The Next Three Days Review

Everybody’s favourite surly Australian action man, Russell Crowe stars in this Paul Haggis remake of French thriller, Anything for Her, boringly retitledThe Next Three Days. Upon its cinematic release, it received neutral to poor reviews (as a friend and associate maintained at the time) so I came to it with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually quite liked it, though with some reservations.

Crowe plays the husband of Elizabeth Banks, a couple with a young son, whose happy existence is interrupted one morning when the feds arrive for breakfast and arrest Banks for the murder of her boss. When all appeals fail, it appears that Banks will be doing time for the rest of her life – unless Mr Crowe, armed with the advice of a cameo-ing Liam Neeson, can push himself to the necessary lengths to break her out of prison.

The inherent problem with The Next Three Days is that although it would have you believe that it asks whether or not a prison break really could be pulled off by an ordinary man, you’re constantly expected to ‘go with it’. Even just a few suspensions of disbelief sully the realism which would otherwise inform much of the film. For example, during the break out, Crowe has his young son attend a conveniently scheduled birthday party, which eventually complicates their escape. Would it not have been easier just to sit him in the getaway car for half an hour with his Gameboy? There are several instances such as this which unnecessarily complicate the action.

The fluidity of time in the narrative is also annoying and occasionally hard to keep track of – though the moment when the action catches up with the opening flash-forward scene is very effective and even a little affecting, as is the moment when Crowe’s father says goodbye to his son, having realised he won’t be seeing him again. Other quibbles including the casting of two leads (if that can be called a quibble), who are far from the most charismatic actors around (it’s quite amazing to see Crowe smiling and laughing at the beginning of the film, though he soon reverts to his po-faced norm).

In spite of its flaws though, I did quite like the film. There were some neat tricks Crowe learns, such as how to make a skeleton key and how to break into a car with a tennis ball, which I enjoyed seeing, as well as the scenes of Crowe’s home as it gradually becomes emptier and emptier as he sells off his furniture to fund his obsession. The whole, ‘is he really quite mad?’ question the film raises was fun to answer too. Finally, I enjoyed the atmosphere of understatement during the film and the final chase sequence at the end. It may by no means be the greatest film you’ll ever see, but The Next Three Days is a decently put together flick, that perhaps with more interesting leads and a bigger commitment to credibility, could have been a very exciting film indeed.