8:15 PM, 10th August, 1999
No Guests
It is New Year's Eve in rural Wright County, Wisconsin. On a remote nature preserve, Hank (Paxton), his brother Jacob (Thornton), and Jacob's friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) stumble across a downed private plane and discover a duffel bag with $4.4 million in hundred dollar bills. Hank's first thought is to call in the police, but Jacob and Lou suggest they keep the money. They bring Hank around to the idea and he forms a plan on the spot to hide the money till spring, when melting snows will reveal the plane. If no one claims the money then, they will divide it up and all leave town. Their simple plan immediately gets complicated, of course. The human weaknesses of greed, distrust, panic and impatience soon start to cloud the judgement of those involved and mistakes begin to happen, leading to violence. Director Sam Raimi, who was responsible for the Evil Dead trilogy and Darkman, is a bit more restrained with this one, though he does rely on cheap shocks for effect. The film benefits from very good performances from Paxton and Thornton.
Tony Fidanza