When I decided I was going to be doing these reviews 'Buried' (2010) was one of the films that immediately popped into my head as fitting the bill. I had never seen the film before, but I knew enough about it to know that it would be one that I would be writing about. However,as I knew the concept going in I also was not looking forward to it. Not because it didn't sound interesting but because I do suffer from mild claustrophobia. When I say mild I mean extremely mild, so much so that I would never be diagnosed with having claustrophobia. But it is a strong enough fear for films like this to have me squirming and feeling tense. The film follows Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), a contracted truck driver working in Iraq, who has been taken hostage and buried alive in a coffin after his convoy was ambushed. Stuck with only a lighter and a mobile phone and with oxygen and time running out, it becomes a race for survival.
This film achieves its aims on so many levels. Its first achievement is in how uncomfortable it makes you feel. The sense of claustrophobia in the film is horrible and it some points I felt trapped myself. Without this the film loses a lot of its impact as an experience, but also loses a lot of the emotional impact as you can relate so much more with Paul when you feel as claustrophobic as he is. The second is on a technical level. Having seen the behind the scenes of how the film was made it is actually super simple what they did, but they make it feel as though Ryan Reynolds is in fact stuck in a coffin. It is also smart in how it uses lighting to keep things visual interesting. There ends up being 4 different light sources in the film, all which emit different shades of light which allows for more interesting visuals than if there was just one light source. The final and most important thing this film needs to be praised for is it's ability to keep itself interesting and, even more impressively, exciting for the whole 90 minutes despite it being completely set inside this coffin. I was convinced that the film would take us out the box for flashbacks or something similar, but it never does. It follows through on its original concept and it pulls it off really, really well. Now, there are a couple of moments where the film does fall a little bit in its attempts to keep the excitement levels up. There is one scene in particular that feels like it is thrown in there just to keep the excitement up. It doesn't really make sense, it drags a little and it doesn't add to the narrative at all. There are also a few moments of editing that are clearly thrown in to try to keep it exciting but it actually comes off as a little comical. However, these moments are very few and far between and I was invested in the film throughout.
Performance wise there is only really one to talk of and that is Ryan Reynolds. There are a handful of voice actors who are used over the phone and all of them do well. But Ryan Reynolds is the only on screen character. That puts a lot of pressure on his shoulders. It is solely down to him to carry the film and deliver the emotion needed for the films narrative to have its full impact. Fortunately, he absolutely delivers. He is able to portray pure terror, panic, anger and hope throughout his performance and you buy in to him completely and feel all the struggles he is going through. He is also able to deliver believable comedic moments, and not in the typical Ryan Reynolds fashion. Nowadays it seems he only plays himself in films, but this is evidence that he does have a lot of skill as an actor.
'Buried' is a film that I knew I would find massively uncomfortable to watch, but I wasn't sure sure whether or not i would enjoy it as a whole product, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It is a very impressive technical film and I appreciated the filmmakers commitment to the concept. It also has a great central performance from Ryan Reynolds in a role that is very different to the typical Ryan Reynolds roles you would expect of him. But most surprisingly of all was that it kept me gripped and was exciting throughout despite the closed quarters set where the whole narrative resides. I would recommend it, but with the caveat that if you do have a fear of enclosed spaces this film is going to make you very, very uncomfortable.