Film Review: Buried

Director: Rodrigo Cortés

Buried is a Spanish thriller which was written by Chris Sparling and sees the whole film take place within a wooden box. The concept is always a difficult one to pull off, filming an entire movie in one space and for it still to be entertaining, it's even harder when that one space is a dark wooden box where the only light comes from a mobile phone, a lighter and some glow sticks. Following the film's release Ryan Reynolds talked about how he hated filming Buried due to spending long periods in the dark box and spent the next three days after filming finished outside a lot (including sleeping outside).

The opening few minutes of the film are filmed in darkness as Paul Conroy (excellently played by Ryan Reynolds) wakes up and realises that he is trapped in a wooden box. He then remembers that whilst driving his truck through Iraq that his convoy was attacked by insurgents and that other drivers were killed. Conroy has his mobile phone so contacts the FBI and then the people he realises have kidnapped him who initially want £5 million dollars to release him. He becomes increasingly annoyed with the bureaucracy he faces when calling home as people don't realise the peril he is in.

Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) inside the wooden box

The superb plot twists and turns throughout the movie to keep you constantly engrossed in what is happening, you really don't feel like you've just watched Ryan Reynolds in a box for 90 minutes. The action is incredibly claustrophobic as at no point do we leave the box and on numerous occasions we are left in darkness, the opening scenes where there is no light and the only sound is the breathing of Paul was incredibly un-nerving. I actually felt disappointed after the film finished that I never saw it in the cinemas as this would only have added to the experience.

We follow the hope, despair and frustration of Paul as he believes he might be saved by Dan Brenner (Rob Paterson who we only hear over the phone) who heads up the local hostage rescue group and tries to tap the phones to figure out his location. The tension is ratchetted up by the fact the group have only a few hours to find him according to the man holding him hostage and that Paul has only a limited air supply in the box so needs to conserve air by not panicking. But gripping suspense and claustrophobic tension are not the only things on offer; look out for a darkly funny phone call from his employers in America as well.

3.5/4 an innovative, thrilling and well-acted film