That is the question that this gripping movie asks its' viewers.
What if the justice system fails?
What if the faith you have in your spouse's character is not enough to move those around you?
What would you do if faced with the knowledge that your loved one was going to spend a lifetime behind bars?
These are the questions that John Brennan (Russell Crowe) faces when his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) is arrested for murdering her boss with whom she had an argument the night before.
The evidence is stacked very strongly against her and John spends close to three years trying to get her released, only to have their last appeal rejected.
When the strain of being separated from her family, especially her son, becomes too much for Lara to handle, John realises that he has to either break her out or accept that they will never be a family together again.
When a order is put through to have Lara moved to a different prison, John is left with only 72 hours to put into action a plan he has been building and get his family safely out of the country.
'The Next Three Days' makes you question all the morals you hold. It takes a hold of you and pulls you through the emotional and physical trauma that this family is experiencing.
Never excusing John Brennan's actions, it does dare you to tell him that having faith in the innocence of his wife is wrong.
John Brennan broaches the issue of irrational belief or faith verses logical thinking in a thought provoking conversation with his students.
John Brennan: The life and times of Don Quixote, so what is it about?
Student: That someone's belief in virtue is more important than virtue itself?
John Brennan: Yes, that's in there. But what is it about? Could it be about how rational thought destroys your soul? Could it be about the triumph of irrationality and the power that is in that? You know we spend a lot of time trying to organise the world. We build clocks and calendars and try to predict the weather. But what part of our life is truly under our control?
What a powerful question to ask an audience.
What part of our life is truly under our control?
This movie takes our protagonist into the seedier parts of town and there are a number of encounters with drug dealers and their product. There are also several fairly violent scenes that see one man bashed and another two shot. The profanity is surprisingly low for this grittier genre, and although there are no depicted sex scenes there are several implied.
At times the movie felt that it dragged a little and some of the minor characters surrounding our protagonist and his family felt a little 2D. But overall it succeeded in what it wanted to do; it makes you care about the characters and keeps you gripped until the end of the movie.
I give 'The Next Three Days' 3 out of 5 stars.
Language Moderate
Violence Moderate
Gore Moderate
Sexual references Moderate
Drugs High
Fantasy themes None