- The Next Three Days
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The Next Three Days 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Paul Haggis Produced by Michael Nozik
Olivier Delbosc
Paul Haggis
Marc MissonnierScreenplay by Paul Haggis
Fred Cavayé
Guillaume LemansStarring Russell Crowe
Elizabeth Banks
Brian Dennehy
Olivia Wilde
Liam NeesonMusic by Danny Elfman Cinematography Stéphane Fontaine Studio Highway 61 Films Distributed by Lionsgate Release date(s) November 19, 2010 Running time 133 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $35 million[1] Box office $62,748,651[2] The Next Three Days is a 2010 thriller film directed by Paul Haggis and starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. It was released in the United States on November 19, 2010 and was filmed on location in Pittsburgh.[3] It is a remake of the 2008 French film Pour Elle (Anything for Her) by Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans.[4][5]
Contents
Plot
Lara Brennan (Banks) is convicted of murdering her boss after an altercation at work. Following the failure of her appeal, Lara's husband John Brennan (Crowe), a professor at a community college, becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail, while their son Luke[6] ceases to acknowledge her during their prison visits.
John consults Damon Pennington (Neeson), a former convict who successfully escaped from prison seven times. Damon advises John to study the prison, saying "every prison has a key". Damon also warns him that the initial escape from the prison will be easy compared with avoiding capture after the escape. To that end, John must obtain false passports, new social security numbers, and a "truckload of cash" to have a chance of success. Damon also suggests going to an unpopular foreign destination for Americans. John learns Pittsburgh's time to lock-down the city's exits after a call is made to do so: 15 minutes for the city center and 35 minutes for all interstates, secondary roads, and stations or airports.
John contemplates several ideas that don't pan out and is defeated more than once, but latches onto a solid plan and the necessary paperwork after some painful efforts. He robs a drug lord and sets his meth lab on fire before fleeing the scene. He does so to have enough cash when he'd eventually escape with Lara. He then falsifies and plants blood work results indicating that his wife is in a state of hyperkalemia, and she is transferred to the hospital. He follows the ambulance and helps her to escape although she is doubtful and reluctant, motivated only by the idea of her son being without either parent.
With the police getting some lucky breaks, they are hot on John and Lara's trail through a series of chases. Throughout the film, John is shown assembling maps, photographs, notes, and other papers on a wall of his house. He tears them down and stuffs them into several garbage bags before leaving to rescue Lara, leaving one bag in the trash outside his home, and the rest in a dumpster some blocks away. As it turns out he did this selectively to misguide the detectives regarding their final destination. They have an uncomfortable moment at passport control, as a Canadian officer examines their passports and glances at the page of photographs showing people to stop. He allows them to pass. The shift changes, and as they walk down the hall, their photos are added to the list. An international flight is delayed, but the police were after the wrong destination.
At the end of the film, the family ends up safe in Caracas, Venezuela. Back in the United States, a detective who had attempted to catch Brennan returns to the scene of the crime although it had been some years since the crime occurred. Using his forensic skills, he manages to put together what really happened. It turns out that the killer of Lara's boss was really just a mugger, and a series of coincidences led to Lara's conviction. He remembers Lara saying a button popped off as she passed the mugger, and notices that it is raining just as it had been the night of the murder. He tosses a piece of paper in the current where the button would've fallen off and it leads into a gutter. He searches the gutter but is unable to find the button. It turns out the button was there, buried under grime and dust, and the detectives just missed it.
Cast
- Russell Crowe as John Brennan
- Elizabeth Banks as Lara Brennan
- Brian Dennehy as George Brennan
- Olivia Wilde as Nicole
- Lennie James as Lieutenant Nabulsi
- Aisha Hinds as Detective Collero
- Daniel Stern as Meyer Fisk
- Ty Simpkins as Luke
- RZA as Mouss
- Jonathan Tucker as David
- Kevin Corrigan as Alex
- Jason Beghe as Detective Quinnan
- Allan Steele as Sergeant Harris
- Trudie Styler as Dr. Byrdie Lifson
- Liam Neeson as Damon Pennington
Production
Pour Elle
The Next Three Days is a remake of the 2008 French film Pour Elle (Anything for Her) by Fred Cavayé.[4][5]
The plot of Pour Elle involves a teacher, Julien (Vincent Lindon), who experiences difficulties when his wife (Diane Kruger) becomes a suspect in a murder investigation and is arrested;[4] Julien does not believe that his wife is guilty of the crime, and attempts to remove her from the prison.[4] Pour Elle was Cavayé's directing debut.[4] The film was one of the main attractions of the Alliance Française French Film Festival in 2010.[7] Cavayé explained the plot and motivation for making the film, "We wanted to make a real human story about an ordinary man doing an extraordinary thing because he's faced with a miscarriage of justice. The film also talks about courage- saying how you show courage depending on the situation. In France, for example, there were good people who did not go into the Resistance against the Germans."[7]
Cavayé told The Age regarding the remake of the film by Haggis, he is eager "to be a spectator of my own film".[4] The director commented on the news his film would be remade by Haggis, "It's a strange feeling. I wrote this story in my very small apartment in Paris. When I saw my name next to Russell Crowe on the net, it was amazing."[7]
Filming
In October 2009, Haggis and his staff were in the principal photography stage of production filming in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3][6] On October 4, 2009, filming of the movie was ongoing and was set to complete on December 12, 2009.[8] On December 14, 2009, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that filming of The Next Three Days was going to wrap that day, after 52 days of shooting.[9]
Reception
Release
In October 2009, the film was originally scheduled to be released in 2011,[10] by March 2010, the Australian media company Village Roadshow was set to release the film in Australia in November 2010.[11] It was released in the United States on November 19, 2010.[2]
Critical response
Russell Crowe won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actor for his role as John Brennan.[12]
The Next Three Days received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 50% based on review from 144 critics, with an average score of 5.9/10. The critical consensus is: "Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks give it their all, but their solid performances aren't quite enough to compensate for The Next Three Days' uneven pace and implausible plot."[13]
Roger Ebert awarded the film two and a half out of four stars and said, "The Next Three Days is not a bad movie, it's just somewhat of a waste of the talent involved."[14]
Box office
The film earned $21,148,651 at the box office in the United States, debuting at #5 on November 19, 2010. Internationally it earned $41 million, for a worldwide total of $62 million.[2]
References
- ^ Fritz, Ben (2010-11-18). "Movie projector: 'Harry Potter' to conjure up one of the biggest opening weekends of all time". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/11/movie-projector-harry-potter-to-conjure-up-one-of-the-biggest-opening-weekends-of-all-time.html. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
- ^ a b c "The Next Three Days". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nextthreedays.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
- ^ a b Ortega, Tony (October 2, 2009). "Post-Xenu Beghe Reveals TV's First 'Mangina'". The Village Voice (Village Voice Media). http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/10/post-xenu_beghe.php. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
- ^ a b c d e f "First impressions that linger". The Age (Theage.com.au). March 5, 2010. http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/film/first-impressions-that-linger/2010/03/04/1267291918125.html?page=2. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
- ^ a b The Belfast Telegraph staff (October 7, 2009). "Vintage year in store for Liam Neeson". The Belfast Telegraph (Independent News and Media). http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/vintage-year-in-store-for-liam-neeson-14523176.html. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
- ^ a b Bauknecht, Sara (2009-10-02). "Jail plays a role in Russell Crowe movie". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Post-Gazette.com). http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09282/1004112-51.stm. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
- ^ a b c Maddox, Garry (February 26, 2010). "Universal language". Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/universal-language/2010/02/25/1266687123574.html. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
- ^ Fleming, Michael (October 4, 2009). "Liam Neeson filling his 'Days': Actor joins Haggis-directed thriller for Lionsgate". Variety (Variety). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009536.html. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
- ^ Vancheri, Barbara (December 14, 2009). "'The Next Three Days' production days in Pittsburgh come to an end". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Block Communications). http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09348/1020716-60.stm. Retrieved 2009-12-20..
- ^ WPXI staff (October 8, 2009). "Russell Crowe On Set At Allegheny County Jail". WPXI. http://www.wpxi.com/news/21236238/detail.html. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
- ^ Bodey, Michael (March 24, 2010). "Indian extravaganza a juicy win for rival capitals of film". The Australian (Theaustralian.com.au). http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/indian-extravaganza-a-juicy-win-for-rival-capitals-of-film/story-e6frg8n6-1225844492778. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
- ^ Niall (January 11, 2011). "The nominees for the 8th annual Irish Film and Television Awards are in". Scannain.com. http://www.scannain.com/movie-news/ifta-awards-2011-nominees. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
- ^ "The Next Three Days Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/next_three_days/. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (November 17, 2010). "The Next Three Days :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101117/REVIEWS/101119966. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
External links
- Official website
- The Next Three Days at the Internet Movie Database
- The Next Three Days at AllRovi
- The Next Three Days at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Next Three Days at Box Office Mojo
Films directed by Paul Haggis 1990s Red Hot (1993)2000s Crash (2004) · In the Valley of Elah (2007)2010s The Next Three Days (2010)Categories:- 2010 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 2010s thriller films
- Crime thriller films
- Crime drama films
- Lions Gate Entertainment films
- American remakes of French films
- Films set in New York
- Films set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Fictional portrayals of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police
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