Director: Paul Haggis
Writers: Paul Haggis, Fred
Cavayé (original French screenplay “Pour elle”), Guillaume Lemans (screenplay “Pour
elle”)
Starring: Russell Crowe,
Elizabeth Banks, Ty Simpkins, Olivia Wilde, Jason Behge, Aisha Hinds, Brian
Denehey, Helen Carey, Lennie James, Allan Steele, Liam Neeson
I saw the trailers for “The
Next Three Days” before I learned any of its production details. When I learned
that acclaimed writer/director Paul Haggis (“Million Dollar Baby”, “Crash”) had
made a thriller about a man who breaks his wife out of jail because she is
innocent of a murder for which she’s been sentenced to life imprisonment, I was
shocked. This sounded more like Luc Besson material than that of the thoughtful
filmmaker behind “In the Valley of Elah”. When you consider that Haggis’s
credits also include the screenplays for the last two James Bond installments
and the creation of television’s “Walker, Texas Ranger”, it makes a little more
sense.
It also makes sense then
that “The Next Three Days” is not your typical no brainer actioner. It really
contemplates the decisions made by the characters in this particular situation.
It doesn’t just jump right to the action either. Like any good prison break
movie, it spends most of its running time building up to the escape. The
husband exhausts his options before he even begins to contemplate springing his
wife. The breakout has an implacable logic to it. I liked how the husband’s
actions are completely isolated—as they must be in order to pull off what he’s
doing.
Considering the plot, I felt
there really is no way this story can have a happy ending and still be good. I
think Haggis does cheat a bit with the ending. Not to get the ending he wants;
but to add just a little extra tension to the mix. Any deviation from the
husband’s plan should spell disaster, but it’s Hollywood’s way to always try to
squeeze just a little extra juice out of a fruit. Luckily, this one isn’t a
lemon.
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