Buried

Plot synopsis:
On October 23, 2006, Paul Conroy, an American civilian truck driver working in Iraq, wakes up and finds himself buried alive in a wooden coffin, bound and gagged, with only a Zippo lighter and a BlackBerry phone at hand. Although he initially has no idea how he got there, he starts to piece together what has happened to him. He remembers that his and several other trucks were ambushed by terrorists, who killed his colleagues; he was hit by a rock and passed out. He receives a call from his kidnapper, Jabir, demanding that he pay a ransom of $5 million by 9PM or he will be left in the coffin to die.
Conroy calls the State Department, which tells him that due to the government policy of not negotiating with terrorists, it will not pay the ransom but will try to rescue him. They connect him with Dan Brenner, head of the Hostage Working Group, who tells Conroy they are doing their best to find him.
His kidnapper calls Conroy and demands he make a ransom video, threatening to execute one of his colleagues who survived the attack. Conroy insists that no one will pay $5 million, so the kidnapper drops the amount to $1 million. Despite his compliance in making a video, the kidnappers execute his colleague and send him the recording of it, which he watches in horror. Shortly afterwards, distant explosions shake the area, damaging his coffin, which begins to slowly fill with sand. Conroy continues sporadic phone calls with Brenner, skeptical of the man's promises of help. To reaffirm his wholehearted intentions, Brenner tells Conroy about a 26-year-old named Mark White who was rescued from a similar situation three weeks previously, telling him that the kid is home with his family and happy.
Later on, Conroy receives a phone call from his employers, who inform him that he was fired from his job due to an alleged prohibited relationship with a colleague (the one who was executed), and thus he and his family will not be entitled to any benefits or pension he earned during his time with the company. Brenner calls back and explains that the explosions that had damaged his coffin earlier were in fact several F-16 bombings, and that his kidnappers may have been killed. Conroy begins to lose all hope and does a last will and testament in video form, giving his son all of his clothes and his wife his personal savings. Jabir calls back demanding that Conroy video record himself cutting his finger off, threatening Conroy's family back home in Michigan if he refuses, saying that he lost all of his children. Conroy records himself cutting off one of his fingers and sends the video.
Shortly after making the video, the cell phone rings, Paul begins to hear shovels and distorted voices. The voices come clearer, saying to open the coffin, and the coffin opens. But abruptly, it becomes obvious he hallucinated the encounter.
After some minutes, Brenner calls, notifying Conroy that they have found his location and are driving out to find him. Then Conroy's wife Linda calls him, so Conroy hangs up on Brenner. She cries with him and begs him to promise her that he will come home. He promises, but hangs up due to another call from Brenner. Brenner reports that they have found the site. The group starts to dig up a coffin, but Conroy cannot hear anyone near the coffin. When they open it, the coffin turns out to be Mark White's, not Conroy's, indicating that White was never rescued. Paul starts to cry as he realizes he is not going to be saved. The sand fills his coffin and he suffocates to death as the light goes out and the screen goes black. The last thing we hear is Brenner, repeating, "I'm sorry, Paul. I'm so sorry." as the connection finally times out.

Tags: mystery, cruelty, murder, boring, dramatic, claustrophobic, suspenseful, sadist

Review:
Buried is a film that keeps things deadly simple, one character, one location and a one line but horribly inspired plot, those looking for flashy visuals or big action should turn far, far away from this one.
It's worth noting though that the film is well directed and photographed, director Rodrigo Cortes has a nimble eye for visuals and angles to keep things visually interesting, while cinematographer Eduard Grau gets the best out of the mere two light sources to make the experience a frighteningly vivid one.
The plot sees Ryan Reynolds waking up in a coffin, with nothing more than a cell-phone and his lighter to help him out, things develop through his series of fraught, occasionally bleakly amusing and increasingly desperate communications with the outside world.
A lot of people are likely to dislike the film on a fundamental level, but Reynolds gives the performance of his life here, running through a rainbow of emotions, angry, sarcastic and terrified are but a few.
An ordinary man reacting as best he can to a nightmare, drawing on the sort of resourcefulness he probably hoped he'd never need, occasionally breaking down but keeping ploughing on, shades of dark humour in the protagonist's travails on the phone, its endlessly interesting and as time goes on, nail-bitingly suspenseful.
It makes a film like 'Salt' look like a giant waste of resources, when Buried does what even some of the best thrillers can't do, it brings us inside the character's head, and does it all without a romp through the city, or blowing things up.If you're one of those people who loves to sit on the edge of your seat, chewing at your fingernails, while you're constantly asking yourself what's going to happen next.
Paul Conroy, who is played by Ryan Reynolds and is the only character in the movie we actually see, wakes up in a coffin buried under the ground with no idea how he got there or who put him there.
I found these minute details fascinating and they artistically added a lot to a film which had little room to work with.While Cortes' directing gives the film plenty of life, Ryan Reynold's stalwart performance really drives the emotion of the film.
These are sometimes hard working law abiding people who have seen their country torn apart by war, who have seen their children dying and who no longer have any other way of making money, and who see the Americans as to blame for this....not that I want to sound like I was on their side at all or that I condone it in any way, which I don't, but I found this film a very interesting study into human survival instinct and desperation.
Buried: in which Ryan Reynolds is en-tombed underground in a coffin like structure with only a cell phone and a lighter for company spending 90 minutes crying out for help to anyone who will listen.
Director Rodrigo Cortes keeps the drama entirely inside this average-sized coffin-like box but as anyone who watched Hitchcock play with space and tension in Rope and Lifeboat will know how inventive one has to be with limited room, Cortes used his skill to make this experiment work brilliantly with some interesting lighting effects to keep it visually interesting.
The buried trucker very well performed by Ryan Reynolds works utilizing his skills and talents to survive the deadly trap which guard the coffin with serpent and falling down included , as using his intelligence he attempts to avoid get smashed because the coffin is caving itself in .The picture succeeds because the thriller, tension , as well as a superbly written script delving into the human psyche in such extreme situation and our instinctive urges for survival .
The good thing about this film is that the director made it on a shoestring budget only having to do one set , yet the movie works on many levels but is constantly reconfigured .
Ryan Reynolds is believable as a man buried alive in a coffin, and you can really feel the emotions he experiences during the movie.
In 2006, the American truck driver Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), who was hired by the CRT contractor to work delivering supplies in Iraq, awakes buried alive inside a coffin in the Iraq desert.
Very few movies are made this way, the sheer rawness of this movie makes it all worth viewing, even though it keeps the same set the whole movie, it keeps you suspended, this is basically the closest thing you will get to the feeling of being buried alive and the movie really grows on you if you understand it.It's one of the few movies that shows you how cruel, stupid and ignorant some people can be, in my opinion this is something that very few movies is able to capture.Its raw and has no mercy, one of the most brilliant films i've seen and the acting is awesome, if you like suspension and an awesome thriller you won't be disappointed, a true pearl.Sypher1982.
Going into 'Buried,' the less the audience knows about the plot details of the film, the more it will enhance their enjoyment of the proceeding ninety minutes of cinematic screen time.
But, while the audience's attention may hinge at times on the development of the narrative, it is the inventiveness of Cortes and the heart-felt performance by Reynolds that keeps the tension and the suspense of the film at a constant high throughout providing one of the best thrillers to see a theatrical release in years.Cortes takes the minimalist, one-room concept to new heights as he provides only the confines of a basic coffin for the setting of a film.
Reynolds gives quite possibly the performance of his career as he literally providing one-man-cinematic show, while his passionately explosive show-piece alongside the beautifully simplistic cinematography, editing and lighting create a film that keeps audiences on the edge of their seat for its entire duration.'Buried' is an ambitious project, pulled off by an enthusiastic director which breathes a little life into the mystery thriller genre in general.
I can't recall how many films in the last few years had attempted something as daring and audacious as Buried, but writer Chris Sparling and director Rodrigo Cortes pulled this thriller off wonderfully, aided by the performance of Ryan Reynolds, who single handedly demonstrates his acting range that continues to cement him as one of my favourite character actors (from films like Waiting...
The story engages at a very personal level since it's a one man tour de force with little external distractions, and I suppose anyone caught in the same situation will probably employ some of the same techniques here when desperately seeking help to escape.Writer Chris Sparling and director Rodrigo Cortes crafts a simple yet effective story that will put you on the edge together with his protagonist, allowing you to experience almost everything he does, from frustrations when interacting with external parties in scenarios which we are all too familiar with, yet understanding and grasping the impact that such issues bring forth if we're in the same shoes.
Trying to film an entire movie inside a coffin is unfilmable and that's a risk the director wanted to take.
However, if you get sleepy in movies this one is perfect because it may have worked as a radio program a lot better as you do not need to see anything to follow the story line of calling out on a cell phone from the inside of a coffin.
Given the plot those concerns are stupid.A few words about the man of the hour, Ryan Reynolds gives an excellent performance here indeed, but (how to put that right?) it didn't seem like a very hard role to pull off.
Anyway dumb me thought he was just a pretty face romcom actor but I learned that he enjoyed playing parts in many indies that I missed and will try to check out.The ending may or may not satisfy you, anyway like in most good movies, and often in life, the journey is more interesting than the destination..
Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes takes minimalist cinema-making to new heights by telling a story with just only one character trapped in one location in what is almost dogma 95esque settings, and far more importantly he manages to do so by keeping it interesting throughout the 90 minutes.Buried opens with a man trapped in what appears to be a wooden box buried underground.
As he tries to piece it all together he finds out that he has lost his special contact number ( that apparently every American in Iraq has been given in case of an emergency) but discovers a mobile phone ( in Arabic settings) and a Zippo lighter alongside a pencil, a pocket knife, and supply of anti-anxiety pills ( we later learn that Conroy suffers from anxiety)The rest of the movie is about his frenetic attempts to establish contact with outside world - his family, friends, employers, the state department to seek assistance to 'get him out'.
Buried (2010) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Effective thriller has Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) waking up in pure darkness and soon realizing that his convoy in Iraq was attacked by insurgents and now he is stuck inside a coffin without much time to live.
Sure, there have been countless movies about being buried alive as the horror genre is full of such films but none of them actually put you in the coffin for 94-minutes and made you squirm like this thing does.
I think the film works because as more and more time passes you begin to feel like Paul, as if you're trapped and by keeping you inside the coffin you never really get a chance to catch your breath.
For a movie set entirely in a wooden box, Buried works rather well.The film could be a lesson taken from the 'Alfred Hitchcock School of Suspense Filmmaking' where a single location is utilized with a limited cast.
A man called Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up to discover he's been sealed inside a wooden box/coffin and buried alive in what we soon discover to be Iraq.
With his oxygen running low, it's desperate a race against timeYears ago if someone had said it was possible to make an entire movie set in a box with only one character, most people would probably have laughed at them.
i watched this movie the other day not expecting the kind of suspense of an Alfred Hitchcock type thriller that keeps you guessing every Minuit, also the pace keeps up right through to the grand final, it kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, also it scared me thinking what people have to go through in war time, and i thought about myself being in such a situation, i don't want to give too much storyline away for other viewers, that would spoil it, but i recommend the movie highly for suspense movie buffs, and one of the most important movies of this year.
and we get to watch him for an hour (or so) trying to get rescued i.e. making phone calls.This movie leaves a bitter aftertaste and an uneasy feeling, which might stay with you for a long time.
I am all for giving a low budget movie a chance and judging it accordingly, but if you loved this one you are definitely easily entertained and your bar is set significantly low.The Acting wasn't bad considering there is only one actor (Ryan Reynolds) and a few voices on the other end of a cell phone.
I walked out of the cinema saying the same as the others "That movie was s**t, I want my money back".The only good thing about this movie was Ryan Reynolds.Be aware that this whole movie is set in the coffin and is extremely dark.If you're scared of the dark or snakes this is not the movie for you.Also if your claustrophobic this is not for you either.Overall 2/10 "Wouldn't Watch It Again""WARNING" It's not worth the money!.
The acting is great, but the story is incredibly boring If you really want to watch an ultra-low budget movie about a guy buried underground in a coffin with little if any hope of ever escaping, then this might be your cup of tea.
Granted, Ryan Reynold's was a good actor, he would have to be because I think he may have been the only character in the entire movie.
If you want to waste 2 hours of your life watching Ryan Reynolds scrabbling around in a dark wooden box, covered in dirt, yelling half nonsensically at a BlackBerry, then this movie is for you...personally, I regret that I can't get that period of my life back.
To kill off the good guy don't make any movies better - it just makes your audience feel that they have been sitting there for 90 minutes wasting their time.
The film was shot on a mere $3 million budget (a large portion of which probably went to pay Reynold's salary, which I'm sure was a big pay cut for him) and takes place entirely in one location, a coffin.
He realizes that he has a fleeting amount of oxygen left and desperately tries to use what little time and resources he has to find a way out of the coffin and survive.Some viewers who demand more standard popcorn action movie fare will be bored by the film but many other film fans (like myself) will be captivated by it.
Paul (Reynolds) has a handful of items buried with him, including a phone which he uses for the majority of the film in his efforts to reach help.
I generally enjoy watching simple thrillers like this, however Buried was a disappointment.We join Paul as he wakes up, follow him throughout his predicament, and share the tedium and frustration that you might imagine comes with the situation.
4)the ending was great!however, there were some goofs in this movie: 1) the acting from Ryan Reynolds was not very perfect(the way he speaks sometime looks like he was not in a desperate situation) but i think he has delivered the best performance ever so far in Buried.
Boring and irritating director, dumb situations (like the lighter is not using oxygen, yes right?) I wanted to stop the movie after 20 minutes, but speed it up with the remote, stopped sometime when I saw some movement or light in the dark coffin, stopped but after a few disappointed minutes (nothing happens only moaning and dumb conversations) I just gave up and I'm lucky my wife stopped me when I wanted to break the rented disc half.
This is perhaps the most claustrophobic film I've ever seen, with 94 minutes of nothing but Ryan Reynolds trapped in a very enclosed box with little time and no way out.
This is what Paul Conroy, an American truck driver working in Iraq, is about to experience, and the viewer who dares to watch this movie will feel with him through his excruciating struggle to be dug out of his imprisonment alive."Buried" is a daring, gripping, challenging viewing experience, unlike few others that I have recently had.
You won't need to be shown the images of the people he rings up, or the events that take place outside his box; the evocative power of the words we hear is that big, you will be able to "see" the scenes in your mind.Though extremely dramatic and definitely a hard watch for anyone (I advise people with even mild claustrophobia or anxiety to stay away from this movie), it is permeated by an almost constant, absolutely dark humor and a sense of satire and intense criticism that points out at the bureaucracy, unnecessary formalism, and emotional detachment of today's Western society.
Give Rodrigo Cortes credit: movie aside, few people could stand the thought of 90 minutes in a box with Ryan Reynolds.
"Buried" is a concentrated study of character carried out by Ryan Reynolds' dynamic and powerful performance and works as a minimalistic film experiment, a psychological thriller and a hostage drama.
All he has with him is a phone and a knife.Despite the fact that this movie is filmed in a coffin the entire time, the movie interests us every step of the way.
Yes, there is, and Buried proves that.Maybe this is not a so original idea at all because I think that every director in the world already made this question once in life but never found a great screenplay to make it possible.Of course that the movie have some flaws, like the fact of the character uses his lighter in a place where oxygen is gold.
After waking up in a small wooden coffin, Paul Conroy (Reynolds) uses everything he has (lighter and cell phone) to find a way out.
I know what your thinking...how good can a movie be if it only has one person in it the entire time with only a lighter and a cell phone.
The movie starts with-in the coffin, Ryan wakes up and finds himself inside with few options like a cell phone (blackberry), lighter and few flash lights.
The film starts with Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), waking up inside the coffin.
$3 million I expected so much more, especially seeing as it started Ryan Reynolds, but I was let down with poor camera work and a very poor script.A very claustrophobic atmosphere is created inside the coffin, but the film is just over saturated with close up shots a dark lighting.
He spends a lot of time, calling different law enforcement agencies in America, before getting hold of a hostage negotiator in Iraq, placed there by the US.The entire film sees Ryan Reynolds in a coffin.