing one person to hang up on him. One person he calls instructs him to conserve the cell phone's battery by changing it from vibrate to ring. He does this, then gets too jumpy when it rings, so he switches it back to vibrate. It just seemed unrealistic for someone in such a desperate situation.
I'll let you discover whether he is rescued or not, but overall this is one very clever little thriller. I would give it a score of 7 out of 10.
Family Take: This is not a movie for families. There is no sexual content, but Conroy suffers from an anxiety disorder which causes him to swear and use crass terms frequently throughout the movie. Older teenagers surely know every word used in the book and for them the R wouldn't be too much of a red flag for parents. There is also one scene of violence.
If You Like Buried Try: Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. It's a suspense film with Jimmy Stewart that will also bother those who are claustrophobic.
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