Getting buried alive sounds like it would be one of the most terrifying things ever. I’m not claustrophobic, but that shit just sounds like it would be really scary.
Ladies and gentlemen… “Buried”.
Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is an American truck driver working for a private contractor. He’s also having the worst day of his life as he finds himself stuck inside a wooden coffin that’s been buried underground in Iraq. So we follow him as he tries to get in touch with the outside world and get help. So now we have a contained thriller set in a shitty box under the ground. Limiting the plot to such a small space could go poorly and just turn out very one-note, but holy shit, they actually managed to make the plot pretty great. I mean, it’s a very simple concept, but it’s the execution of said concept that impresses. We’re with Paul the entire time in the box, rooting for him to survive and get the fuck out of there, and it’s really compelling. And while there’s one thing that happens in here that doesn’t make that much sense, I feel like the movie earns that one moment based on how logical and realistic the rest of the movie is. Also, the amount of drama and suspense they manage to create here is astonishing, I was on the edge of my seat for most of the runtime and I was fully invested in the plot. Yeah, it’s pretty great.
There aren’t really that many characters to talk about here… as a matter of fact there’s only one. Sure, you hear the voices of a few other people throughout, but it’s difficult talking about them when we don’t really get to know them in any way. So let’s talk about Paul Conroy. He’s played by Ryan Reynolds and I have to say, Reynolds was fucking great in this role. He’s playing a man stuck in a box in a foreign country, that is tough to make to engaging. But Reynolds nails it, giving us a terrified, angry, confused, and determined performance that feels very realistic. He really sells the claustrophobia of the situation and he really makes you feel for him. I’ve liked Reynolds in movies before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this… serious. Anyhow, he was great!
The score for the movie was composed by Victor Reyes and it was great. It was tense, eerie, and just overall worked very well for the movie. It really helped elevate the suspense in the movie. Yeah, there’s not much else I can say… it’s great.
This movie was directed by Rodrigo Cortés and I really think he did a fantastic job. His directing is really tight and suspenseful and really maeks you feel like you’re stuck in the box with Conroy. What really also helped the movie was that they never cheated with the lighting. What I mean is that a lot of movies use artificial lighting to make the audience see what’s going on, despite it being “dark”. You can often tell that it’s cheated in movies, just look at the scene and ask yourself “Would everything really be lit up like that at that time/location?”. But this movie… no cheating. It’s dark as fuck inside that coffin, and the only light we ever get is either from Conroy’s zippo lighter or the cellphone that he has. No other weird light sources that seem like they’re coming from nowhere. Any and all light in this movie makes sense. By the way, this is the most I’ve ever talked about lighting in a movie on this blog, because this is the only time I felt like it was worth talking about.
This movie has been well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 87% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 65/100. Roger Ebert gave the movie 3,5/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,0/10.
“Buried” is a fantastic thriller that makes perfect use of it’s limited space. It has a great plot, a really good character, a great performance from Ryan Reynolds, great music, and fantastic directing (and lighting). Time for my final score. *Cough*. My final score for “Buried” is a 9,89/10. This of course means that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.
My review of “Buried” is now completed.
Pffff… trouser snake.
TheMarckoguy 