THE NEXT THREE DAYS
2 out of 5 stars

i didn’t think this one was that great because hollywood totally marketed this movie as a thriller/mystery, but it ends up being about this guy planning a prison break. i’m sorry, but if i wanted to watch a movie about a prison break, i’d watch the show... SMH... such a waste... :(

this is the story of a college professor named john brennan (russell crowe) who decides that he’s going to break his wife lara (elizabeth banks) out of jail after his wife is sentenced to prison for life for killing her boss. what, you say? that’s right... she gets thrown in jail for killing her boss with a fire extinguisher, and the horror of it is that she gets sentenced and put away for life because the evidence against her was too substantial. (i.e. her co-worker witnessing the fight between her and the boss, the fire extinguisher with her fingerprints on it) john and his son are left with no $ because they spent it all on lara’s pricey defense, and it’s actually heartbreaking to see john and lara cry when they realize they’re not going to be getting an appeal any time soon... so, what’s a husband to do? he plans her prison break meticulously from procuring fake IDs from some deaf guy on a motorcycle, doing field research by interviewing a known convict who successfully broke out of prison (liam neeson in his worst role), and even getting drug money to fuel his “project” by killing a known meth dealer and stealing his stash. so, the question becomes: does john successfully break out his wife? i’m gonna be a good girl, and not tell... ;)

there’s a lot of things wrong with this movie i.e. confusing storyline and russell crowe looks bored... maybe he should stick with period movies then in particular roman times?  being that this one was WRITTEN AND DIRECTED by paul haggis (the guy who made the oscar winning movie crash), this was a total disappointment. like i said, it focuses on too much on the planning of the break out when what you really want is a good thriller! a good thriller that should have focused on the mystery behind john’s wife and the crime she “committed”. THAT would have been an interesting movie, although it’s been done before, but i feel like paul haggis could have taken that genre on well. oh, well... :/