Review: THE NEXT THREE DAYS

You’re a literature teacher at a community college. You live an idyllic life in the Pittsburgh suburbs with your gorgeous wife and adorable young son. Suddenly the authorities burst through your front door and arrest your wife for first degree murder. After she’s convicted, all appeals fail. Just how far will you go to rescue her? That’s the question posed in the new dramatic thriller from Paul(CRASH)Haggis, THE NEXT THREE DAYS.

We first meet John and Lara Brennan(Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks) as they’re having drinks with John’s brother Mike and his arrogant wife Erit. She and Lara almost come to blows after they argue the merits of working with a male or female boss. Seems Lara had a big blowout with her boss earlier. Lara cools down as she and John head to the car, then heats things up before they drive home. The next morning John and their three year old son Luke have breakfast while Lara takes her insulin shot. While leaving  for work, Lara notices a blood stain on her raincoat. As she tries to scrub it out, the police burst in and haul off the couple as Luke wails. Lara is accused, then convicted of bashing in her boss’s skull with a fire extinguisher in the parking garage. No evidence can back up Lara’s claim of bumping into a homeless woman running out of the garage as she entered. John pleads with her lawyer(Hey Daniel Stern, you old city slicker!) to file an appeal, but with all the evidence on Lara he feels it’s hopeless. As she learns of the failed appeal, Lara plunges into despair and attempts suicide. John then decides that he has no choice but to bust her out of jail by any means possible.

The film almost plays as the flip side of the recent CONVICTION. Instead of working in the system, John must go from his squeaky-clean life into the underworld. Crowe shows us John’s charming side and conveys his sweaty desperation as he plans and plots. Banks does what she can with her few scenes. We feel her longing for her husband and sad son and her despair as days go by. At one point she confesses to the crime in order to push John away to start a new life. But while the audience may have it’s doubts, John is steadfast. Crowe is helped by a great supporting cast. Though he’s on screen for just a few minutes, Liam Neeson is riveting as an ex-con author who lays out the basic escape plan for John. Great to see Brian Dennehy back on the big screen as Crowe’s understanding poppa. Olivia Wilde pops up a few times as a sympathetic single mom that John meets with Luke at the playground. Is she a temptation or an ally for him? Although the last act escape is thrillingly shot, I feel the movie could’ve lost  20 minutes. John’s descent into DEATH WISH territory as he decides to take down some drug dealers goes on far too long. His character seems inconsistent. Leading up to the breakout we see John stumble and fumble as he acts out his plan, yet when he learns of Lara’s transfer from county to prison in three days, John springs into decisive action and seems to always be two steps ahead of the authorities. In all, an entertaining, if a tad lengthy, thriller elevated by a solid cast.

Overall Rating: Four out of Five Stars