The Green Mile

December 11, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 188 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Movies For Guys’ Original Review of the Theatrical Release

This movie has Oscar nominations written all over it. The director is Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption fame, which in many people’s eyes is one of the best movies ever made. And the star is Tom Hanks who has been a perennial favorite of the Academy in recent years. With those credentials this movie sets high expectations, and it delivers.

The Green Mile is based on a Stephen King novel. King’s novels often do not translate well into feature films as they end up leaving out large chunks of the original story in order to keep the length of the movie down. In this case, no such compromise was made and the result is a three hour epic film.

Tom Hanks portrays Paul Edgecomb, a prison guard supervisor on death row during the Depression. During that time period being sentenced to death meant you actually fried instead of just being tied up in appeals indefinitely and as such Edgecomb’s cellblock, called “The Green Mile” is a busy place. However, Paul is a compassionate guy despite having a bladder infection that makes him piss razorblades. He treats his prisoners in a very humane manner although the same is not true of all of his coworkers.

Enter John Coffey, like the drink, only spelled different. John is a very big boy, played by Michael Duncan who you may remember as “Bear” from Armageddon. Not only is Coffey huge, he’s convicted of doing a bad bad deed. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say he seems to not only be quite gentle and harmless but gifted as well, and perhaps incapable of the tasks of which he is convicted.

This film will likely yield several Oscar nominations as was expected of it, and they are deserved. The performances and sheer craft of this film are virtually flawless. It is not quite on the same level as Shawshank or Forrest Gump, but this is quite simply a very well made film. But more importantly, the story is extremely compelling, despite the 3 hour length, you are successfully absorbed into the story very easily.

The length of the film is really the only flaw. And even though it is 3 hours long, there’s no point where it drags, and I can’t think of a single scene that I would prune. But you’ll probably wanna skip that bladder buster sized Coke at the concession stand. As you might have figured out by the description this is not the prototypical “guy movie” by a long shot. This is not light viewing, and there are no car chases, naked hooters or explosions. However it is a great film and well worth seeing.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 4 Stars, DVD, David Morse, Drama, James Cromwell, Michael Duncan, R, Tom Hanks