by Max Simpson ’11

In “The Next Three Days” John Brennan (Russell Crowe), a teacher at a community college, faces the likelihood that his wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks), will be in prison for the rest of her life because of a murder conviction.

At the start of the film John is going though the appeals process, and has exhausted all appeals but to the Supreme Court. With next to no hope of getting his wife freed through the legal system, John contemplates other options and seeks out an author, Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), who had escaped from prison. John is no professional criminal or escape artist, and this shows throughout the movie. Many of the methods he uses in his plan are based on techniques he finds on the internet, including opening a car door with a tennis ball and making a bump key to work with any lock.

The plot of the film is unpredictable and suspenseful because of the constant changes in John’s planning and how he naively tries to acquire forged documents. When he is down to about $1500 at his disposal he robs a set of drug dealers to fund his planned life after the escape. John’s initial test of his bump key draws the attention of a few police officers who will later be involved in his pursuit as the escape is underway. John takes a number of steps, recommended by Pennington, in both his planning and execution of the escape that give him a fighting chance, but never a certainty, to save his wife.

Unlike many of the characters Crowe has played, John is essentially a normal person. He is not a general in command of a Roman legion, an English captain facing a ship superior to his own, or a detective that refuses to take any money from a drug bust. The financial strains from the appeals process and his wife being imprisoned have made him a dedicated husband and parent. He has no special skills besides his strongly held belief that his wife is innocent and a willingness to put his life on the line for that belief.

Crowe is convincing in his role as essentially the single father of a young son who would rather have nothing to do with a life as a fugitive, but is forced into it. Given his history in films where he is a killing machine, it is odd to see Crowe ask “where do the bullets go,” in a gun, but he plays the part very well. The scene where Lara is arrested is gripping, it is hard to tell if she is innocent or not, and it reflects the trauma of a normal family life thrown into complete chaos.

Though some of the techniques John used in his plan don’t work and parts of the escape plan ended up relying on sheer dumb luck, other aspects of the escape were brilliantly simple and effective. For someone with no experience, John may be a bit too good at planning and financing an escape, but the film has great moments of suspense and is very enjoyable.