The Next Three Days

The Next Three Days
Directed by: Paul Haggis
Cast: Russel Crowe as John Brennan
Elizabeth Banks as Lara Brennan

Rated: PG-13
*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview
What wold you do to prove the innocence of someone you love? That's the question John Brennan (Crowe) must answer when his wife is wrongly accused of murder.

After a fight with her boss, Lara Brennan is arrested the next morning after police have found her boss dead in the parking garage. Another employee saw Lara leaving the scene and the police found her fingerprints on the murder weapon, as well as the victims blood on her jacket. She is pronounced guilty and thrown in jail, where she lived for three years, leaving her schoolteacher husband and 3-year old son on the outside.

Despite incriminating evidence and a judges ruling, John Brennan refuses to accept that his wife is guilty, but even his lawyer says it may be time to give up hope.

Creatively, the film is broken up into three parts: The Last Three Years, a broad time from the night before she got arrested to the climax of the film that shows what life is like in the Brennan home without Lara. It then moves into The Last Three Months, a little narrower time period in which the plot begins to take off. And, finally, it goes into The Last Three Days before the movie's finale.

The Last Three Years is rather slow, just showing what John's life is like without his wife. He drops off his son, he teaches his classes and then they both go and visit Lara in prison. It's a rather depressing cycle as we see each of them deal with the consequences of a life separated by bars.
The Last Three Months is where the plot really begins to move. Realizing that his wife will never be proven innocent, John decides to look into breaking her out of prison. So, he turns to a man named Damon, played by none other than Liam Neeson.

Honestly, who else could there be?

Damon, having broken out of prison 4 times himself, gives John the secrets to getting his wife out of jail, and John starts to believe he can pull it off. But, Damon asks, can John become a killer, a thief? Because that's what it will take.

John decides to go for it, consulting YouTube, getting passports and making his plans. Then, it all comes down to The Last Three Days.

Positive Attributes
John and Lara love each other very much and do their best to maintain a healthy relationship and do what's best for their son. John never doubts Lara's innocence, saying that he knows who she is, even when she tries to push him away by telling him she was guilty.
Despite the rocky status of their relationship, John's father loves him, and after he figures out John's plan, he covers for him.

Negative Attributes
John breaks a LOT of laws, starting with trying to break his wife out of prison. He also shoots a drug dealer, beats up a few guys, has one man die in his back seat, buys illegal drugs while looking for forged passports, steals drug money, sets a house on fire, buys a gun, breaks into a medical van, steals a car and lies to his mother.

John gets beat up pretty bad by two thugs.

It's alluded to that John and Lara have sex in their car the night before she's arrested. Nothing but Lara's messy hair and John's inside-out shirt is shown. At dinner the same night, a woman wears a very low-cut shirt and flirts with John in front of Lara. A mom at the park tries to flirt with John as well, but he denies her.

Olivia Wilde is the "mom at the park". That's commitment.

One usage of the f-word and several of d**n. Lara and John drink wine at dinner.

*SPOILER ALERT* In the end, audiences are shown that Lara was in fact innocent. I think this is Hollywood's way to justify the crimes. But, no. Kids, don't try that at home.

Summary
The Next Three Days was very well written. It made you think to keep up and it was very cool to see it all come together. Though it drug a bit in the middle, it always picked back up quickly.
I'd definitely recommend this movie to those who enjoy a decent amount of suspense, but I don't think it would be very "re-watchable".


Overall Rating: 6 of 10
Plot: 6 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 1 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: 1 of 10