Better than a Life of Despair..

Deadbeat professor John Brennan (Russell Crowe) steps out for dinner with wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks), where the latter has a face-off with her boss. The next thing he knows – the boss is found murdered, and all the evidence points to his wife. Facing life imprisonment with stoic acceptance, Lara has not reckoned with the resourcefulness of her husband. After failing with lawyers and the right side of the law, John obsesses with getting Lara out of prison – and the country – by any means possible. The next few months are a blur of delirious effort, the horror of near-misses coupled with near-penury, and finally - when something is required by The Next Three Days, a breakthrough. But breaking out of prison is one matter – will the couple be able to re-unite with their child and find their way out of the United States? The extraordinary movie slows towards the middle to let the viewer soak in the consequences upon a family of justice denied, and then switches to a dramatic conclusion. Paul Haggis of Crash, Million Dollar Baby and Casino Royale fame pulls off an extraordinary movie –the extent of improbability of the escape cannot be better captured than by the quote from Don Quixote used in the movie – “'If we choose to exist in our own reality, are we insane? And if we are, isn't that better than a life of despair?'”. And Russell Crowe on his part shows all of the quiet resolve that made the likes of Cinderella Man and A Beautiful Mind such extraordinary movies

16.5/20