They say you can never really know someone completely, even if that person is the spouse you've been married to for years. Trading on the suspense potential of that notion is "The Next Three Days," director Paul Haggis' U.S.-remake of 2008's French thriller "Pour Elle," a fine film in its own right.

Russell Crowe plays John Brennan, a laid-back high school teacher who's a good foil for his high-maintenance wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks). When the police burst into their home one fine morning and arrest Lara on suspicion of murdering her boss, Brennan's world is turned upside down. He struggles to make sense of the situation, caring for their son, Luke (Ty Simpkins), and hiring lawyers. When Lara is convicted and all appeals are exhausted, Brennan starts to consider ways of springing her that aren't exactly legal.

The film stays tightly focused on this angle: Just how would an average sort of clueless suburban husband go about planning a jailbreak, and could he pull it off? A tavern-counter meeting with a seasoned ex-con (Liam Neeson) arms Brennan with the info he needs to free his wife, but the criminal also tells him to think twice, asking whether he could abandon his child at a bus station or push an old lady to the ground. "To do this thing, that's what you have to become."