Buried (2010)

I do try to watch movies that are unusual from time to time, and this one's pretty unusual for me. Buried stars Ryan Reynolds and, errrr, that's it. It's just him. He's the only actor in the whole movie. You don't see anybody else. Now you know why I call this a quite unusual movie. And not only there's only one actor throughout the whole movie, the movie only takes place in a coffin. Ryan Reynolds plays an American contractor in Iraq who is captured by terrorists and buried under the sand in a coffin, with only a handphone to gather the ransom money with.

Now a movie with only one actor that takes place in only one very small space might not sound interesting to you, especially if you're essentially trapped there with Ryan Reynolds, but his style of acting works well here. It's slightly light-hearted at times, which propels the plot forward better than if a more dramatic actor were cast in his role. No one wants to watch a guy mope or scream into the phone for one and a half hour, right? Reynolds carries the movie himself quite brilliantly, something that he doesn't showcase quite often in his other movies, and he is also aided by skillful pacing by the director and editor. They ultimately succeed in thrilling and sustaining the audience's interest, despite it being a movie with only one actor and location.

My VERDICT: this movie is a 7/10

TRIVIA: despite the fact that only one actor is seen on-screen, a number of actors are listed in the credit section. They voice the characters called by Reynolds on his handphone.