Paul Haggis writes and directs this American remake of the 2008 French crime thriller 'Anything for Her'. Literature professor John Brennan (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) have a good life, a happy marriage and an adored three-year-old son. But the idyll is shattered when Lara is arrested for a murder she insists she did not commit. For the first three years of her sentence, John struggles to keep his career and family together while pursuing every possible avenue available to him to prove Lara's innocence. When their final appeal is rejected and Lara becomes suicidal, John decides to take the law into his own hands. The powerful presence of Russell Crowe and the skillful writing and directing of Paul Haggis ( Crash) give The Next Three Days an emotional heft to match its taut suspense. Schoolteacher John Brennan (Crowe) is stunned when his wife Laura (Elizabeth Banks, W.) is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. As he watches her emotional decline behind bars, he becomes determined to break her out of prison--and The Next Three Days tracks his meticulous efforts, including wrong turns that threaten to capsize everything. The movie is most compelling in how it follows Brennan's wrenching emotional changes. He's not some cold, focused secret agent--he's torn between his painful devotion to his wife and the frightening possibility of what could go wrong, including the possible cost to their son. The outstanding supporting cast includes Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, and rapper RZA, but the vast majority of the movie rests on Crowe's shoulders and he carries it like an athlete. There's something deeply physical about Crowe's performances--his emotions seem to fill his entire body, even as his expressions are incredibly subtle. It's a gripping performance by a remarkable actor, anchoring a well-conceived and engaging thriller. --Bret Fetzer