The film itself is an excellent example of how technical, actor and setting limitations can still create something thrilling. Rather than shy away from the premise of a man stuck in a box, Cortes chooses to use the minimalist idea much to his advantage. The camera never leaves Conroy which allows a stronger emotional connection between audience and character; we know only what he knows. Buried starts with strangulated, panicked breathing as Conroy comes round from the blow to his head. The audience sees only blackness which makes Conroy's fear seem all the more real. After around five minutes of darkness he finds a lighter and looks around his prison. I personally felt that for a coffin he got a relatively good deal. It was wider and longer than the average coffin and gave him some space to move around. That's not to say he should count his blessings; he is running out of oxygen and needs help fast.
Luckily the Iraqis threw him into the box with his mobile phone, but they have taken his emergency number if a problem such as this should arise. Conroy can't remember the number so calls 911. Bewildered by a call from someone asking for help from a box in the desert in Iraq the woman on the line is in way over her head. Conroy hangs up in frustration and what follows is a line of phone calls to people he believes should be able to help him. The phone calls are almost hallucinogenic in the sense that after you have watched Buried you can hardly believed that the whole film was set in his coffin. Conroy's vividly vindictive yet desperate conversation with his stepmother stands out in particular. He needs her to get the FBI's number for him but she is indifferent and would prefer to go to the shops and get on with her day. This escalates into a venomous slanging match and Conroy slamming the phone down enraged. We realise he is not just a one dimensional set piece in a box but a man with faults who has somehow wronged his wife and angered her mother. Conroy calls his stepmother back, politely asks for the number gets it and ends the call with a nasty "Fuck you."
It is when terrorist leader Jabir phones Conroy that we realise the reason for the phone in the coffin: he wants five million dollars for Conroy's life. In desperation the calls he makes get through to people higher and higher in government and it soon becomes clear that no one is willing to come forward to help him: "It is the policy of the American government NOT to negotiate with terrorists." a US official tells him. As the chances of getting out alive become bleaker it makes you question your own chances of survival in these situations and how much a life really is worth.
Hostage expert Dan Brenner comes on the scene to give the limited help he can. Conroy is angered at the lack of help and accuses Brenner of "babysitting" him until the oxygen runs out. His lack of trust is understandable. For all the power America seemingly has little seems to be done to help their citizens in Iraq when they are in need. Desperate for some hope Conroy questions Brenner about other hostages and asks for a name of someone who was saved. Brenner gives Conroy the name "Mark White" who he claims is back home and safe.
Time is quickly running out for Conroy whose breathing is becoming shallow. He sleeps to prevent another panic attack and awakes to find a snake crawling down underneath his trousers.
"Maybe he's just pleased to see us?" Alicia wittily said.
"Don't know why Scarlett broke up with him!" was my reply.
In all serious though, it was a rattlesnake that had crawled through a hole in the wood, down his pants and through the bottom of his trousers to the corner of the coffin. Terrified, with options of be killed by a rattlesnake or be killed by starting a fire with his small amount of alcohol and a lighter in an enclosed area, Conroy chooses to set fire to the snake. The snake escapes through the hole and Conroy fills it with jumper, which is a bit stupid because he has just started a fire and will have drastically lost a lot of oxygen in his coffin. The snake and the signal on his phone should also have been a sign that he wasn't buried too far down. Could he have fought his way out?
With the snake gone Conroy tries to relax once again, but sadly for him Iraq is not the best place to buried underground. As bombs go off above him the top of the box falls through and sand begins to fill the coffin. Knowing time really is coming to an end for him Conroy frantically rings Brenner who has good news. He has a lead who is taking him to Conroy right now. "Hang on three more minutes for us Paul. We are almost there." As Conroy's body gets closer and closer to the top of the box will Brenner make it in time? I won't ruin it for you but the endings suspense is almost unbearable.
This is a film that has had some complaints, such as: "Why didn't he kick and punch his way out like The Bride on Kill Bill?! I would well do that LOL." I too questioned this but have come to the conclusion that sand would be more difficult to fight your way out of than mud. Not only that but The Bride was a ferocious assassin with blood lust and sick determination; Paul Conroy is a contractor from American just trying to make some money and help some Iraqis. There has also been the question of "Ryan Reynolds? You mean Mr. Van Wilder? How is he right for a serious role such as this?" I guess there is no right answer to that and it depends on how much of an open mind you are going to have to a typecast actor. I like Ryan a lot. Not only is he handsome and charming, he has proven (to me at least) he can do subtle and serious and is worth a lot more than dead pan humoured frat boy movies. Other people have complained that the film is boring, but I imagine these are people who ate too many blue smarties when they were little and have the attention span of a gnat with ADHD. Buried is a great original, minimalist thriller that should be watched and appreciated for what it is.
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