Buried (2010)

The closest to 7 minutes to heaven I’ll ever get with Ryan Reynolds.

While on a job in Iraq, civilian contractor Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is attacked and kidnapped, then awakens to find himself buried alive in the middle of the desert with nothing but a lighter, a candle, a cell phone and a knife. Does Paul have the instincts he’ll need to save himself?

The premise is very simple, and ever since that scene in The Vanishing, I have always been wanting to see a whole movie actually dedicated to the fact that somebody’s in a casket.

Most of my praise has to go to Director Rodrigo Cortez, who with his first film, shows that he is indeed a force to be reckoned with. He uses the art of claustrophobia, a underrated art in the cinema world, to his advantage. I liked how the whole film was inside the casket, no pan-outs of people on the outside, or other sub-plots, just Reynolds on the phone, and trying to stay alive, while in this casket, and all of it works.

For the 90 minutes of this film, I will not lie to you, I was on the edge of my seat. Every single phone call that happened, we hear more, and more as to what happened, and how he got there, and it’s great cause it all works, and the story makes sense. Cortez really works to the fact that Reynolds has got little time to live, with an incredible score that will just keep the suspense building, as well as some neat little camera tricks to give you even more a sense of claustrophobia.There is also very good, and effective lighting used in this film, because the only lighting in this film, is the lighting presented in this film, which is hard to pull off, especially in a film, in today’s world.

The screenplay was well-written. It built well on the story, and the heart of it all in the middle, but it got way too political by the end. In the middle, to final act, you’ll notice that the film starts to bring up messages about American industrial military complex, and how they don’t do their best jobs, and how they don’t want to get caught with anything, and yudda yudda yudda. That’s the only problem I had with this film, it kept on badgering me with its message, to the point of where I was kind of annoyed. I mean your a film about a guy in a box, underground, for 90 minutes, don’t try to be something bigger, and more meaningful.

The real showcase for this film is the main of the hour and 30 minutes, Ryan Reynolds. He basically carries the whole film himself, because all you really do see is him, and he plays this character so well, that you can’t take your eyes off of him. He uses humor when needed, and he is emotional wrenched throughout the film, and you immediately hold on to him, and cheer for him, hoping for the best. Break-out role right here, I hope he gets more of these.

The whole film is basically a leading up to the last 5 minutes of this film, where I won’t give anything away, but I cannot lie to you, those last 5 minutes are probably the most suspenseful, I have encountered ever. And needless to say, the ending of this film, is probably the best of the year.

Consensus: Buried works as a suspense thriller, that gets to you with its premise, and screenplay, but never takes your eyes off the screen, mainly because of Ryan Reynolds doing his greatest work yet.

9/10=Full Pricee!!!