Reviewed by

Christopher Armstead

I guess it’s the Microsoft model, and Lord knows it has worked for them so far be it for me to crap on it, but the urban myth is that the hard working engineers over at Microsoft have a mandate not to innovate anything, but instead wait for some other company, usually Apple, to create something and then copy it. Hey, I’m typing this on a Windows computer and use a Zune as my primary music listening device so I’m not giving Microsoft a hard time but that’s the urban myth. Hollywood apparently has brought into this completely. Take this film ‘The Next Three days’ for instance. I saw this movie when it was a French film called ‘Anything for Her’ and that was a mighty fine film so the Hollywood Powers That Be decided to remake this mighty fine film and in many instances it’s a shot for shot remake. Complaining about remakes and rehashes and sequels is completely pointless, and it’s not like ‘The Next Three Days’ is a bad movie. In fact it I think it could be legitimately argued that it might be a better movie than ‘Anything for Her’ especially with Paul Haggis behind the camera and Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks in front of it… but still. I’m just thinking in a country this populous surely there’s a screenwriter who out there who has written a semi-original thriller involving a husband and wife that they could’ve used to make a movie. But then someone would have to actually read that screenplay and it’s just much easier to sit down and watch foreign films and steal one of those. Sorry American screenwriters, but it’s looking like you’re going to have to go France, Korea, Japan or Slovakia if you want to see your movie made by an American movie studio.

It’s a little strange telling you about this movie since I’ve already talked about it, because like we said earlier in many instances it’s identical to the French film but there are some critical differences. As you probably know Lara Brennan (Banks) is convicted of murder and her husband John (Crowe) is determined to get his wife out of the joint, especially considering her deteriorating suicidal mental state. One of the things this version of the movie throws up for us is the plotline of a mystery of sorts since we don’t know for sure if Lara actually did the crime. We observe different scenarios

which dramatize the fashion in which the crime went down but outside of an odd closing sequence, her innocence is ambiguous at best. I think I prefer the concept of the original where the wife’s innocence was never in doubt because I’m of the opinion that the mystery takes away from the body of the film, which is John’s overpowering desire to free his lady. One of the plusses of this is that the American version gives more insight into the wife’s personality since Lara clearly has some anger management issues which of course heightens the possibility that Lara could be a murderer.

The majority of the film plays out just like its predecessor as John talks to an experienced prison buster (Liam Neeson) and plots out his elaborate escape plan, stumbles around the seedier side of town trying to get the needed papers to make his escape while getting his ass kicked in the process, there’s his estranged relationship with his father (Brian Dennehy), his son’s (Ty Simpkins) reluctance to show his imprisoned mother any kind of affection, John’s relationship with a woman at the park (Olivia Wilde) which was altered in the America version for dramatic effect, John’s encounter with a meth dealer (Kevin Corrigan) and then of course the chase with a driven cop (Lennie James) hot on his trail.

‘The Next Three Days’ is a good movie. Paul Haggis keeps his movie taut and suspenseful, he makes sure it moves quickly and he insures that it is plenty exciting to sit through. Russell Crowe is very good as the everyman thrust into an extraordinary situation, Elizabeth Banks does crazy / angry / suicidal / beautiful about as well as any actress and Lennie James character of Lt. Nabulsi was very Lt. Girard like when it came to quickly piecing the mystery of John Brennan together, except when it came time for him and his force to get a little stupid. A fine film.

In comparison to the original as we said earlier we didn’t care for the ‘did she or didn’t she’ aspect of the movie since this was tacked on strictly for our benefit because the character of John could care less if she did or if she didn’t. And where the chase and escape sequence in the French version was slightly ridiculous, the chase and escape in ‘The Next Three Days’ was completely ridiculous. There’s the suspension of belief and then there’s what team Haggis wants you do buy into for this film. Admittedly the over the top chase and escape sequence in this film was far more thrilling and exciting than what was presented to us in the French version but the intricate design of John’s plan, the narrow escapes, zero margin of error, John’s ability to adjust on the fly - considering he’s a JuCo college professor and doesn’t even rate a gig at a four year institution - it is a bit much to digest. But hell, I’m a stupid American and I think I prefer stupid over the top as opposed to slightly over the top. Might as well go all out if you’re going to do it.

Probably the main difference is that ‘Anything for Her’ is a drama with action sequences to support the drama where ‘The Next Three Days’ is largely an action film with dramatic elements to keep the action moving. Either way both movies are very entertaining, but I guess I’m just not all that comfortable with us having to lean on the French… the French for goodness sakes… to provide us with our needed fix for movie thrillers. Seriously.