Boxed In

Talk about a high-concept film: In Buried, Ryan Reynolds stars as Paul Conroy, a military contractor in Iraq whose convoy is ambushed and who wakes up to find himself trapped in a coffin six feet underground somewhere in the desert. Amazingly, he's able to make and receive cell phone calls (he must not have AT&T as a service provider), but not knowing exactly where he is makes it difficult to let his rescuers find him. You might think this sounds a bit claustrophobic, and you'd be right, but somehow, director Rodrigo Cortés is able to shoot the film in a way that gives both Reynolds and the audience space to move around (limited though that may be). That said, how well you go along for the ride depends on how invested you are in the action; at the screening I saw, I was distracted by giggles a few rows behind me. Buried could have been a bit more suspenseful and thrilling, and it probably is with the right audience, but unfortunately, I just wasn't feeling it (probably thanks to that young woman behind me). And in the end, it wasn't just Conroy who was hoping for rescue. I'm giving Buried a C.