Grade: C+
Synopsis: Complications arise after a bar owner hires a private investigator (M. Emmet Walsh) to trail his wife and her lover (John Getz).
Blood Simple is a southern tinged noir that marked the Coen Brothers’ filmmaking debut.
While the film has lost some of its visceral edge since it’s 1984 debut, it doubtlessly influenced the very film’s that surpassed it, from Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) to the Coens’ own No Country for Old Men (2007). That said, Blood Simple is still a good story well told, highlighted by a great performance from M. Emmet Walsh.
Walsh plays a smarmy, insidious, devil of a man. His detective, who’s never actually named in the film, is a monster, and easily the highlight of the film. So much so, that Walsh completely eclipses lead John Getz.
Getz isn’t bad, he’s a fine character actor, but next to Walsh’s hypnotic performance, Getz fails to register. He’s supposed to be the everyman, the average Joe who’s misled into a bad situation, but Getz doesn’t make that charismatic connection with the audience necessary to command their emotions. Walsh does.
This imbalance, combined with a script that painfully relies on its characters almost unbelievable inability to communicate, is the film’s biggest weakness. By the time the stellar finale rolls around, you’re so frustrated with Getz’s character that you care more about the story’s resolution than its outcome. Fortunately, the Coens’ deliver a hell of a climax that almost makes up for it.
Bottom Line: Blood Simple is a solid neo-noir hampered by lead John Getz’s inability to match M. Emmet Walsh’s stellar performance.
