SmugKitZine
Tied for the best movie I have ever seen
Infamousta
brilliant actors, brilliant editing
Teddie Blake
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Rio Hayward
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
stancym-1
The whole thing did not make sense. The way everyone seemed to make decisions seemed extremely unlikely and far fetched without the necessary humor to make that work. I agreed with the reviewer who stated that one is unlikely to bury a body in an open field with a lit up house not far away. Especially with tire tracks leading to the scene. Then there is the matter of the husband who hires a sleazy detective to kill his wife and her lover. He is shot apparently dead, certainly bleeding a LOT, and we are supposed to believe he suddenly comes to life after hours of not moving and after hours of being dragged away from the murder scene in a car, all the while not moving? Suddenly he has the energy to get out of the car, crawl in the road, and start firing shots at the wife's lover to boot? and wait, he's dragged some more and dumped in a pit dug by the lover, and he is still alive enough to fire MORE shots? As for the leads, the lovers, how did these two ever get together? They tell each other NOTHING, explain NOTHING, and have no communication or affection of any kind in the whole movie. You really dont LIKE any character in this film, and for some that may not matter. It did to me. There is no humor to lighten this dark, depressing piece, and there was too much stupidity for me. Disagreeable and distasteful film. FARGO is a far superior film.
Eric Stevenson
I was eager to watch the first Coen Brothers movie. The weird things is that even though this was labeled a cult film, I actually don't hear it being referenced much. This is still a great movie and while not as good as "Fargo", still worth checking out. This really did remind me of that movie. I think it had something to do with driving at night and stopping over with having to deal with a dead body. The music is amazing.That scene taking place in the night has no dialogue. I think it's actually the best part of the entire movie, because you truly let the atmosphere tell the story here. I really do associate with the people in this movie and I do get the main romance. Now, there really aren't that many characters that are all that nice in this movie, mirroring "Fargo" again. This is still the perfect length with fantastic tension being built up. Hopefully, more word will be spread about it. ***1/2
SquigglyCrunch
Blood Simple. follows a man who, upon discovering that his wife is cheating on him with one of his employees, decides that he wants to get rid of both people. The story itself is very good. It's an interesting revenge-ish murder story that is presented very differently from how one might expect, as are many Coen Brothers' movies. The audience might make a prediction as to how it's going to go, then something totally unexpected will happen. Sometimes the movie will focus on something simply for the sake of throwing the audience off, which I think was an awesome idea. Despite the amazing story and mostly great presentation, this movie is one of the most boring ones I've seen all year. I don't know why, it had everything going for it, I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I was probably supposed to. I ended up taking a couple breaks even just so I could move around and wake myself up a little more. Nothing else about this movie is particularly exceptional. The acting is fine, the camera work is fine, the soundtrack is fine. There's nothing else worth mentioning, despite the fact that that's exactly what I'm doing right now. Overall Blood Simple. is an unpredictable, interesting story that drags it's butt slowly along a bed of nails. Sure, there were parts of the movie that did pick up, but that was maybe ten minutes of this 95 minute movie. In the end I'd still recommend this movie. It's a story definitely worth seeing, and who knows? Maybe you won't find it as boring as I did.
Predrag
The story is awfully simple: Marty, a Texas bar owner and betrayed husband (Dan "Usual Suspects" Hedaya) hires the private eye to kill his unfaithful wife Abby (Frances McDormand) and her lover Ray (John "The Fly" Getz) who's also Marty's employee. The eye pretends to do the job and shows Marty some fake photographs showing the lovers shot dead in bed. He takes the money, then he shoots his hirer right away and disappears. Ray, who doesn't know about the detective's existence, discovers Marty's almost dead body. For him, no doubt: it's Abby who did this work... He takes him away in order to bury him far away from the bar, and finds out that Marty isn't dead yet. He's forced to bury him alive, offering us the most nightmarish scene of the film....The movie is a real visual and sound shock. The script is incredibly original and brings some freshness in usual cinema stuff dealing with unfaithful characters ready to kill each other in order to avoid all the difficulties linked to divorce. The ambiance and atmosphere is the ones of a real bad dream, a nightmare, and the fact that the story takes place in an early, gray place in Texas (don't miss the hilarious prologue), where everything weird can happen very normally, adds to it. And the soundtrack by Carter Burwell is extraordinary, this is what he did first and best for the Coen brothers. It captures everything of the movie and makes the nightmare become really true. All in all, "Blood Simple" is a very intriguing and suspenseful film, and totally entertaining. Highly recommended for a cold rainy night.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.