Ryan Reynolds got buried alive in a shallow grave in the underrated 2010 thrillerBuried, and it’s the same exact plot as theCSIepisode that was guest-directed by Quentin Tarantino. Since Reynolds’ last few roles have been snarky and self-aware, there’s a misconception that Deadpool is the only character he’s capable of playing. But inBuried, he gave a straightforward dramatic performance as an American truck driver buried in a wooden coffin with a Zippo lighter and a cell phone in the Iraqi desert.
Reynolds gave one of his best performances inBuried. The movie takes place entirely within the coffin and the only other actors speak to Reynolds over the phone, so he has to carry the entire film on his shoulders, and he does so ably. He gets the audience swept up in this man’s desperate attempts to be found and rescued with the limited knowledge and resources he has, right up to the shocking final scene. ButTarantino did the same story onCSIfive years earlier.
Ryan Reynolds' Buried Was A Lot Similar To CSI’s “Grave Danger”
Both Revolve Around A Protagonist Being Buried Alive
Tarantino guest-directedthe season 5 finale ofCSI: Crime Scene Investigation— episodes 24 and 25, “Grave Danger” — in which Nick Stokes is buried alive in Las Vegasand his colleagues race against time to find him. This storyline is almost identical toBuried. Tarantino had played around with the trope of a character being buried alive in the second act ofKill Bill: Volume 2. After being caught off-guard with a shotgun blast to the chest, the Bride was buried alive by Budd and had to draw on her martial arts training to escape.
Tarantino also guest-directed an episode ofER: season 1, episode 24, “Motherhood.”
ButKill Bill’s live burial isn’t as realistic as the way Tarantino portrayed it inCSI. It takes place in a heightened reality; the Bride punches through the coffin and soars through the dirt. HisCSIepisode tackles this nightmarish scenario in a much more grounded way (no pun intended).
Ryan Reynolds' Buried Was Even More Intense Than Tarantino’s CSI Episode
It’s Longer & Less Predictable
As intense as theCSIseason 5 finale is,Buriedis an even scarier portrayal of being buried alive.It’s a movie, which means it has much longer to make the audience sit with the terrorof being trapped in a coffin underground, quickly running out of oxygen. Plus, inBuried, the audience couldn’t anticipate what was going to happen toReynolds’ lead character.InCSI, it was pretty obvious that they weren’t going to kill off a major characterin a random episode. Tarantino’sCSIepisode is great, butBuriedis even more terrifying.
Buried
Cast
Buried is a thriller film starring Ryan Reynolds by director Rodrigo Cortes. The film follows Reynolds as Paul Conroy, an Iraq-based American trucker who is attacked by a group of Iraqi insurgents, only to wake up and find he is now buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter, a pen, and his cell phone, Paul must find a way to reach the outside world and stay alive long enough for the government to rescue him.
