Buried Review

‘Buried’ is a thriller about an American truck driver in Iraq whose convoy is attacked and is then held for ransom buried under ground in a coffin. The film was directed by Rodrigo Cortés and stars Ryan Reynolds alongside, well nobody except a few voices over the phone.

The film really knows how to make you feel sympathy for Reynolds character. Even though he’s in a coffin he has to go through so much and it really makes you kind of angry at the other people. The entire film I wanted to yell at him about what he could / should do. Sure my ideas weren’t the greatest but my point is that the movie pulls you in from the very beginning and never lets you go.

A problem for me though was that the movie shares way too many similarities with ‘127 Hours’.  I know that now days a lot of films seem similar to each other, but these two have things in common that you would never guess and it kind of bugged me. I will say that the camera work in this movie really sets it apart. From odd angles looking up at Reynolds to the weird green glow stick lighting, and even the scenes in complete darkness.  It made watching a movie that takes place entirely in a coffin very enjoyable. Although I can’t say this was a problem for me but I could definitely see some Closter phobic people not being able to watch this movie, being that there is some emphasis on the enclosed space.

A few minor spoilers in this next section so if you want to be completely fresh going into the movie then you can just skip ahead to my wrap up.

Another thing with this movie is that the entire time I was waiting for that huge twist. For some reason I couldn’t help but think the entire time that maybe this was some weird messed up test that the government was doing on him and that the movie would end with his coffin accidentally breaking and him realizing he’s in some type of airport hanger or lab or something. It didn’t help that they kept pointing out some of the holes and stuff in the coffin like maybe somebody was looking in. Also the way some of the people that Reynolds character spoke to over the phone talked to him about his situation. It just seemed like they knew what was going on and just wanted him to shut up. That was more of a personal thing for me, but I just figured I’d share that part.

This movie is definitely worth checking out, not sure about multiple viewings though. Again it’s very similar to ‘127 Hours’ so if movies like that are what you’re into then I would recommend buying this one to put in your collection because again, it really is a great movie.