The Next Three Days 2010 vigilante thriller film

The Next Three Days is a 2010 vigilante thriller film written and directed byPaul Haggis and starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. It was released in the United States on November 19, 2010 and was filmed on location inPittsburgh. It is a remake of the 2008 French film Pour Elle (Anything for Her) by Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans.

Lara Brennan (Elizabeth Banks) is convicted of murdering her boss and is sentenced to life in prison. The evidence seems impossible to dispute: her car is parked right next to the car of her boss, she is seen leaving the crime scene seconds before the body is discovered, the murder weapon (a fire extinguisher) has her fingerprints on it and she has the victim's blood on the back of her overcoat. Following the failure of her appeal, Lara's husband John Brennan (Russell Crowe), a professor at a community college, becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail, while their son Luke[6]ceases to acknowledge her during their prison visits, saddening Lara. One day, she attempts suicide, and tells John that she cannot survive a life in prison. John promises that this will not be her life.

John, intent on breaking her out, consults Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), a former convict who escaped prison seven times and wrote a book about it. Damon, although reluctant to help since he has turned away from his life of crime, advises John to study the prison where his wife is, warns him that the initial escape will be easy compared with evading the police after that, and explains what to do:
He must obtain the false passports, new social security numbers, a handgun, and save up as much cash as he can.
Since the 9/11 attacks, town security has been incredibly increased, and after breaking her out of prison and the first call, he has only 15 minutes before the city center is closed up, also counting 35 minutes for all interstates, secondary roads, train stations, docks and airports being closed.
After a successful escape, they must escape to a country that does not extradite American citizens back stateside and with a relatively low number of American citizens.
He must also question his resolve, and his willingness to make ruthless ethical compromises in a split-second (killing an innocent, leaving his son unprotected and alone, etc.)
If the plan fails, they have to surrender or they will be shot on sight.

John then starts his preparation. He buys a handgun, learns to use it and obtains fake IDs. He also buys and carefully studies the map of Pittsburgh. To obtain the money, he sells most of his furniture as well as some personal belongings. At first, he attempts to break Lara out from the prison in which she is held but abandons the plan when he is almost caught testing a self-made "bump key" on an elevator.

When John is told that Lara will be transferred in 72 hours to another prison facility in the north he becomes desperate and is forced to come up with an emergency plan. Unable to get the money from his house in time he considers robbing a bank but hesitates at the last minute. Instead, John tails a local drug dealer to a drug lord, then robs him. Following clues left behind at the drug lord's house, the police tracks down John's car, get to his empty house and conclude that he is planning to break his wife out.

The following morning, John tears the map down and stuffs the pieces into several garbage bags, putting one in the trash outside his home, and the rest in a dumpster some blocks away, then leaves his son Luke at a classmate's house who has a birthday party. John plants falsified blood work indicating that Lara is in a state of hyperkalemia, so she is transferred to the hospital. He gets to the hospital and helps her escape although she is doubtful and reluctant, motivated only by the idea of her son being raised without either parent.

John and Lara leave the hospital, narrowly escaping the police and make it out of the city center in less than 15 minutes. They then drive to Luke's friend's house to pick him up. Finding out his son is at the zoo for the birthday party, John drives there to retrieve him, by which point the police have already established roadblocks on all interstate routes to look for "a couple and a child". John improvises by picking up an elderly couple, and the five drive through the check point without incident, proceeding to Buffalo, New York, where John drops off the couple. The Brennans cross the border into Canada and head to an airport. Meanwhile, the police question John's parents, but they refuse to say anything. The police examine the map fragments found in John's garbage bag to figure out his destination, but are misled by the photos and delay the wrong flight.

A detective returns to the crime scene where Lara's boss was killed. He remembers Lara saying a button popped off as the mugger bumped into her, and deduces that it must have fallen in the storm drain. He searches the storm drain but is unable to find the button. It turns out the button was there, buried under grime, and the detective just missed it. While the police haven't the evidence to exonerate Lara Brennan, the audience does, because a flashback reveals how her boss died at the hands of a young female mugger, and how Lara came to have the victim's blood on her coat, and her fingerprints on the fire extinguisher that the mugger used as the murder weapon. At the end of the film, the family arrives at a hotel in Caracas,Venezuela. As Lara lies down next to him, Luke kisses his mother on the forehead and falls asleep. John takes a picture of their sleeping faces as the movie ends.

CastRussell Crowe as John Brennan
Elizabeth Banks as Lara Brennan
Brian Dennehy as George Brennan
Lennie James as Lieutenant Nabulsi
Olivia Wilde as Nicole
Ty Simpkins as Luke
Helen Carey as Grace Brennan
Liam Neeson as Damon Pennington
Daniel Stern as Meyer Fisk
Kevin Corrigan as Alex
Jason Beghe as Detective Quinnan
Aisha Hinds as Detective Collero
Tyrone Giordano as Mike
Jonathan Tucker as David
Allan Steele as Sergeant Harris
RZA as Mouss
James Ransone as Harv
Moran Atias as Erit
Michael Buie as Mick Brennan
Trudie Styler as Dr. Byrdie Lifson
Tyler M Green and Toby J. Green as 3-year-old Luke
Kaitlyn Wylde as Julie