Buried (2010) Review

"I'm buried in a box!"
-Paul Conroy



Truck driver, Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up buried alive in a wooden box with a cell phone and little else.  He has limited time and air to get his captors ransom money or he will be left to die in the box.


What Works:

Being buried alive is my absolute worst fear and this movie did nothing to change that.  You feel like you are in the box with Paul and I've never felt such claustrophobia watching a movie.  It's an absolute nightmare and I have to give the movie props for making me feel that way.

Ryan Reynolds gives one of his best performances.  He makes you feel his fear, anger, frustration, and desperation.  It's constantly heart-breaking as his situation and frantic phone calls get more and more desperate.  It's a one-man show and it's a good one.

The entire film takes place inside of a coffin.  It's hard to set a movie that takes place entirely in one location, especially when it's just a box with one character and a cell phone.  It's really impressive work and the movie doesn't really get stale.  It keeps your interest for 95 minutes.  Not every filmmaker could pull that off.

Finally, there is actually some really cool cinematography.  Obviously we get some extreme close-ups of Paul to make you claustrophobic, but we also get some really artsy pull-out shots of Paul trapped.  They are a great way to show how alone Paul really is.  It's beautiful work.


What Sucks:

There are two sequences in this movie I wasn't the biggest fan of.  First is the snake sequence.  A snake crawling into the coffin on its own is fine, but how did it get inside of Paul's clothes?  More importantly, Paul deals with the situation by lighting a fire in the coffin.  That was incredibly stupid.  He has a boot and a knife.  A simpler, smarter, and more suspenseful way for Paul to take on the snake would be to pin it with his boot and stab it.  The fire was a bit too stupid and ridiculous.

I also didn't love the phone call between Paul and one of the managers of his company Alan (Stephen Tobolowsky) where Paul loses his job and his benefits.  There is no way anyone would call a man buried in a box and have this conversation.  I don't believe it any way, shape, or form.  This phone call should have been cut from the film.  I don't think I could roll my eyes any more.


Verdict:

Apart from two sequences that simply don't work, Buried is a nightmare of a film.  It's effectively claustrophobic thanks to the cinematography and Ryan Reynolds' performance.  It's an impressive film and has definitely got it going on.  

 8/10: Really Good         

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