Film: The Next Three Days
Year of production: 2010
UK Release date: 16th May 2011
Distributor: Lionsgate
Certificate: 12
Running time: 129 mins
Director: Paul Haggis
Starring: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Buie, Moran Atias, Remy Nozik
Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: USA/France
Language: English
Review by: Chris Harris
Three years after French film Anything For Her earned critical acclaim beyond its shores, Fred Cavayé’s thriller gets a Hollywood makeover in the hands of Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis. Switching the action to the grim streets of Pittsburgh, Haggis casts Russell Crowe as the everyman who sets out to rescue his wife from jail. But does this remake retain the hallmarks of its French predecessor or is it merely a pale imitation?
If you’ve seen the original, you can probably skip this bit. If you haven’t, here’s the gist. John Brennan (Crowe) and his beautiful wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) seem to have it all: a happy marriage, a healthy son and an enviable way of life. But their serene existence is blown apart when Lara is arrested in a morning raid for the murder of her boss.
Fast forward three years. Lara is suicidal, John has exhausted the appeal process and, increasingly desperate, he decides he has only one option left to him – to break her out of prison. Cue John’s descent into the underworld where he seeks out the advice of an ex-con (Liam Neeson) and gathers the tools he will need to execute his elaborate escape plan.
Plunged into danger, the stakes are raised when John receives news that Lara is about to be transferred to a new prison in the next three days (hence the film’s title). Convinced of his wife’s innocence, John is willing to risk everything for her freedom and their future together. But can an ordinary guy, a mild-mannered teacher no less, really pull off such an extraordinary act?
That conundrum was the central theme of the original and it remains the most compelling idea on show in Haggis’ remake. Could you embrace danger for a just cause? Do you have the single-minded determination to step out of your comfort zone and into the abyss? Would you cosy up to hardened criminals if the ends justified the means?
The answer for John Brennan is, of course, a resounding yes. “I’m hopeless without my wife. I can’t even ride a bike,” he admits. More intriguingly, he gives a clue about his state of mind in a question put to his class: “What part of life is truly under control? What if we chose to exist in a reality of our own making - does that render us insane?” Haggis never really explores this issue as thoroughly as he might.
Anything For Her was hailed as a riveting thriller illuminated by a stand-out performance from lead actor Vincent Lindon and a menacing score by Klaus Badelt. But for all its plusses, the original was dogged by concerns over the plot’s plausibility. As any parent (let alone single parent) will tell you, when you’ve got a job to hold down, a child to raise, a home to maintain and meals to cook, there really isn’t time to break your nearest and dearest out of jail.
Frankly, those accusations of implausibility are even harder to ignore in Haggis’ movie. The director brings the action bang up to date – there’s a reference to the Haiti earthquake while John charges around taking pictures and timing security procedures on his iPhone – but, if anything, the gloss that Hollywood inevitably applies makes the story even less convincing.
The tone is set by an early scene on the morning of Lara’s arrest. The Brennans are sat in their kitchen, perfectly groomed, perfectly behaved, enjoying a perfect breakfast. It’s a million miles from the chaotic rush, bedraggled hair and possible hangover that afflicts most families at that time of day. Perhaps a less idyllic, more realistic depiction would help the audience sympathise with the Brennans’ plight once their lives are turned upside down.
If you don’t have to stifle a chuckle during that portrait of a ‘normal family life’, you might when Lara enters the visiting room three years into her sentence. Her hair is soft, her skin is vibrant and her lipstick is perfectly applied - those 36 months behind bars don’t appear to have taken any toll whatsoever. Once again, the air-brushed sheen of Haggis’ movie creates a disconnection between the supposedly beleaguered characters and the audience observing their plight.
Then there’s Russell Crowe. In many ways this is a reprise of his role in another recent remake, State of Play, in which his run-of-the-mill journalist is lured into a web of intrigue and danger. But the problem with Crowe is that he’s so recognisable as an action hero (Gladiator, Robin Hood) or a tough guy (LA Confidential) that it’s hard to train your brain to accept him as the ‘average guy’ he plays in The Next Three Days. That’s not his fault, it’s a casting issue, but it only serves to amplify the sense of disbelief as events unfold.
There’s nothing wrong with Crowe’s performance, but he seems in far less danger than his predecessor in the role, Vincent Lindon, simply because he is rugged, well-built and can clearly handle himself. Lindon doesn’t look like he belongs among the rough and tumble of the underworld, but the brooding Crowe does.
Not that Crowe is ever outshone by his co-stars. Banks is so-so as Lara, appearing far less drained than a supposed victim of a miscarriage of justice should; Neeson growls his way through his cameo as ex-con Damon Penington; and Brian Dennehy offers some gravitas as John’s quiet, world-weary father.
Predictably the action is ramped up for the big finale and this is watchable enough, but Haggis loses marks for dragging his feet. The Next Three Days is half-an-hour longer than Anything For Her, essentially because its director cannot resist a few extra flourishes during the film’s denouement. Every dramatic sequence is squeezed to the maximum while Haggis lobs in a few curveballs that don’t appear in the original. It all hints at a lack of confidence with what has been laid out in the first ninety minutes.
There are laugh-out-loud moments, but not for the right reasons. For a man trying to fly under the radar, John’s insistence on screeching his brakes make him the most conspicuous driver in Pittsburgh. Then, having spent so long racing against the clock, the Brennans find time for a reflective scene that clashes with everything that’s gone before.
If you’re still with The Next Three Days at this point, then good luck to you. But while Anything For Her was a taut, tense thriller, its remake is flabbier, sanitised and more contrived. If you didn’t know better, that might be okay. But when you’ve seen the superior original, it feels like a waste of two hours. CH
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