"Buried" Review

I will preface this review with a quick description of my rating system, it will always be out of 5, with 5 being a perfect movie (i will not give these out lightly, i don't think i have seen a perfect movie in my opinion).  4-5 is a movie i think is very strong and a must see, 3-4 is an entertaining flick that is potentially worth your money, 2-3 is movie that is not great but certainly not terrible, it will have its redeeming qualities, 1-2 is a view at your own risk, and anything less than 1 probably should never have been made!


I have decided to officially kick things off with a review of the 2010 Spanish-made thriller film entitled Buried.  It was directed, edited and pretty well put together  by a Spanish director named Rodrigo Cortes.  The film is in English though so do not worry about subtitles, it stars Ryan Reynolds (upcoming Green Lantern, Waiting, Definitely Maybe...) and pretty much Ryan Reynolds alone.  For a Spanish-directors very first all-English, semi-wide released film he could not have done a better job.

The movie is about a man named Paul Conroy (Reynolds) who wakes up in a place that most would consider one of the single-most terrifying situations to find yourself in, Mr. Conroy has found himself trapped in a coffin buried underground with only a flashlight, a glow-stick, a lighter and a cell-phone.  Rodrigo Cortes has done something amazing with this movie, he has taken one man stuck him in a box and turned the camera on him for an hour and a half, and it is one hell of and hour and a half.

I wont get into much details about the movie because it would most definitely ruin the experience, all you need to know is that Mr. Conroy is in one hell of a predicament and the mystery will unfold as the movie creeps ahead.  This movie is absolutely gripping, which can be attributed to Ryan Reynolds performance as much as it can be attributed to the fantastic production/editing choices made by the director.  The only face you really see in the entire film is Ryan Reynolds but there area few other players in this story.  Keen-eared viewers will recognize the voice of the man who plays Alan Davenport as Stephen Tobolowsky (Heroes, Glee) who has a small role but is fun to hear as he has a very recognizable voice.

On the subject of performance, oh man does Ryan Reynolds ever does a fantastic job.  I feel that Paul Conroy could not have been portrayed better considering his situation and all that he is going through at the time of the film.  It has a lot to do with the very clever and well-written script but does Reynolds ever do an amazing job of bringing that script to life and injecting a large amount of humanity into it!

I will mentioned one thing about the plot of this film, it centers around the current hostilities in Iraq which some may find a silly backdrop for this story but it works very very well with the entire situation.  At the same time though i feel as if the director is truly treading new ground with this particular story, it is not about the actual war, it is not about fundamentalist Muslim's, it is about a man stuck in a box and how much that sucks, with Iraq and the war merely serving as a setting for the story.

One more very strong point of this film is the ending, I do not want to say much because giving it away can ruin this entire film but the ending is absolutely amazing.  I did not know what was going to happen the entire movie so that when you finally reach the ending it seemed like it could have gone a number of different ways, and that is entirely due to the very strong writing.


OVERALL:

This movie is extremely well-done, it features a spectacular performance, great production value (considering its about a dude stuck inside a coffin) a phenomenal script and an ending that will leave most people breathless and truly moved by the story.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it had me on the edge of my seat, had my heart pumping and had me completely hooked in to Paul's plight.  This is a movie that everyone should try and see, especially if you are a fan of Ryan Reynolds, he has a powerhouse performance in this film and is just another thing Buried has done right.  This movie is highly recommended for anyone wanting something different, something interesting and something that will keep you truly guessing until the final scene in the film, which is a scene that left me shaken.  I cannot wait for Cortes' next English film which is a thriller set to star Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver, if it is half as good as Buried Cortes is well on his way to becoming the next big thriller director in Hollywood.

4.5 Messy Paul Conroy Five O'Clock Shadow Beards out of 5