Review

Review Date: 21-November-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The Next Three Days (2010)

Movie shoppers would do well to note that although the trailer for The Next Three Days shows a lot of action, it also says "from Academy Award Winner Paul Haggis." Through his writing and/or directing work on Million Dollar Baby, Crash, and the last two James Bond movies, Haggis has shown a penchant for tough situations that go beyond the brainless car chase. And indeed The Next Three Days, which he penned and directed, is quieter than the trailer suggests. It is a drama of psychological tension and a fitting outlet for the talent of Russell Crowe.

Despite the vague title, the story unfolds over several years. Crowe plays a teacher named John Brennan who shares a comfortable Pittsburgh bungalow with his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) and young son. One morning Lara is arrested for murdering her boss and before long is imprisoned for life. We don't see her trial or conviction; Haggis' only interest in the legal aspects of the case is the fact that all evidence points to her guilt. For three years John keeps the home fires burning while Lara's hope dwindles. Never doubting her innocence, he comes to believe that if the law can't restore the freedom she deserves, he must do it himself.

Haggis allows a couple of clumsy gestures into his script, one of which is showing John lecturing on Don Quixote. Even without this road sign the audience could see that his integrity has a narrow scope, i.e., that he defines the world by a personal sense of security and rightness and would go to great lengths to defend these things, even to the point of breaking societal rules. From his day-lit suburbia he ventures into nocturnal byways to find criminals who can help him break his wife out of jail. They don't do it out of the kindness of their hearts, of course; a limited bank account is one of John's many challenges, along with pinpointing a weakness in prison security, obtaining false IDs, learning how to use a gun, and devising a getaway plan that might work.

For all the time spent on logistics and, finally, the execution of John's plan, The Next Three Days is an intensely romantic film. Lara is enigmatic: we don't see much of her and never see her at her best, but we see her through John's eyes, which is sufficient. She is a part of him that he cannot live without. They don't say "I love you" during their brief, monitored visits, and the most poignant scene begins with him telling her to shut up. But they don't need (or have the luxury to indulge in) what makes movie couples cute. They have a marriage, a tightly forged link strained by luck, time, and despair, and if you don't believe it's worth risking lives for you won't accept anything in the picture. Fortunately with Crowe in the lead, it's easy to understand what John feels and does.

The escape might have been improved by maintaining John's point of view without trying to introduce the pursuing cops as characters. However, after witnessing his efforts to make it happen, one can't help but enjoy seeing it through from any angle. Other movies about husbands who tumble into dangerous waters emphasize the sanctity of the home, but The Next Three Days is notable in that it deals with the love and honor of the family man instead of the failings that led him into trouble.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.