The Next Three Days

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The results of foreign film remakes are always perplexing if you imagine the train of thought of the filmmakers. This is just guesswork but here goes: They watch a European/Asian/South American film, love it, see the potential of an English-speaking version and go about acquiring the rights. Then they will insist on small but important changes - changes that will alter the mood, tone, complexion and everything else that made the original work. The outcome can be a watered-down outing whose power is diminished in its attempt to appeal to a mass market. Thankfully, The Next Three Days - a faithful revisit of the 2008 French thriller Anything For Her (Pour Elle) - isn't one of them.

"Are you the kind of man who can kill someone who gets in your way? Can you leave your child at a gas station?" are the questions put to John Brennan (Crowe) who plans to break his wife Lara (Banks) out of prison when she is sentenced to life for the murder of her boss. John refuses to believe she's guilty but it doesn't look good: Lara has been bitching for some time about how much she hates her boss, her fingerprints are on the weapon (a fire extinguisher), her boss' blood is found on her jacket and she was seen leaving the scene of the crime. John meets with the serial prison escapee-turned novelist Pennington (Liam Neeson) for tips - and meticulously sets about his prison break. But when he learns that Lara will be moved in three days, John is up against the clock.

Like the original, the story can be pretty far-fetched and implausible stuff at times, but if you're willing to accept this very ordinary man in an extraordinary situation The Next Three Days has enough thrills and spills to entertain. That's mainly down to Paul Haggis' (who has also written the script) tact of upping the ante at every available opportunity, making each new problem seemingly impossible to overcome. The idea to place doubt in John's mind that Lara may have actually committed the murder would have been a fun element if it was delved into more, but Haggis dispenses with that all too quickly to get the break-out story back on track. The insistence of including a very intrusive soundtrack at critical moments that undercut the tension of what's happening on screen is a bad decision, too - wrong tune, wrong time.

It won't win any Oscars but The Next Three Days is a cleverly plotted thriller that keeps the audience guessing and two steps behind at all times. Banks has little to do but furrow her brow in prison but Crowe turns in a dependable performance and his determination to do what it takes for the woman he loves is easy to get on board with.