Review of The Next Three Days (2010) by Michael V — 14 Nov 2011

If you were excited to see this because two of the best actors around today are teaming up for a prison break movie like I was. Well yeah. Sadly SADLY disappointed. Liam Neeson is only in this for around 5 minutes.

Along with some other actors who just show up. Like Daniel Stern for a few minutes. So after I got over my utter disappointment for a dream being crushed I came to the conclusion that Liam Neeson even being in a movie for 5 minutes just made this movie better then it was.

And his 5 minutes are very important for the details of the rest of the movie. And another brilliant bit of casting is pairing up Russell Crowe and Brian Dennehy as father and son. Couldn't be more perfect.

And Crowe gives a great performance. We are used to the image of Crowe as being the badass guy. Being the Gladiator. The man who slices and dices his enemies with ease making you feel he can take on a Jedi Grizzly Bear without second hesitation.

But here we see him as an everyday school teacher who's hardest foe is probably his yearly taxes. We believe this guy is real. So this pretty much plays like Hitchcock or The Fugitive and does it well without ever feeling like it's been done before.

You feel for him and his situation. Because this guy could be your neighbor, brother or you. This is the way movies used to be so it was quite like a glass of cold refreshing water. I want story and characters with my thrills.

Otherwise why should I give a shit. Oh and Olivia Wilde. Just in case you were still wondering if you should watch this or not. Olivia Wilde. Yeah.