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The peak for Raimi's career as a Director came in this absolute stunner of a thriller back in '98.  It's been ten years now, and the film sticks pack a punch, resonating with every fear of failure that is in us as well as the prospect of problem-solving success/wealth that is consistently elusive to many of us.

"A Simple Plan" tells the story of two brothers, Hank and Jacob Mitchell (played with infinite grace by both Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) who happen along a crashed private plane while walking through snowy woods.  The plane has a big bag of money.  And a dead pilot.

It would be a perfect getaway; the ultimate stroke of good luck.  The falling snow could always cover their foot tracks and the money is probably drug money.  No one else could lose or get hurt.  Right?

Well, that's where Raimi's superb direction leaves a ticking time bomb: At our wants and hopes for these characters.  There are hindering variables laced throughout the screenplay, like the third person (not the dead pilot) at the discovery of the plane--Lou Chambers, Jacob's close friend, played in a memorable performance by Brent Briscoe.

Each of these players want the same thing: happiness.  In a stroke of irony, it's their own unhappiness with each other (or prejudices you could say) that becomes their own unraveling.  Hank despises Lou; Lou hates Hank's straight and by the books lifestyle; Jacob doesn't agree with Hank's criticism over Lou--well, you get it.

But the wounds cut deeper.  Each individual unveils their true demons when the prospect of future wealth comes into the picture.  We see how Jacob really has been imploding with jealously and failure over the years.  Lou is always front and center with his brutenss, but we see the source of this in a late night scene involving his brash wife.  But Hank is at the epicenter of the film, and Paxton gives him that noble and reassuring aura.  Whenever events start unfurling unexpectedly, our eyes can rest on Hank; he'll get us out of it sooner or later.

But no one is safe in a world where happiness--in a bag full of money--has no official or implemented title or owner.  It's a sick game of hot potato where everyone wants to hold onto it longer than they should.

Bridget Fonda does some good work as Hank's wife, a late-blooming Lady Macbeth you could say.  By the time Gary Cole shows up in the third act and his character's real identity is revealed, it's not much of a twist but more of a scary reminder behind the serious carnage of the money's origin.

Raimi was at the top of his directorial form here.  Unfortunately, these days, his name rings out over the "Spider-Man" trilogy--a collection of films I must admit carry no stature or merit in this cinematic court.  No matter what you say, the "Spidey" films are atrocious--a stunning exercise in banality and wannabe epic moviemaking. Give me "Evil Dead" instead. 

But I haven't forgotten about the Raimi that soared to great heights ten years ago.  Even without spidey-senses.