The Next Three Days (2010, PG-13)

In this film, Russel Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind) plays a teacher whose wife, played by Elizabeth Banks (Zack And Miri Make A Porno, the TV shows Scrubs and 30 Rock) is imprisoned for a murder he's sure she did not commit.  The first act of the story is setting up characters, their relationships, and their situations.  The second act has him deciding how desperate he is and planning a breakout/escape for her.  You can figure out what act 3 is about.

While I've never been a fan of Elizabeth Banks (I had a big crush on her from when I first ever saw commercials for her films, but I've always disliked her characters and the acting has never wow'ed me), she did OK in this role.  Once again, I found her character dislikable in several ways, but she did come across as genuine and the loving family dynamic was believable.  Russel Crowe has had his ups and downs in my opinion: not to say that he has performed particularly badly in acting roles that I've seen, just that some of his films interested me far more than others.  I'll admit that I'm part of the common denominator that loved Gladiator, but he seemed just a little two-dimensional in Robin Hood.  He's great with brooding and intensity, but now that I think about it he doesn't really display a lot of range.  This film also had several named actors in supporting roles: Olivia Wilde (Tron, Cowboys And Aliens, and the TV series The O.C.), the phenomenal Liam Neeson (Taken, Schindler's List), Brian Dennehy (Silverado [one of my favorite films of all time], Death Of A Salesman), and Daniel Stern (Home Alone [1 and 2], C.H.U.D.).  While they all had quite limited screen time (the vast majority of the face-time was held by Crowe himself), they all did pretty well especially Dennehy whose character had a lot of depth for hardly any dialogue.

There's not really much of character development in this film other than Crowe reaching his tipping point and working to figure out how to get his wife out.  What this film has going for it is the tension particularly in the third act (it doesn't let up hardly at all).  It's pretty cool seeing this teacher using online videos and street lowlifes to get new skills and techniques.  If you like that element from Breaking Bad, then you'll be happy with this movie.  It's also got elements from The Italian Job (also Ocean's 11, but IJ is a closer match) with all of the planning that goes into it.  I enjoyed watching it, but it won't change your life or anything (unless you're planning on entering a life of crime... don't, btw), so maybe I'm being stingy with my stars but I feel like giving it 3.5 stars (maybe 4).