Filmed in permanently wintry Minnesota, drenched in spilled blood and bleak snow, A Simple Plan invites comparisons to the Coens' Fargo. It is, however, much warmer in tone and more immediately affecting, a result of palpably human performances from the four individuals at the centre of the tale.

I'd never paid much attention to Bill Paxton before (Twister, anyone?) but he turns in a masterfully powerful performance here as Hank, a morally upstanding (initially) father-to-be who happens upon a downed plane during a walk in the wilderness with his dimwit brother Jacob (Thornton) and his alcoholic mate Lou (Brent Briscoe). After closer inspection of the plane, the lads stumble across a bag containing $4.4million in cash, and despite Hank's suspicion that there has to be a catch, he agrees to divide the loot with his compadres, as soon as they've established that no-one else is looking for it.

This triggers a sequence of increasingly fantastical and inevitably violent upheavals which rapidly leave the viewer transfixed and enthralled, as events gain momentum at a rate of knots and the tension count skyrockets upwards.

Thornton, as excellent as ever, infuses the character of Jacob with an unforgettable poignancy and pathos, assuming a position as the film's moral centre - while his smarter and apparently more respectable brother becomes slightly corrupted by the prospect of riches untold, with his materially-conscious wife (Bridget Fonda) doubling his resolve to hold onto the loot. The little-known Brent Briscoe also chips in an affecting turn as the pathetic, alcohol-sodden town bum, and the script is superbly attuned throughout to the subtle differences in the attitudes of the main protagonists.

Twist upon twist is piled on as the movie hurtles towards judgement day, offering an unflinching examination of the nature of human greed and its enormous capacity to compromise the decency of fundamentally good people. The three central characters are as finely-drawn as anything recent American cinema has had to offer, and in spite of the movie's lengthy duration, it zips by at a rate of knots, ensuring that not a single second is wasted while still effortlessly maintaining the aura of dread and suspense.

Thornton, Paxton and Briscoe elevate their characters to an unforgettable level of human complexity, and as with all the Coens' finest, the film throws up the odd moment of side-splitting hilarity, which seems all the more jarring in the chilling context of the events it depicts.

As a thriller, it bears comparison with anything we've been served up this decade, and should live through the ages as one to cherish. The spirit of Hitchcock is alive and well.