For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - The Next Three Days
The Impression:
I’ve been so unbelievably unimpressed with Paul Haggis’
heavy-handed out put up to this point, I was sure this was
going to be another sloppy, emotion drenched mess.
The Reality:
The Next Three Days is a sort of cobbled together
collection of movies (the heist film, the prison film, the
broken family film, the obsessed man film, etc.) held
together by an exceptional performance by Russell Crowe as a
man fixated on freeing his wife from prison. Crowe plays
John Brennan, a professor at a community college who’s wife
(Elizabeth Banks) is imprisoned for a murder he believes she
didn’t commit. When she attempts suicide he decides his only
choice is to free her from prison. The next two or so hours
is a well executed portrayal of a man obsessed. Brennan
continues to fuck up his planning and his attempts at
freeing his wife, but he just can’t stop. He loses family
and friends and the affection of his son, but the chance of
breaking his wife out of prison overcomes everything. It’s a
slow burn this one, so slow that at times I actually didn’t
know if a prison break attempt was actually going to happen,
but Crowe’s performance is so dedicated (in the slumpy way
he’s so good at) that it keeps you engaged the entire way
through.
As every blockbuster seems to these days, the ending really
spoils the pot. Not giving anything away, but a crux of
Crowe’s character is his undying belief in his wife’s
innocence. For this film to succeed entirely for me I
would’ve needed that blind spot to never be revealed. But
this is Hollywood folks, and audiences don’t like the blurry
vagueness of an unanswered questioned. It doesn’t ruin the
picture, but it certainly slides it in to the more formulaic
muck it sidesteps for so long.
The Lesson:
Maybe Paul Haggis only sucks most of the time.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
-
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