Romance

Drama

Thriller

Crime

The Next Three Days

Hwy61

Lionsgate

Fidélité Films

United States of America

France

English

Russell Crowe

Elizabeth Banks

Brian Dennehy

Moran Atias

Olivia Wilde

Jason Beghe

Nazanin Boniadi

Tyrone Giordano

Ty Simpkins

Liam Neeson

Jonathan Tucker

Lennie James

Michael Buie

Helen Carey

Remy Nozik

Aisha Hinds

Leslie Merrill

Daniel Stern

Rachel Deacon

Derek Cecil

Kaitlyn Wylde

Kevin Corrigan

Jeff Hochendoner

Lauren Haggis

James Ransone

Denise Dal Vera

Glenn Taranto

Veronica Brown

Lisa Ann Goldsmith

Alissa Haggis

Allan Steele

Zachary Sondrini

Etta Cox

Barry Bradford

Rick Warner

Quantia Mali

Trudie Styler

Fabio Polanco

David Flick

Sean Huze

Tamara Gorski

Patrick Brennan

Brenna McDonough

Patrick McDade

James Francis Kelly III

Jackson Nunn

Melissa Jackson

Paul Haggis

Eugénie Grandval

Olivier Delbosc

Danny Elfman

Anthony Katagas

Randi Hiller

Michael Nozik

Jo Francis

Laurence Bennett

Marc Missonnier

Stéphane Fontaine

Abigail Murray

Agnès Mentre

Camille Friend

Michael W. Craven

Meegan E. Godfrey

Caroline Vexler

Tamara-Lee Notcutt

Manny Siverio

Don Abbatiello

Nicole Callender

Damian Achilles

Scott Burik

Chick Bernhard

Brenda K. Wachel

Guillaume Lemans

Fred Cavayé

Gregory S. Hooper

Joseph Waterkotte

Jennifer Albaugh

Linda Lee Sutton

Roxanne Wightman

Kelley Mitchell

Melanie Hughes

David B. Nowell

Bob Dodd

Phil Oetiker

Paul Hazard

Henry Lynk

Pete Klingenberg

Jean-Pierre Nutini

Eric Riedmann

David Pipik

Chris Bangma

Eric Swanek

Phillip V. Caruso

James Keys

Michael Fitzgerald

Frank Rinato

Travis Johnston

James B. Crawford

Pat Dames

Richard S. Crumrine Jr.

Chris Walden

Craig Haagensen

Manny Duran

George B. Colucci Jr.

Donald Sparks

If Paul Haggis is going to keep on making movies, would somebody do us all a favor and sign him up for a basic screenwriting class? I mean, please, this film could be a lesson all on its own on how not to write a decent screenplay. Its all in here: one-dimensional characters, supremely poor pacing, multiple threads that go absolutely nowhere and completely implausible action sequences.

And, you know, it's just a B-thriller. It's not like I haven't seen these mistakes time and time again. What really bothers me is just how highly it thinks of itself. It not only thinks it's interesting (which it isn't whatsoever), but it thinks it's smart, edgy, and it probably even thinks it's clever. I mean, there are so many characters who function for exactly one plot point and are then left behind in the dust. For example, this one chick who's name I forget (did they ever even say her name?) is introduced fairly early on in the film, and looks even like Russell Crowe's love interest. We see the very, very beginnings of a meaningful relationship forming and then it turns out that she was only a device to fill in a little potential plot hole (trying not to spoil the movie.) The same with Russell Crowe's parents, there are a handful of scattered scenes with them showing little glimpses of a meaningful relationship, and then the same exact friggin' thing is done, they're used as a simple (and illogical) plot mechanism.

It's almost like one of Paul Haggis's friends was reading the script and said "hey, Paul, this is completely ridiculous, how could they possibly manage to _________" and Haggis wrote in these characters as devices to satisfy the issue, realized they were one-dimensional, and wrote in a pseudo-intelligent relationship (which doesn't in reality make them any better.) And this is how the first 2/3 of the movie moves so dreadfully slowly. I mean, I'm absolutely confident that with a decent editor, the first hour and fifteen minutes could be whittled down to maybe half an hour.

They could have especially left out the symbols that don't actually symbolize anything. Which seems silly to say, but the jar of quarters that keeps recurring in the movie not only has no plot significance, but has zero metaphorical significance. They barely explained what they were doing in their house. They were quite literally only in the film to make it look a little deeper. Not to make it more meaningful, but to make it look more meaningful. To make it "smart," and "edgy," and "clever." I don't usually have a problem with making it through a movie but I had to push to make it through this ludicrous, self-righteous mess.

Seen this movie a handful of times over the years, and still holds up so well. A solid thriller with fine performances by Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks, and features a great supporting cast in small parts (seems about 5 min. each), including Liam Neeson, Daniel Stern (wish he'd do more straight dramas), Brian Dennehy (RIP) and Olivia Wilde. Some nice suspense-filled moments throughout (the bump key scene still gets me).

However, the final scene with detective "seeing" how the crime went down seemed like something the studio wanted to give a clear conclusion, and felt so unnecessary. **4.0/5**

Best Movies

The Next Three Days

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Russell Crowe

Elizabeth Banks

Brian Dennehy

RZA

Moran Atias

Olivia Wilde

Jason Beghe

Nazanin Boniadi

Tyrone Giordano

Ty Simpkins

Box office

More Like This

K-PAX

The Interpreter

Minority Report

The Good German

Lucky Number Slevin

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Hotel Rwanda

Arsenic and Old Lace