BOTTOM LINE: The story on offer in this film is quite engrossing, but the uninspired direction and slow build-up make this a bland thriller capable of much more, despite some genuine performances from the cast led by a convincing Russell Crowe.

THE GOOD: Russell Crowe plays John Brennan, a college professor married to Lara (Elizabeth Banks), who is convicted of murdering her boss after an altercation. John becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail, and after getting advice from a former escaped convict (a sublime Liam Neeson), John begins to hatch an elaborate plan that consumes his life. John’s conviction is deftly portrayed by Crowe, and he simultaneously emotes his insecurity about what he is doing, particularly when he has some violent altercations with the criminal underworld to obtain fake passports, identification, and in the end money. Three scenes that stood out in particular were John’s aborted attempt to rob a bank, John almost being caught at the prison trying to use a specially designed bump key to activate a lift, and the final moment between John and his father (Brian Dennehy); the two men never talk, but the moment where John’s father knows what he is going to do and says ‘goodbye’ to him is quite powerful. The final act of the film is quite engrossing as John hatches his plan, but manages to stay ahead of the police despite some setbacks which threaten to throw his delicately laid plan out of kilter. “The Next Three Days” is a different kind of thriller that plays against type and creates a more realistic world of every-day characters that you could know in every-day life. By watching this film, you could believe this happened for real.

THE BAD: The film takes a long time to get going, and it is only so we can see the anguish that John goes through as he digs himself deeper and deeper in to nefarious territory while organising his escape plan for Lara. Although there are moments of tension as John makes different attempts at the jail, and has some nasty run-ins with criminals, there is not much attempt to capitalise on this tension to make it thrilling. As a result, the ‘thriller’ aspect of the film is more bland than it should have been. Also, instead of structuring the escape as the climax of the film, it perhaps should have come half way through the film so that there would be more time to explore the couple on the run. Liam Neeson’s escape convict character goes to great lengths in his one scene to explain the difficulties of life on the run, yet the film conveniently shirks this issue by ending the film just as this begins, even though the chances of the authorities catching up with them is virtually zero given John’s elaborate planning. This further exploration would have been welcome, instead, the structure was designed to give the film a happy ending; that’s very Hollywood, but not necessarily the most potent finale.