A SIMPLE PLAN (M).
Director:Sam Raimi
Stars: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob
Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Gary Cole,
Brent Briscoe, Chelcie Ross, Becky
Ann Baker, Jack Walsh
Running Time:117 minutes.
Set in Delano, a small town in America's midwest,
during a bitter winter, A Simple Plan invites obvious
comparisons to the Coen brothers' Fargo. However,
this violent, darkly comic, character driven thriller has
a darker and more frightening undertone. A Simple
Plan shows how evil can be created out of the most
banal circumstances, and how greed and money can
change even ordinary people, driving them to acts of
violence. The wintry landscape, evocatively
photographed by Alar Kivilo, is the perfect backdrop
for this bleak, chilling and coolly ironic tale of greed
and murder.
The Mitchell brothers and a friend stumble upon a
crashed plane buried under the snow. Inside the plane
they discover the dead pilot, and a bag containing $4
million. After some discussion, they decide to keep
the money. College educated and essentially a decent
family man, Hank Mitchell (Bill Paxton) suggests
that they hide the money away for six months,
waiting until the snow thaws and the plane is found. If
no-one claims the money, then they will divide it
between them. It sounds a simple enough plan.
But immediately things go wrong as greed, suspicion
and mistrust sour the uneasy relationship between the
three men. The violent, abusive, unemployed
alcoholic Lou (Brent Briscoe) demands his share of
the money. Hank's older brother Jacob (Billy Bob
Thornton) is unemployed and lonely, but also a little
simple and too trusting, and capable of inadvertently
revealing their secrets.
Desperate to keep their secret while protecting his
wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda), Hank is forced to make
some appalling decisions and then live with the
terrible consequences. His actions lead to brutal
murder and cover up, and he seems to be digging
himself deeper into trouble at every turn.
As it explores the tragic consequences of Hank's
actions, this tautly crafted and intelligent psychological
thriller also has a strong moral undercurrent. Its
denouement delivers a terrific irony. Scott Smith has
adapted his own tense novel for the screen, and is
protective of the novel's dark, psychological territory.
The performances of the cast are superb. Working
together for the first time since the chilling thriller One
False Move, Paxton and Thornton are both
excellent, easily conveying their struggle between
essential decency and uncharacteristic greed. Fonda
makes the most of her role as Sarah, the shy librarian
who soon reveals her own amoral streak.
A Simple Plan is one of those deliberately slow paced
films in which the violence slowly escalates. An
almost straight forward and conventional thriller, A
Simple Plan is an unusual choice for director Sam
Raimi, better known for his dark, comic- book-like
horror films (Darkman, The Evil Dead, etc). While
the film lacks Raimi's usual visual flourishes, it is still
full of effectively rendered scenes of menace, slowly
building suspense and moody atmospherics.