THRILLER; 1hr 35min
STARRING: Ryan Reynolds
Terrorised: Reynolds
Claustrophobes should steer clear of brutal thriller Buried, which sees Reynolds as truck driver Paul Conroy entombed somewhere in Iraq in a pitch-black wooden coffin. Conroy has just a cigarette lighter and a mobile phone as weaponry in the fight of his life. It’s crucial that he also fight the panic that is threatening to swallow him whole and use his wits to free him from the deathtrap in which he has landed.
Chris Sparling’s screenplay is directed with devastating focus by Rodrigo Cortés, who shuts us in the coffin with Conroy and refuses to let us out. It’s an on-the-ball choice for Reynolds; currently filming the Green Lantern superhero blockbuster, he was last seen onscreen playing for laughs in The Proposal. As Conroy is pushed to the limits of terror, frustration, rage and despair, the actor comes through with a gut-wrenching emotional evisceration. His sweat-soaked conviction carries every macabre and suspenseful minute. As a case study in torment, this couldn’t be a tougher call.
