Screenhead

You might wonder why I’m tackling such an “older” film today–after all, A Simple Plan was released back in the dim dark days of 1998.  A long time ago by anyone’s reckoning–I graduated from high school that year.  But there are reasons, rest assured.  One, it just got a rerelease just a couple weeks ago.  Two, its director, Sam Raimi, has recently been announced to take the director’s chair for the World of Warcraft movie, so some mention is due.  Three, this movie’s too good not to, and there’s a fair chance a lot of you haven’t seen it.

In A Simple Plan, three guys out in the woods one day find a downed aircraft quite by accident.  They go in to investigate and find a pilot, long dead at the stick, and a duffel bag with just shy of four and a half million dollars in it.  The three come to an agreement–keep the money and leave the plane behind.  What follows as a result of that decision is a series of horrific events that’ll change their lives forever.

If you enjoy anything about this masterful suspense / thriller, based on the book by Scott Smith, enjoy the fact that this sucker BUILDS suspense like an absolute master.  You’d never imagine that Sam “Evil Dead” Raimi had the subtlety for this kind of thing, but once you see A Simple Plan, it will be clear as daylight that he’s more than up to the task.   There’s a wonderful series of escalations and point / counterpoint going on here that shows what happens when people get greedy, or just plain old get needy.  The human capacity for deceit is in full bloom here, and it makes for incredible movie watching.  Watching the relationships interplay, not just within the three who found the money, but also from without, makes a interweaving tapestry of distrust, deceit and sheer thrills that just blows me away.

Even better are the actors he’s got handling the job.  I’m a little ambivalent about Billy Bob Thornton even in the best of times, but there’s no denying that he’s in fine form in this one.  This could be the best thing I’ve ever seen

It’s like I said–it’s that escalation that really makes this movie absolutely amazing to watch.  Every minute that passes, things only get more involved and steadily worse.  It doesn’t just shoot up to a plateau and stay there–it climbs, steadily, until its inevitable conclusion.

By the end, an incredible web of suspicion and paranoia has been built, and when it reaches its inexorable end, it’s downright amazing.  Okay, sure–it’s not all sunshine and lollipops here.  There’s a good few slow moments in here, a little drama between the foursome, but this really shouldn’t distract overmuch from the sheer amount of quality they’ll bring to bear here.

One thing is clear, Sam Raimi is some kind of insane freaky genius.  The guy knows what he’s doing.  This bodes incredibly well for the upcoming World of Warcraft movie, and there’s every reason to catch A Simple Plan, whether for the first time or the tenth.  The Screenhead Ten Scale responds with appropriate love, giving A Simple Plan nine out of ten for being a high-quality thriller with only a few rough edges.

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