There will always be a certain air of expectancy where writer/director Paul Haggis is concerned. After all, he’s the only writer to have written the Best Picture winners at the Oscars in consecutive years (2004’s Million Dollar Baby, 2005’s Crash). With that kind of success, there’s a tendency for people to think of you as some kind of lightning conductor.

Maybe it’s this expectation that has resulted in him directing only one feature since Crash with 2007’s fairly low key The Valley of Elah. With the shy and retiring Russell Crowe starring in his latest, all eyes will be back on Haggis to see if sparks can once again fly.

John (Crowe) and Lara (Elizabeth Banks) Brennan have pretty ordinary lives. They both have good jobs, and have a young son Luke (Ty Simkins) who they both adore. One day however, everything changes. Not only does Lara get accused of killing her boss, she also gets convicted, despite voicing her innocence.

Three years down the line and although clearly struggling, John is doing all he can to get his wife out of prison. But when her final appeal is turned down, all hope of getting her out of prison seems lost. That’s when he starts to take matters into his own hands; if the law won’t set his wife free, then he’ll just have to.

Oh God, this isn't made out of licorice, this is real! But I don't get to eat this? Can I? Maybe I can... Bang!

The Next Three Days can be broken down into two distinct halves. The first is primarily a family drama, focusing on a man having to come to terms with his wife’s imprisonment, as well as having to take on the responsibility of being a single father raising their child. The second half is a semi-pacey thriller, as John sets in motion his plan to get his wife out of prison. The problem is, the two sit awkwardly next to one another.

In fact the film is at odds with itself throughout. Haggis has written some nice observational family stuff, that wouldn’t look out of place in a family drama. He hasn’t done a bad job with the action part of the film either. It’s just that they do a bad job of co-existing. The film would have probably worked if it went all the way one way or another, but suffers from going both. It’s a real muddle. Would you really want to combine a TV drama like Brothers & Sisters with Prison Break? Because that’s what this feels like.

What’s good to see is Crowe showing an unusually sensitive side. He taps into the family man psyche assuredly enough, managing to soften his often seen rough edges. It’s just a pity it gets lost a little in the getting- his-wife-out-of-prison scheme of things.

Haggis decided to write this film after seeing the French thriller Pour Elle. Maybe it lost something in translation, or maybe he thought it would take the pressure off if he re-made a foreign film for the US market. Either way, The Next Three Days fails to excel on any front, proving that Haggis is far from being Superman and is, rather disappointingly, only human after all.