The Next Three Days (2010)

Just perfect...

How sad is this?

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An outstanding thriller with solid cast performances throughout. The Pittsburgh setting is a breath of fresh air and the tempo of the movie is its great strength. Moments of touching emotion tempered with fast paced action sequences. The story of an ordinary person put into a vulnerable and dangerous setting is always fascinating. You find yourself thinking, "what would I do in that situation?" There are very few plot holes, if any. No ridiculous special effects or unrealistic fight sequences that plague so many movies in the genre. I decided to buy the French version "Pour Elle" to make my own comparison of the two films. The reviews here that praise it unequivocally and heavily criticise the Russell Crowe version are way off base. the French version is mediocre at best. It lacks realism, the acting is wooden and setting is vague. The police and prison officers are not as intimidating, the parents of the lead actor are weak and the chemistry between the husband and wife is unconvincing. Just because it has subtitles does not make it any better!

Movie Review: "The Next Three Days" (2010)Initially being known in Hollywood as screenwriter of fixing high-end production toward decisive story twists, director Paul Haggis presents a fast-tracked U.S. remake of the French thriller "Pour Elle" (2008) in November 2010 to minor success at the domestic box office, even though the leading character John Brennan, performed by nerve-striking actor Russell Crowe, ready to give up everything for self-justice as suggested in an unfortunately cut-up scene with supporting actor Liam Neeson in a coffee shop, who explains the overall necessities of choosing a life on a run in order to bust out Brennan's wife from prison, portrayed by stone-cold chemistry unmatching actress Elizabeth Banks as Lara Brennan, in an accelerating thriller with an mainly hand-held coverage by cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine, who had been unable to stand apart with competent, yet indifferent lighting themes, which comes down to Paul Haggis' direction under pressure, missing out to find poetry in the visuals as in earlier directing efforts, despite one on highway climatic crash scene, where the leading characters answer the subjected question of what it takes to escape the ruins of an deceased family life.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

When it comes to thrilling action movies, this one really had it all for me. It is VERY suspenseful, and maintains a good pace throughout. And not only is it thrilling, but it also gave me lots to think about long after the credits rolled.Russell Crowe plays John, a man whose wife is convicted of murder. He is convinced that she is innocent and becomes determined to break her out of jail. This creates a lot of suspenseful situations as soon as he starts to prepare. It got me thinking about a lot of things, including the moral dilemmas John faces.There is a great Liam Neeson cameo where he gives John advice, since he has escaped from prison several times before. He warns John of the intense hurdles and sacrifices he will have to make, so I very quickly realized that the stakes and risk are very high if he goes through with it. The fact that I don't know if the wife is actually innocent or not, adds another layer of depth to the story. I was left trying to decide if John is making the right choice to break her out, which forced me to try and decide if she actually did it. Being so unsure how to feel, it really drew me in, and got me paying attention to every little detail in the movie. Haggis is great at throwing in little clues and nuances in the performances that made me question and re-think things.John is obviously a good guy, so I was rooting for him to succeed, but it is hard to know how to really feel about his character. Russell Crowe is great at playing characters that seem slightly insane, and it's hard to decide just how crazy he really is. They have a son, around 10 years old, and this makes his decisions all the more important. He is risking leaving this kid with both parents in jail if he screws up, but it will also re-unite the kid with his mother, who may be innocent.Overall, it is a very clever movie that is well crafted. The biggest strong point for me is really the script. It's a smart script that is well thought through. I can tell that Haggis understands what the viewer will be thinking and feeling during the experience and he times things perfectly to make for a fun, exciting, and thoughtful experience.Beside the writing, the acting was also very good. Russell Crowe brought a lot of depth to the character. The only criticism I have is that it is somewhat hard to believe that he would actually do this. He seems like a little bit too soft and reserved of a character to do these things, but in a way, that adds to the suspense because it makes us more unsure if he will pull it off. Elizabeth Banks is pretty good as the wife. I'm a little unsure how to feel about her performance. My main problem with her is that I didn't really like her character very much, she comes across as a bitch. I understand why that needs to be an element of her performance, but I would have liked to learn a little more about her positive traits to understand why John loves her so much. I think a few tweaks to her character development and a little more edge to John's character, could have increased how believable the story is. The only other criticism I can think of, is that Haggis clearly is a great writer who understands the story and did a fabulous job directing the actors and their actions, but there is not a lot of creativity or style in the way things were filmed. The camera work and cinematography was mostly pretty straight forward, and I would have liked to see a little more creativity in that department. Maybe some extreme close-ups, or interesting angles and framing. I would have liked to see Haggis hire a cinematographer that brought a little more to the table to make this movie a great visual experience in addition to being a great emotional experience.If you like intense movies that keep you on your toes and give you lots to think about, don't miss this one!

Before watching this I had a thought about it being something like State of Play (2009), in the lights of that this is a bit more dull, this is not a bad movie at all, but it shouldn't be compared or judged before it has been watched.This is a very exciting movie, I could have liked a little more action, but it's great and very clever build up. For me this is not that much of a thriller, maybe it's because I'm not totally clear on the genre Thriller, yes this was exciting at times, but not really thrilling, not scary and didn't keep me on the edge of my seat. For me this was more a drama, with some action and some excitement, and that's not a bad thing at all, it worked, I liked the movie a lot. Russell Crowe is a great actor and that he proves once again, but also the acting of all the others in the cast did a great job, there are a few Hollywood things here and there, very clever cops that almost have a hunch for knowing things they possible could not, and a few other things, but that does not fall on the actors at all.