The whole film has 1 setting. A coffin. Ryan Reynolds, named Paul Conroy, wakes up in the dark finding himself in a dark box, with a zippo lighter and a smart phone. Conroy soon realizes that he is buried underground as he isn't able to lift the lid of. He also realizes that he was put there as a ransom -- he was a hostage. His life in the box is probably more eventful than any other day in his life , since he is only a mundane truck driver bringing supplies to children in Iraq. His kidnappers, thinking he was a soldier, found him valuable and asked him to get 1 million dollars in exchange for his freedom. With no insurance, no riches and denied by the FBI the chance to pay for the situation , Conroy is not able to fulfill that wish and is not released. So the only way he can get out is , manually. Someone has to find him and dig him out. And no, his cell phone was cloned so the GPS can't find it.
Amazingly, this film wasn't boring. It actually kept me at the edge of my seat. Despite it being limited to a rather big coffin, Rodrigo Cortes managed to keep the audience attached. He changed angles, lightings, and gave special effects to dramatize Conroy's situation. During turning points in the story there were rapid close-ups and when Conroy was contemplating he would zoom out, at the same time stay in the boundaries of that coffin. Lighting was used effectively, lighting was realistic. The flashlight he later found would die once in awhile and would flicker after clicking it a couple of times. The Blackberry he had gave of blue lights that would dim when it closes on his ear. Even though the film didn't leave the coffin we knew what Conroy was thinking through repeat of the voices he has heard in the film and we knew a few things happening outside the coffin. There was sand, so obviously it was in a desert. There was a mosque nearby, so probably not an open desert. He was probably in a town( I would hate to think he was just in the kidnappers backyard) and it was a target for a war since bombs were thrown to it.
But enough about that. The real show was Ryan Reynolds. When I first read that the film was a one man's show I was like 'wut?' but then I heard it was Ryan Reynolds. He's no stranger to the horror genre but I'm sure many are confused as to what a charming, hilarious and bubbly was doing playing a thriller and alone at that. I was doubtful about his performance because he'd have to be good enough to keep the audience from falling asleep out of boredom. But, hell yeah, he did it. He was not an angel, he swore, he was an ingrate, he yelled at the people who were supposed to help him, he was a suck up, and yet...he still got the audience sympathy. He showed tenderness and love at times, especially when he called his mother and his family. He controlled his emotions incredibly that it didn't cross over to becoming a melo drama. His expressions help the audience feel anger, frustation, hopeful, and skeptic at different times of the movie. And personally, I wanted to cut his kidnapper's balls off. This film has given Reynolds a whole lot of respect.
There are many reasons why this film is a horror film. To the claustrophobic this is the ultimate horror movie. To those who are afraid of being alone, well, Conroy only had a few voices to keep him company-- and not all were to his support. It was creepy that even after the credits, I still managed to think "What if it was me?" "What would I do if it was me in Conroy's shoes". Other than being buried alive for no reason, I thought the real horror was the side to society we don't see in daily life. Later in the story we figure out that the man who kidnap Conroy is not a terrorist, he is just...a desperate man. It made think about how cruel the human can be. To put someone else through sheer terror just for money is just...madness. Desperation can make someone do cruel things, and I haven't seen anything as cruel as this -- off or on screen. I mean, it would be more understandable *though it would never justify* putting someone else in a coffin if he had a family to feed with the money he needed or if his child was dying of cancer and he needed money to help save his life. I don't understand how someone could commit such a crime with the thought that he is destroying a family, pushing a wife to depression and depriving a child of a father's presence hanging on the back of their head. I can't imagine living with that guilt. If they thought about it, would their child or wife be proud of what they've done , despite it being to help them? Would they want to live with blood on their hands?
I'd like to think that there is good in everyone. Like yin and yang. That Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and all those other terrorists had a heart somewhere underneath that evil. But it's films like this that prove me wrong. Anyone who would do this to someone and consciously has lost my belief that there is good in them.
I'm in no way in a position to conclude this, but I do hope that this film wins at least SOMETHING in next years award season.
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