Review: The Next Three Days (2010, Dir. Paul Haggis)

It's game time: Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days

The Next Three Days--It's been three years since Paul Haggis' last heavy-handed, socio-political film (In the Valley of Elah, persuasive without being manipulative), and instead of cinematically crafting a subverting message he delivers a classic crime thriller that's rather broad for him, but fine for us. Russell Crowe stars as a father whose wife is arrested for murder, and deals with a marital relationship that dwindles in hope and trust thanks to the separating bars. He decides he can't live in this fractured state, and plans to break her out of the prison--that is, until the plan starts to go awry. 


Haggis' film is, on paper, a very slight one. It has a simple premise, few characters, and the most connectable dots. What he does, however, is stretch it to 132 minutes--surprisingly it doesn't hamper the film's impact all that badly. Characters are fleshed out both by the dense script and powerful performances; Crowe is never bad but here he's actually terrific, with an even more solid turn from Elizabeth Banks, whose potential keeps growing and growing. There is substantial supporting work from Olivia Wilde and Brian Dennehy, as well as the effective musical score (and song choice--Haggis especially does this well). But the harm comes from the bad pacing--it painfully drags in the middle as it tries to build tension, but only accumulates boredom. This is especially detrimental because the film is already grounded in such implausibility (the plot is exciting but hysterical) that when we're taken out of the it because of its length, we question the movie's value more and more. That said, The Next Three Days is still a much-forgiveable film as it deftly balances family/relationship drama with the heist genre. It's pulsating, yet emotional. 


Grade: B