Paul Conroy (Reynolds) is working out in Iraq when he wakes up to find himself buried alive in a coffin. With a lighter, torch and mobile phone with him. Everyone’s worst nightmare being alive in a coffin . . .
As Paul is trapped he begins to use the mobile phone to try and get people in the outside world to help him. But that is not as easy as it may first seem when people don’t really seem to understand how serious his situation is. They don’t seem to want to listen to him and don’t seem to take him seriously.
We quickly are able to relate to Paul and feel like we are taking the last breathes with his as it seems the coffin becomes smaller and smaller by the second. It is a race against time and we are really not sure whether he will be saved or not. It is hard to decide whether the man who sounds like he cares and is helping, is actually doing anything to get Paul out.
He ends up making a hostage video when told by his kidnapper when his family is mentioned. The company he works for claim he was not employed by them when he was taken due to misconduct that they so obviously made up. Everything is against Paul and nothing seems to be able to help him.
I have to admit that the part I found the most heart stopping had to be when the snake got into the coffin. I really was hating it for Paul (yes, that is how much I was getting into this film). You have to admit that would make everything even worse!
I thought Ryan Reynolds gave an inspired performance being the only actor to actually appear on the screen, the rest of the actors only being a voice on the other end of the phone. He shows us so many emotions and really gets us to care deeply about Paul. It really has to be one of the best performances from an actor who doesn’t have anyone else to act against.
The film was slightly different to what I thought it would be like. I had thought it would show us flashbacks from Paul’s life with his family or show us exactly how he ended up in the coffin, but that is not the approach to this film. That was not a bad thing at all, the emotions of just one actor and his reactions to people on the phone really made this such an incredible film. Well done Ryan Reynolds!
