396. Buried (2010)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Robert Paterson, Erik Palladino

Director: Rodrigo Cortés

Running Time: 95 mins

Buried (Enterrado) is a Spanish film about an American truck driver whose convoy is ambushed while on a job in Iraq. After he awakes from the attack, he finds himself in a coffin below the surface, with a mobile phone, and a lighter, but no way out.

As you may have guessed by now, I’m a huge fan of these survivalist films. Duel, The Naked Prey, Phone Booth, 127 Hours etc. I’m always amazed how they manage to make solitary, individual stories so thrilling to watch, despite the fact that it’s usually just a 90 minute waiting game.

However, in the case of Buried, I was sure that only watching one guy in a box would eventually become boring, but yet again, I was completely blown away by how incredibly exciting and rapid-paced this film was.

Creating a very mysterious atmosphere from the start, where you find yourself immediately in the coffin with the man, you are put in the exact same situation as him, and therefore there is an immediate relation to hold on to right from the kick off.

Throughout this film, as more and more information was thrown at the character, and at the same time you, it becomes a much wider-scale plot, and once you can see past the world of the coffin where he is buried, it really becomes a hugely intriguing film to work out.

Also, this film managed to bring in some of the most unexpected twists I’ve ever seen in a film, and even better, they came thick and fast, so I had absolutely no idea what to think about the story, putting me, like the man, into a very panicky situation, in fact I may have been hyperventilating at some points.

Towards the end, it becomes even more unclear regarding the fate of this man, which I thought was a fantastic topping towards the sheer excitement of the story, so because of that, I’ll give this a 8.7.