(Now that’s love… or one really horny guy)
CAST: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Olivia Wilde, Jason Beghe, Ty Simpkins.
DIRECTOR: Paul Haggis
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and extreme examples of undying loyalty - straight ahead…
Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks) must be a terrific lay. No, scratch that. She must be a phenomenal lay. I offer the following as evidence: (1) we’re barely into the first five minutes of THE NEXT THREE DAYS, and she’s already been banged by her husband John (Russell Crowe) once in her Prius after dinner with friends - and he’s getting ready to bang her again at home, with the babysitter barely out the door; and (2) John eventually launches a thoroughly ballsy and balls-out effort to spring her from jail after she is (wrongfully?) convicted of murdering her difficult boss.
If those aren’t indicators of someone who can give a killer blowjob, I don’t know what is. Either that, or John just really, you know, loves her… Nah, I’m still going with the “nuclear-hot in the sack” theory, since Lara is played by Elizabeth Banks and I’m a degenerate.
Anyhow, John and Lara are a perfect couple living in Pittsburgh. He’s a community college professor, and she’s a… well, I’m not entirely sure. All I know is her job requires her to wear silk blouses, pencil skirts, and heels. And her boss is kind of a pill - which is what gets her in trouble.
The day after John and Lara redecorate the inside of her Prius with their body fluids, the Pittsburgh PD barges in on their perfect breakfast. Cuffing Lara, they tell her she’s under arrest for murder. Evidently, Lara and her wonderful boss had an altercation at work yesterday, and then that evening, a co-worker of the two saw Lara driving away from the woman’s dead body in a parking garage. Coincidence? Is Lara a natural blonde?
The answer to the first question is “maybe.” The answer to the second one is “hell, NO!” We discover this when we flash forward to discover that Lara was found guilty of her boss’ murder and has been incarcerated for three years while John and his ineffective lawyer (Daniel Stern) try to negotiate her appeal. Walking around in prison jammies and dirt-brown hair, Lara looks decidedly less fuckable in a Prius or anywhere else.
Still, John stands by her and does everything he can to lift her spirits, to include bringing their son Luke (Ty Simpkins) - who understandably treats Mom like something from the Black Lagoon. Apparently, the kids at school are taunting him about his jailbird mother, and he’s just a little pissed.
But when Lara’s appeal is resoundingly denied, it becomes clear that she has no other future than one in prison - and that’s when John begins to start thinking like James Bond. He starts reading up on all kinds of books about prison breaks, which eventually puts him in touch with Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), a dude who escaped from prison several times - and wrote a book about it.
At the first meeting, Pennington gives John the lowdown on what he needs to think of while planning Lara’s breakout: escape routes, money, passports, hideaways, etc. But the most important thing that he tells our hero is to make sure that he has the guts to do this, because it’s not exactly like trying to shoplift chewing gum from your local AM/PM.
So… Will John go through with it? Or will he chicken out and decide to just fuck the hot single mom named Nicole (Olivia Wilde) from Luke’s playground and call it even? Or does he really love Lara? What about Luke? Will he get caught in the crossfire of John’s plan? Can he really break Lara out? And if so, do they really think they can just disappear with the entire Pittsburgh PD chasing them? Did Lara actually commit the crime, after all? Or is she really innocent? And most important of all: how the hell did Lara and John manage to fuck in a Prius? It’s basically a Yugo with much better gas mileage - and I have christened a few of those and have the horrifying leg cramp stories to prove it.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: The tagline for THE NEXT THREE DAYS’ poster is “What if you only had 72 hours to save everything you live for?” While that is entirely appropriate to the movie’s gripping plot, a better - if also brazen - tagline would be “What Suspense Is…” Because this film is the definition of suspense - you’ll be waiting with bated breath to see what happens next. And because you have come to care deeply about the Brennan family, your anticipation will be tinged with dread.
As with other films I’ve reviewed that work best when you don’t know what’s coming, I will protect THE NEXT THREE DAYS’ twist and turns. A remake of the 2007 French hit ANYTHING FOR HER, this film is an invigorating and heartbreaking character study of a man - and to a lesser degree, a woman - who is pushed to the edge and must make some terrible choices.
Russell Crowe, as always, is fantastic. It’s a testament to his talent that John Brennan becomes a three-dimensional character in such a short span of time. Crowe isn’t afraid to play up his character’s weaknesses and mistakes - entirely fitting since John Brennan is meant to be an everyman, and not some superman. Crowe’s specialty is acting with his eyes, and THE NEXT THREE DAYS gives him a terrific showcase to do this. Depending on who John is interacting with and when, the levels of emotion playing on his face are different and shifting. With Lara in the jail’s visiting room, his face is pleasant and positive, but his eyes are mournful. Same thing when he’s with Luke. In these scenes, John has to be strong for both his son and wife, and Crowe pulls it off beautifully.
But, even more heartbreaking are the scenes where John lets his great sadness pour through, as in when he first tells Lara that her appeal fell through. The sight of husband and wife crying uncontrollably is almost too much to witness. Then there’s the scene where John’s eyes are filled with cold, steely determiniation - like when he promises Lara that she will not spend her life behind bars, and when he sets his nail-biting plan into action. Bottom line is you have to buy that this guy loves his wife so much that he’d risk everything to free her - and Russell Crowe sells it with those eyes.
Oh, and watch for a scene in the middle of the movie between John and his estranged father (Brian Dennehy), wherein the older Brennan has realized what his son is about to do... and reacts in the most unexpectedly haunting of ways. It's a master class in how to play a scene with very, very few words - but with volumes of unspoken emotion and subtext. Crowe and Dennehy knock the scene out of the park with the heartbreaking subtlety of their acting. If it doesn't put a tear in your eye, you may not be human.
Matching Crowe scene for scene is Elizabeth Banks, who is rapidly shaping up to be a formidable talent. Seen mostly in comedies prior to her showcase here, Banks believably hunkers down and gets down and dirty. It’s a pleasant surprise to see her play serious and sharp. Actually, I should rephrase that; it shouldn’t be a surprise, because in many of her comedy roles (especially ROLE MODELS), Banks has combined a no-nonsense directness with a winsome vulnerability. It’s those qualities that she uses to shape Lara Brennan without compromising the character’s gravity. Casting the right actress was crucial, because the wrong one would let the air out of the whole affair. You have to believe that Lara is so wonderful that her husband would do what he does to get her out. With Banks in the role, you believe it wholeheartedly.
In summary, THE NEXT THREE DAYS is stellar, moving, emotionally-wrenching entertainment. Whether it’s as good as ANYTHING FOR HER remains for me to be seen. You folks, though, should run out and see THE NEXT THREE DAYS as soon as it comes out. If it doesn’t make you question just how far you would go to protect the person sitting next to you, I don’t know what could.
