The Next Three Days | Gulliver's Travels

An excellent supporting cast features Liam Neeson as the ex-con and 7-time escapee who John turns to for advice; RZA, Kevin Corrigan, and Tyrone Giordano are some of the criminals who provide ‘assistance´; Jason Beghe, Aisha Hinds, and Lennie James are some of the cops on his trail. Unlike most thrillers, which might want to keep a smaller cast in the loop for the duration of the film, the characters here tend to show up, lend their services to the plot, and disappear; this adds a level of realism to the proceedings. Also noteworthy: Brian Dennehy and Helen Carey as John´s parents, and Olivia Wilde as a sympathetic single mother.

The Next Three Days has drawn some heavy criticism for credibility issues, but I found the first half of the film refreshingly realistic. Perhaps too realistic; the later thriller elements do tend to feel out of place by comparison. John´s motivations – when even his wife has resigned herself to spending the next twenty years in prison – are hard to really get a grasp on (why risk it all and further endanger your son´s future?) Crowe also feels miscast – I´d have preferred to see someone like Neeson in this role.

Haggis displays as strong a directorial touch here as in his acclaimed previous films (Crash, In the Valley of Elah), but his influence as a writer is almost nonexistent; viewers of the original film, only 2 years old, will find little new here. These remakes only showcase a lack of creativity in Hollywood; an original work with the same talent behind it would have a much better chance of success (see also: Let Me In, an excellent remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In; it, too, failed to catch on with US audiences.)

The Lilliputians are rounded out by a delightful supporting cast, which includes Billy Connolly as the King, Catharine Tate as his Queen, Emily Blunt as their daughter, and Chris O´Dowd as the General as makeshift villain. Throughout the film, they´re all wearing the same shit-eating grin as Black, who sets the tone with his complete lack of conviction. You can feel the screenplay try to inject drama into the proceedings, but the actors steadfastly refuse: they´re just here to have fun. It works out better for us that way, too.

There´s a good (great?) movie waiting to be made from Swift´s original story; it wasn´t quite the 1939 Max Fleischer cartoon, or the live-action 1960 film, or the TV movie with Ted Danson. It sure ain´t this one, either. But taken for what it is, this Gulliver´s Travels is light and breezy and short enough (80 minutes) to prove painless for most parents, while kids should enjoy it as something akin to the Night at the Museum films (and without the heavy-handed melodrama, it´s better than either of those.)