The Next Three Days Review

[Westside Steve]

The Next Three Days

Lionsgate

PG 13 122 min

 

 

Well gang, I wanted to like this one, I really did.

I think back to another Paul Haggis film MYSTIC RIVER.

I remember liking it a lot until a colleague of mine pointed out that the ending was just too unnatural; it didn't fit. The more I thought about it the more I agreed.

I'd let the story and the directing carry me along without ever questioning the plot elements.

In that way the inability of this story to mesh with my perception of reality made THE NEXT THREE DAYS even harder to buy into.

The basis is that a respectable professional woman is mistakenly accused and convicted of a brutal murder and sentenced to life.

Folks, these days mugs with a criminal record a mile long skate on murder even when the case is cut and dried let alone circumstantial.

As her sentence rolls on her mild mannered schoolteacher husband (Russell Crowe) decides to plan and execute a daring daylight jailbreak. I never once bought into the idea he'd toughen up and become streetwise enough to pull it off.

Now of course there will be near misses and narrow escapes as the plan comes together but rather than being resolved through cleverness and luck the obstacles are avoided by unbelievable blindness and blundering on the part of the cops.

To make matters worse this ridiculous mishmash of a plan doesn't even get off the ground until you've been bored nearly to tears by the first two thirds of the film. It really takes a long time to set up before stumbling to a really unsatisfying ending. Crowe's one-dimensional acting works well in many situations but falls a little short here.

C

WSS

 

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