Buried  

Innovative and well crafted - yet scope too limited to entertain [Blu-Ray]

A bold move, making a movie set entirely inside a coffin.. full of innovative ideas to keep the action as fresh as possible, with an involving performance from Ryan Reynolds.. however, all that effort just doesn't quite get over the fact that this is a movie - set in a box.

We open the movie with Ryan Reynolds waking up in the titular state, and becoming aware of his surroundings. As he calls on his phone for help and tries to contact his family, we learn how it happened, and Reynolds convincingly portrays the different stages of emotion one might expect to feel under such circumstances. A multitude of camera angles, a surprising variety of lighting and varying tones as his conversations switch from his potential rescuer to his family to the perpetrator, do their best to keep involvement at its peak. In the end though, it ultimately seems a somewhat shallow affair - it is clever and intelligent enough to be thought provoking, but the premise limited enough that the thoughts provoked don't go far.

Plaudits to all concerned, not least Reynolds for holding his own throughout the movie, and to the imagination of cinematographer and director - I love to see movies that experiment like this being made.. but it doesn't stop me finding in the end that this particular experiment didn't quite cut it.