Paul Haggis lets you know right away from the title “The Next Three Days” that you are in for a theatrical thrill, one that provides a high dose of action and suspense. Haggis, true to form, takes you right into the action. An evening out for dinner quickly becomes a battle ground for John (Russell Crowe) and Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks) as Lara takes heated exception to her dinner companion’s (Moran Atias) interest in her husband and her sexist views of a woman’s role in business. A passionate evening quickly turns into a horrific morning when the police show up at the door and Lara is arrested for the murder of her boss.

John Brennan is a schoolteacher, a loving father and husband. He does not immediately strike you as a man who takes risks or is quick to physical confrontation. John is a man of passion. The inflexible power of the law now unleashed on his family has suddenly become a monstrous mechanism that swiftly and unjustly severs him from his soul mate.  He loves his wife and his son and very quickly discovers only this passion will save them. When he discovers that his wife is to be imprisoned for life, his desperation leads him to investigate avenues outside the law that will get her out. Haggis gives attention to every detail as John begins his education in crime and how to operate outside the law.

His first mission is to find Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), a man who has successfully escaped many times from some of the highest security prisons. When John finds Pennington, his advice is forceful and becomes John’s plan of action, “You have to know how they plan to get you. You have to ask yourself if you can do it before you start and if you can’t don’t start ‘cause you’ll just get someone killed.” From this point forward John becomes another version of himself, his dark side animated as he propels forward on a mission that seems doomed to end in catastrophe.

Life imprisonment is a sentence handed to mostly cold-hearted criminals and in Lara’s circumstance seems cruel and heartless. Despair engulfs her and she attempts suicide as a means of escape.  Luke (Ty Simpkins), John and Lara’s son is confused by this strange situation and withdraws from his mother entirely, further tearing at her heart and aggravating an already unpredictable and harsh fate.

Breaking someone out of a modern day prison in the middle of Pittsburgh and then planning to escape to some safe haven with a young child is astonishingly unimaginable.

In these extreme circumstances, Haggis has sharply contrasted the power of intimate love to a nebulous and impersonal justice system. With the odds stacked against them, John Brennan decisively makes his choice. Haggis carefully unravels the plot never missing a piece of the puzzle, leaving us to wonder what we might do in a similar situation.  This is an intelligent, clever, romantic crime drama with powerful characters that capture your attention and keep it. Highly recommended.

Moira Romano