In “The Next Three Days” filmmaker Paul Haggis sets aside the socio-political commentary and hunkers down to craft a pressure cooker of a thriller. If only he had kicked the heat up a few notches.

This remake of the 2008 French thriller “Pour Elle” is a half-hour longer, less suspenseful and hobbled by a slacker pace. Haggis wants to use the extra time to make the viewer invest more fully in the plight of his characters, but the story is so preposterous that the effort is wasted.

Still, the “what-would-you-do?” premise is hugely effective and sinks its hooks in early. John (Russell Crowe) and Lara (Elizabeth Banks) are a happily married couple with a bright 6-year-old son. In the film’s opening scene, which shows the couple at a restaurant with friends, Lara becomes provoked and unleashes a fiery temper.

Then, the next morning, as the family is having breakfast, the cops burst in and arrest Lara of murdering her boss. The physical evidence is overwhelming: Lara’s fingerprints are all over the fire extinguisher used in the crime; there’s a large blood stain on the back of Lara’s jacket; and co-workers had watched the women get into a heated argument earlier in the day.

To John’s astonishment, Lara is convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Three years of appeals later, his lawyer (Daniel Stern) tells John they’ve run out of options. But John believes his wife is innocent, and he refuses to watch her rot in jail.

Some of the best sequences focus on John as he figures out exactly how you break someone out of prison. First, he contacts the author of a book about a man (Liam Neeson) who pulled the trick off nine times. John learns he’s going to need passports, a gun, a willingness to turn violent and lots and lots of cash.

Finally, the prison break arrives and is exciting and filled with unexpected twists, but it’s a bit of a slog to get there. “The Next Three Days” might have fared a lot better if the screenwriters had stuck to “The Next Two Days.”