Starring Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Ty Simpkins
Directed by Paul Haggis
122 minutes
Opens November 19, 2010
*** stars out of five
John Brennan (Russell Crowe) is determined to break his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) out of an urban Pittsburgh penitentiary. Convinced she didn’t commit the murder she was convicted of three years earlier, the English professor develops an elaborate plan to try to free her, risking everything he knows including his own life.
Why See It?
A thriller that doesn’t quit; The Next Three Days, caught and held my attention from beginning to end – all 122 minutes of it.
The first scene opens with John Brennan, covered in blood, speeding in a car down an alley late at night; he’s not alone. Someone is dying next to him in the passenger seat … I was hooked immediately.
While Brennan is planning his wife’s break out, he quickly sinks deeper and deeper into a criminal mindset. “How does a square dude pull this one off?” This proves to be a dominant attraction in this flick; you want to know how far he will go and if his “break out” plan fails or not.
Then there is the question of Lara’s innocence which isn’t revealed until the very last scene in the movie. The “Did she or didn’t she?” premise is an enticing element throughout the movie; flashback scenes to the night of the crime are cleverly utilized to keep you guessing.
Hook after hook – this is what makes The Next Three Days so appealing. Its high suspense level and unpredictable story line had me snared and my adrenaline pumped into high gear.