VIEWERS who suffer from claustrophobia steer clear of this one.
Truck driver Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is attacked during a convoy run in Iraq and wakes inside a crudely constructed coffin.
He discovers a mobile phone and calls for help, and as anxiety takes hold in the cramped confines of his prison, Paul discovers that terrorists have placed him in the box and have demanded a $5m ransom.
The terrorist leader, Jabir (Jose Luis Garcia-Perez), is adamant: for Paul to see his wife Linda (Samantha Mathis) again, he must pay up.
Buried wrings every last drop of tension from a simple dramatic set-up and there are whispers of a possible Oscar nomination for Reynolds for his overwrought theatrics.
While he certainly holds our attention, the actor doesn't have the emotional range to take us to the edge and he doesn't always earn our sympathy, culminating in a skin- crawling interlude involving an unexpected visitor to the box.
