Paul Haggis' latest effort, "The Next Three Days," packs a weak punch despite the presence of a strong cast.
The film is a remake of the French thriller "Pour Elle" (2008) but seems all too familiar and is essentially a weak rehash of Fox's "Prison Break" (2005−09) with Russell Crowe, higher stakes and a bigger budget.
All this is despite the fact that the film boasts star power aplenty — Haggis is the writer of Oscar−winning films "Crash" (2005) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004), and Crowe is joined in the cast by Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson.
In this latest project, Haggis steps away from the heart−wrenching stories that drive his other work and instead picks up where his last screenplay for "Quantum of Solace" (2008) left off: the everyman thriller. Lara (Banks) and John Brennan (Crowe) seem to lead normal, happy lives with their son (Ty Simpkins), until Lara is suddenly convicted for the murder of her boss.
Despite the incredible amount of hard evidence against her — fingerprints, blood stains — Lara's husband insists on her innocence and decides to break her out of prison.
A middle−class community college professor, John devises his plan meticulously and turns to Damon (Liam Neeson), a former inmate who managed to escape, for ideas. Meanwhile, John confides in Nicole (Olivia Wilde), and Lara attempts suicide, which makes John's efforts even more urgent.
Despite a dramatic premise, the most effective moments of the film are the subtle ones — when John tests out various homemade tools or makes innocent mistakes trying to forge documents, we watch him fail and narrowly escape being caught or killed.
Crowe works hard for our sympathy, but his overall performance is disappointing and uninspired. More Bruce Willis than Harrison Ford, Crowe's professor−turned−action hero character delivers some very cheesy lines.
"The Next Three Days" makes you wonder — or perhaps, moan — "What ever happened to Russell Crowe circa 2001?" It has been almost a decade since Crowe had a gem like "A Beautiful Mind" (2001) or "The Insider" (1999) in which he could really shine.
Neeson and Banks, too, are clearly better than this movie. Neeson, like Crowe, has recently been stuck in a slump, and Banks seems to have sought a break from her successful comedic ventures through this film. Despite their talents, both of their performances fail to get anywhere beyond acceptable.
Haggis' screenplay does not give the actors much leeway — the most frustrating aspect of "The Next Three Days" is its implausibility. In a film that is predicated upon the appeal of its resourceful, "ordinary man" narrative, the characters are not as clever as their typical archetypal predecessors. One is left asking: John is so "current" that he uses an iPhone and YouTube to figure out how to make his breakout toolbox, yet he leaves a paper trail. Why does John open up to Nicole if it could jeopardize his whole operation?
Regardless, Haggis sells out by resorting to stylized, computer−generated shots, explosions and overt product placement usually reserved for ho−hum thrillers starring Denzel Washington — John's Toyota Prius even becomes a major clue that the otherwise incompetent police force uses to find him.
Looking at the structure of the film, it appears that Haggis decided to take the cutesy route, cementing the ridiculousness of his concept and reducing further the slim chance of eliciting in his audience more than a mild interest in his protagonists' futures.
Aside from the last half hour, which admittedly is intense if one ignores all rationality, the film simply cannot make up for its first three−quarters that drag on for far too long.
