Buried

Buried Movie Poster Rating: ★★★½☆

I always knew Ryan Reynolds is a better actor than most of his movies allow him to be, and if you didn’t notice it here then you won’t notice it anywhere else. Here is a movie that features Reynolds trapped inside a box underground, which is almost as depressing as being trapped in a film directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Buried” takes us right into that box and shows the audience how claustrophobic, uncomfortable, and most importantly, how insanely boring it would be like to be in the situation of Paul Conroy (Reynolds).

Being a thriller, interesting things must happen within that coffin. But imagine if it were to happen to you in real life, a realm where no editing can instantly take you to the interesting parts. What a sad death it would be, to literally lie there and wait for death itself. If I where to die in a box, an iPad would greatly suppress that death.

The events that do happen in Buried are not absurd, and though technical errors are present, they are only there to aid the viewing experience. Such an error would be the constant use of the lighter inside the box. No human being who has made it all the way to the 6th grade would use that lighter when not necessary, because fire burns oxygen. Paul uses that thing many times. And a lot of times he equips it for no apparent reason. He uses it not because he’s scared of the dark, but because there is an audience watching him.

Along with Paul’s lighter, is a cellphone, which serves as his lifeline. He tries to make contact with people that could save him. And during those calls, we remain in the perspective of Paul. Director Robert Cortes wants us to relate with the situation of our hero. We are forced to stay in that box with him, and we are never given anything beyond Paul’s knowledge and senses.  We speculate, think, and imagine as much as Paul does.

“Buried” is a fine thriller, and it demonstrates human instinct in Paul Conroy’s fight for survival. Throughout the movie, Paul shifts between emotions of anger, desperation, doubt, hope, acceptance, loneliness, confusion, frustration, and the possible actions that enforce them in such a “limited” movie. Of course, they are not in order. If they are, then I just spoiled the entire movie.

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Buried