Buried

Whorticulture.com movie review for Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds.  Directed by Rodrigo Cortés

Buried 

Buried stars Ryan Reynolds, and was directed by Rodrigo Cortés.  It's definitely an achievement for Cortés who has only directed shorts prior to this full length feature film. It opens nationwide on October 8^th, 2010.  This was, by far, the best performance of Reynolds’s I’ve ever seen.  Ryan carries the film basically solo.  The only others in the movie are mere voices over the phone, and one woman we watch via cell phone video.

Reynolds plays Paul Conroy, a truck driver in Iraq.  His convoy is attacked by a group of insurgents, and Paul wakes up in a wooden coffin, buried under many feet of sand.  Bound and gagged, he is left a cell phone, a lighter, 2 glow sticks, a junk flashlight, a flask of alcohol, and his anxiety pills.  He has no idea where he is.  His cell phone is in Arabic.  His only chance of survival is the cell phone, as he races against suffocation and the shower of sand slipping into the coffin.

I’ve seen Reynolds in countless roles, from the sarcastic smart ass in Van Wilder and Waiting, to the comic book anti-hero Deadpool.  Women swoon over his abs and his boyish good looks (my friend MogulArmy is very sad that he remains fully clothed in Buried).  This was like nothing I’ve ever seen him in.  This was pure brilliance.  I cannot stress this enough.  I can only hope he receives the accolades he deserves for this.  He carries this entire movie on his shoulders and never once falters.  

Aside from the impressive performance, this movie was outstanding.  I cried like a baby.  It was a white-knuckle thrill ride; constant ups and downs, twists and turns, and I left feeling truly spent.  Absolute heart-wrenching suspense.  It even managed to sprinkle classic Ryan Reynolds sarcasm on top.  It was arresting; completely riveting.  

I have to give this movie a 10/10.  You should do yourself a favor and see this movie.

And this is where my review ends.  However, there’s something I’d like to address, but it’s totally a spoiler.  If you don’t want this movie spoiled for you, stop reading RIGHT NOW.  Personally, I’d suggest you stop reading.  Don’t ruin it for yourself.

*******

To the douchebags with whom I saw this film,

I’m not surprised you groaned at the ending.  Here’s a tip: when the screen goes black, that’s not a cue for you to start talking or laughing.  I haven’t heard so much shushing in my life!  I suppose that’s the problem with free passes – anybody will come.  In any case, you failed to get into the movie from the first minute, so don’t groan and bitch that he isn’t saved in the end.  Not all movies have to have happy endings.  I don’t know what you were expecting, but it was fairly obvious that this wasn’t going to be all sunshine and flowers.