The Green Mile Reviews

I am starting to like Stephen King's work more now, and I read the book. A wonderful book, that is faithfully(mostly) adapted into an equally wonderful film. My only complaint of The Green Mile is the length, I do think it is too long. However, The Green Mile is a film that is haunting, thought-provoking, moving and engrossing.

The film is beautifully directed by Frank Darabont(director of the slightly superior The Shawshank Redemption), is beautifully shot with a foreboding setting and atmospheric cinematography and lighting and has an engrossing and haunting story that is well-paced too. Thomas Newman's score is positively hypnotic and very beautiful, with some great authentic song choices, my favourite being Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams(And Dream Your Troubles Away).

The script is thoughtful too, and the movie also has a big emotional impact without feeling manipulative, I honestly couldn't help crying at the end of the movie. I have to say as well, the execution scenes were really quite harrowing. The performances are strong, Tom Hanks is excellent as the warden, as is Doug Hutchison who gives a credibility and complexity to a character that could have easily been clichéd and David Morse as Brutus. But Michael Clarke Duncan is the actor I want to give the real kudos to, he has a wonderful character and he absolutely nails it.

Overall, a very, very good movie. Had it been shorter, it would have been perfect. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Warning: Spoilers
"The Green Mile" is an American movie from 1999, so this one will have its 20th anniversary 2 years from now when I write this review (2017). Let me start by saying that this film runs for over 3 hours, so if very long films aren't your preferred choice, then you can skip it. It's okay, but you are really missing out in that case. The film is based on a novel by Stephen King and the writer is Frank Darabont who launched his career with Stephen King's works and kept going with adaptations for quite a while. Another would obviously be "The Shawshank Redemption", the film he made before this one here. Today, Darabont is probably mostly known for his work on "The Walking Dead", which is truly ironic looking at how wonderful his works in the 1990s were. As for this one here, I am definitely a bit biased as the cast includes many actors I quite like. This applies not just to lead actor Tom Hanks, but also to Rockwell, Morse, Cromwell and Sinise, even if the latter only has a very brief appearance. And how can you not like Michael Jeter and Michael Clarke Duncan after their performances in here. May they rest in peace. MCD is the only one who scored an Oscar nomination from the cast and this is also his career/life-defining performance for sure. The movie itself was nominated for four Oscars, but did not win any sadly.

I think that it may be difficult at times to appreciate the fantasy aspects in this film and with that i am referring mostly to the healing scenes. The film otherwise relies on very dark, very gritty and realistic plot developments because after all the entire thing takes place at a Death Row prison. But maybe it is this contrast between evil and goodness that lets it work so well. There were honestly more than just a few scenes and moments when I felt that they will really struggle to make this work, but they did succeed every time. Another example would be the frame between start and ending that plays many decades after the events at the prison, but when the closing credits rolled in I was very touched. I would also like to say that the film despite its massive runtime never drags a bit. It is truly easy to care for the characters and wonder what is going to happen next to them and this includes the good ones as well as the bad ones and there are good and bad ones at both sides of the law in here. The prime example is of course Doug Hutchinson's character, who is a bit of a main antagonist next to Rockwell certainly. It's a bit of a shame that the former did not really manage a great career and that people instead talked about nothing but his personal relationships. He was so good in here.

I also do believe that another huge strength of the film is the location, namely the prison. There is always an aura of imprisonment and narrowness surrounding this film, also when it comes to the guards. And I personally felt that the film always got a bit weaker for a moment when the action moved outside the prison, like the scene with Clarkson's character or the big jump forward in time. But maybe that's just me. The location is truly special in terms of the overall plot in here. The most heartbreaking moments are the execution scenes, the one with MCD's character, but also the one with Jeter's character. That one was painfully good and you could not watch anywhere else, even if your heart was breaking during it. It was basically a longer more intense version of the rodent-killing scene from right before that. Or maybe I should say "killing". So yeah, for me this was an outstanding movie and I believe everybody needs to see it. Then again, looking at the number of ratings this film has here on IMDb, almost everybody has seen it and the few who have not really need to change that as soon as possible. This film is a masterpiece and a definite contender for best film from the year 2009 (the decade sure went out on a strong note) and also for Top10 of the 1990s. What are you waiting for? Don't be scared of the duration. Be grateful it is so long because it is good from start to finish. Also a contender for best film of Tom Hanks' career and that means quite something. (Re-)Watch it!

Back in 1994, Frank Darabont made ‘ The Shawshank Redemption’ but it was a flop at the box-office and even though it was nominated for 7 oscars, it won nothing again. However, in the years following its release, it became a massive classic and it is now considered by many as the best movie ever made (it has been on top of the IMDB Top 250 constantly for the last 10 years at least). Obviously, with this cultural phenomenom, Darabont’s status grew exponentially and there was a huge hype surrounding his following directing effort. Once again, it was a Stephen King adaptation and it was starring Tom Hanks who was, at the time, probably the biggest star at the box-office. It was obviously a very smart plan and the whole thing was a big critical and financial success (and of course, it ended up also in the IMDB Top 250). However, did I really like this flick? Honestly, I thought it was not really amazing though. Sure, it was a decent and rather entertaining flick but I always preferred Stephen King’s stories when they remain realistic but, here, the whole fantastic angle was rather underwhelming. I actually did the read the book way before the movie was made and I had the very same feeling with the book as well. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is actually overrated but I have to admit that it is still worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

One of the most awe-inspiring spiritual dramas of all time. Tells a story full of cruelty/justice, sickness/healing, and the unusual relationships that form between Prisoner and Guard. The beauty and wonder of it will make you cry.

this is an extraordinary film! I have no words to describe it!
already seen him for some time but i remember him like it was today... obviously one of my favorites ...

It's a fact that any film near or 3+ hours is bound to be great and this film is no exception. Based on the fiendishly addictive novel of the same name by Stephen King, this film is directed by Frank Darabont, who, previously handled a Stephen King novel and made it one of the greatest films of our time and of all time. I was very excited to see The Green Mile because of the man behind the camera and the amazing cast in front. But I was scared too. You see, I have this tendency to get scared when a film is based on a novel as I don't really expect the silver-screen adaptation to be as good as the novel and therefore I have avoided such films numerous times. Anyways, the slow-pace and the almost too realistic setting of this film impressed me alot and what I liked even more was Michael Clarke Duncan's excellent performance. What Morgan Freeman was to Shawshank, Michael Clarke Duncan was to The Green Mile. His performance as the 'child stuck in a giant's body' was the real driving force. Another bona-fide performance was by Doug Hutchinson (Percy Wetmore). He correctly captured the sadistic & villainous character! Excellent performances by the lead & supporting cast but from Tom Hank's side, it was a little hammy. Not exactly in the novel but nevertheless, entertaining!

I like to think of this film as Shawshank Redemption in reverse. In Shawshank, It's all about life, while in The Green Mile, It's about death. While Shawshank showed us that hope can be a good thing, The Green Mile was more about miracles and how we judge too soon. I wish Frank Darabont handles another Stephen King novel like maybe The Black House!

I first saw The Green Mile in a time when I was becoming a huge fan of Stephen King and his work and also a fan of Tom Hanks when he was once my favourite actor and believe me, if you are not moved, shocked or even blown away by this, you seriously are the most bitter person on the face of this Earth. No, this really isn't for the fainted heart folk out there and it really is a very depressing story but I like depressing stories because they really are a lot stronger than light hearted films. Anyway, The Green Mile is a film (as well as a novel) that mixes real life and what happens in the world with fiction and perhaps some life theories that does involve the Bible and questions the audiences about life, miracles and it reveals that there are some sick people in this world. I think the main message that The Green Mile shows is what life we have got and who we have got in our lives and that we need to make the most of it because we only live once (well, we presume so anyway).


Paul Edgecomb is a slightly cynical veteran prison guard on Death row in the 1930's. His faith, and sanity, deteriorated by watching men live and die, Edgecomb is about to have a complete turn around in attitude. Enter John Coffey, He's eight feet tall. He has hands the size of waffle irons. He's been accused of the murder of two children... and he's afraid to sleep in a cell without a night-light. And Edgecomb, as well as the other prison guards - Brutus, a sympathetic guard, and Percy, a stuck up, perverse, and violent person, are in for a strange experience that involves intelligent mice, brutal executions, and the revelation about Coffey's innocence and his true identity


For me, Tom Hanks was the best actor of the 1990s who became a rising star with two Academy Award back-to-back wins and has starred in many blockbusters. As for The Green Mile, he may not have received glory for his performance as Paul Edgecomb like has done with his other films in the past but he rightfully deserved at least a few awards for his role in The Green Mile. One thing that Paul Edgecomb and Tom Hanks have in common is (no, not because they're both the same person) that they are both great leaders in their own ways. Paul is a very noble, honourable and wise leader of the other prison guards in E Block and Tom has played characters where he has been a leader of a group such as Saving Private Ryan, Apollo 13 and a few others. He also shows that he can lead a cast and make them perform at their very best and haven't performed any better since. In my opinion, The Green Mile is easily his most underrated performance and is one of his best. Michael Clarke Duncan was the star of the show in this one as big, black criminal John Coffey. He is on death row for the rape and murder of two young girls but when he starts healing and performing miracles, he doesn't seem to be all that he was out to be from the very beginning. The seriously strong fact about the John Coffey character is that he is the one bit of hope that the world never saw and would make the world more of a better place and his theory on life as well as his beliefs about God makes us all think about it really hard and. He certainly deserved that Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.


The rest of the cast features the likes of David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Graham Greene, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, Jeffrey DeMunn, Patricia Clarkson and Harry Dean Stanton and they all gave awesome performances. Apart from Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan, the other fantastic performances that should have been Oscar contenders are Doug Hutchison as Percy Wetmore and Sam Rockwell as William 'Wild Bill' Wharton! Hutchison demonstrated the Percy character as someone who you really would like to hurt so badly you'd enjoy it because Percy is the one film character who thinks he is the big man and is a very cruel and evil young man in an environment like the Green Mile but he is really is a coward so he is one of those stupid people who can give people grief but can't take it back in return. Sam Rockwell has given his breakthrough performance as psycho Wild Bill! Despite he is an evil and psychotic man, I couldn't help but laugh at what he did in the prison so he is a disturbingly funny character and Sam Rockwell unfortunately didn't get strong acclaim for his performance just like he hasn't for any of the films he has done and makes him one of the most underrated actors of all time. Despite all performances were great, the main key character for me is the little mouse Mr. Jingles and there are a few reasons for this. One: he has a mind of his own by showing up in a death row prison block and shows his clever side, two: in some ways, he is treated like another person (especially by Eduard 'Del' Delacroix and Paul) but in others, he is just a mouse and three: he also shows the extraordinary side of not only mice but rodents in general and that are quite intelligent creatures.


After his huge successful directorial debut in The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont directs and writes another screenplay based on another Stephen King prison novel but this time, we go on a more depressing, emotional and magical journey! The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are perhaps Darabont's most famous works and unfortunately he didn't receive a Best Director Academy Award nomination for either of the films. It is impressive how he wrote the script from someone else's work and still manages to write it in a way that does make us believe that it is real and is really set in the 1930s when we all know it was really made in the late 1990s but especially with the script, he mixes both the pre-war/post-war era with the modern era really well and I hope that Stephen King would be proud of Darabont for directing and writing The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption so well! Well, at least more pleased than King was with Stanley Kubrick when he did The Shining.


Overall, The Green Mile is a heartbreaking and magical tale that I think all would enjoy despite its long duration. I didn't even want the film to end because I enjoyed it so much. You are taken by this film very quickly and it is almost impossible to not at least feel moved or entertained by this film but there is no denying that it is a masterpiece that I, as well as many, have and could watch countless times.

A stellar ensemble, of which Tom Hanks in what is his best performance ever (in my humble opinion), come together in this emotional story of guards and captives, husbands and wives.

If you haven't seen this one, you should go rent (or buy) it now!