Looking forward to being ‘Buried’

This is a guest post by Gunter Jameson.

Ryan Reynolds has been known for too much in his acting career thus far, except as a wise-cracking frat boy in ‘Van Wilder’ and as a good-looking face in a handful of forgettable romantic comedies. However, that may be changing in the near future, and some say that Reynolds has much more in store for audiences than the lukewarm faire he has shown audiences already.

Glimpses of something better

Popularly Reynolds is known as a comedic actor; however, some of his more independent work gives us a glimpse of what Reynolds might be capable of in the future. For instance, mainstream audiences didn’t see ‘The Nines,’ a trippy experimental film with follows Reynolds in three different incarnations—as three different personas—as he tries to figure out the metaphysical changes that seem to be popping up around him. The movie received widespread critical acclaim (if not popular acclaim) and most of it centered aro und critics’ surprise that Reynolds could actually take on a serious role and knock it out of the park.

In addition the ‘The Nines,’ Reynolds also received rave reviews for his portrayal of a single father sorting out his past loves in ‘Definitely, Maybe’—as well another critical success but not a big hit with general audiences.

On the horizon

Now it is Reynolds’ turn to show what he’s really made of with two bigger films that feature him in non-comedic roles. The studios are taking bug bets on ‘Buried’ and ‘The Green Lantern’ set for release later this year and next summer respectively.

‘Buried’ premiered at Sundance to huge critical and popular praise that actually started a bidding war between studios to acquire the film. The studios are going out on a limb with this one because it features Reynolds as the only actor in the film. He plays a government contractor in Iraq who has been kidnapped and buried alive with nothing but a cell phone, a lighter, and 90 minutes of air. A claustrophobic thriller to say the least. (You can check out the trailer here.)

As well, Reynolds has been cast as classic superhero The Green Lantern in a multi-million dollar blockbuster comic book adaptation meant to rival the popular Batman and Iron Man movies and start a new franchise of superhero films. The studios are betting he’ll pull it off. But the question is, will audiences accept Reynolds as a “serious” actor?

Gunter Jameson writes about several topics including travel, minimalism and online classes.
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