The Green Mile

Rating:
Summary: Not Good.
Review: 'The Green Mile' was long, tedious, absurd, and boring. Only for die-hard Stephen King or Tom Hanks fans.

Rating:
Summary: Top ten movie of all time!
Review: This movie has to be one of my top ten movies of all time. It is such a beautiful movie. Each time I watch it..it gets better. If anyone is debating of watching it for the first time...watch it..you will not regret it!!

Rating:
Summary: A Superior Motion Picture
Review: Boasting an all-star cast led by Tom Hanks (Paul Edgecomb), David Morse (Brutus Howell), Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey), Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton), James Cromwell (Warden Hal Moores), Doug Hutchison (Percy Wetmore) and Michael Jeter (Eduard Delacroix), director Frank Darabont has created a wondorous movie about special relationships between guards and captives, husbands and wives, and prisoners.

Hanks stars as Paul Edgecomb, a prison security guard in charge of the death row section of Cold Mountain Penitentiary. His life is fairly normal until a prisoner named John Coffey is brought into death row. Coffey is a gentle giant who brings a sense of spirit and humility to his fellow inmates and guards. He also possesses supernatural powers which he uses for the good of his fellow man. Wrongfully accused of murdering two young girls, Coffey, being black, is immediately suspected and ultimately sentenced to die for this crime. While awaiting execution, he magically transforms death row into an area of caring and compassion.

Paul Edgecomb experiences Coffey's powers first-hand. Suffering from a terrible urinary tract infection, he is miraculously healed by Coffey. Also, Delacroix's pet mouse Mr. Jingles (who really steals the show, in my opinion), is resurrected by Coffey after a vindictive Percy steps on him. Even Warden Moores' wife, who is suffering from a terminal brain tumor, is healed by Coffey's magical touch. Coffey also uses his special powers to show Edgecomb that he is really innocent of the charges against him. However, Coffey doesn't want anything to change, merely saying that he wants everything to come to an end. Sadly, Edgecomb and his crew accept Coffey's decision, even though they know he is innocent.

This is an excellent movie. The story is first-rate, and the acting, led by Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan, is outstanding. The execution scenes are carried out with remarkable realism, as well. Based on the novel by Stephen King, the movie is actually better than the book was. I was impressed with the relationship that developed between Coffey and the guards and how their friendship deepend until the final scene, where the guards are openly crying while carrying out Coffey's final wish. I give this film my highest recommendation. This is not your typical Stephen King slasher film. Rather, it is one that will touch your soul and uplift your spirit. Watch and see how a gentle giant uses his powers to help others while unselfishly sacrificing himself.

Rating:
Summary: Sentimental and Silly but Entertaining
Review: Here we are Down South in the 1930s on death row. The general atmosphere is a bit not what you would expect as on this particular death row both the prisoners, with a single exception, and the guards, with a single exception, are gentle and sweet and nice almost to the point of sanctity. And indeed in the case of Michael Clarke Duncan's alleged child rapist and murderer John Coffey rather beyond that point as Coffey is endowed with supernatural powers of healing...

This movie was Frank Darabont's follow-up to `The Shawshank Redemption'. That you remember was a rather long movie that made your girlfriend cry a lot. Well `The Green Mile' is a REALLY long (just over three hours) movie that is absolutely determined to do exactly the same thing and will probably succeed. It all rather fey and decidedly sentimental (I rather suspect Tom Hanks' agent must have a standing instruction saying, Look, if it isn't rather fey and decidedly sentimental I don't want to know) and sometimes downright silly. But it's pretty well made in numerous ways, not least in spinning such hokum out over three hours without it being half as dull and annoying as you might expect. Some nice acting has a lot to do with this, notably from Clarke Duncan as Coffey, Doug Hutchison and David Morse as respectively the nastiest and the nicest (though, as noted above, it's a hard call as, Hutchison aside, they are all quite improbably nice) of the gaolers. The best way to watch it is to forget it is meant to have anything very much to do with reality as we know it on this planet and just treat it as a fairy tale. As such, it's by no means bad.


Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and at times heart rending.
Review: Sunday, January 16, 2005 / 5 of 5 / Brilliant and at times heart rending.
A surprisingly emotional drama follows the interaction of a group of prison guards on death row and their charges, particularly a gigantic man-child who apparently has the power to heal. The film has moments of beautiful tenderness and incredible cruelty. Tom Hanks is the head of the block known as the Green Mile where the inmates are interred before their execution. His efforts to be a compassionate but firm jailer run afoul of a wormy, vindictive and spiteful subordinate, placed there via nepotism. The arrival of the mysterious, large, John Coffey reworks the dynamics on the death row - as does the arrival of a small mouse which gives immediate purpose to one of the inmates. Finally a darker figure makes his presence known when the last inmate is transferred in, a cosmic counter-balance to the innate goodness of Coffey and his healing ways. The interplay between all these actors is brilliant and in some instances heart rending, it certainly choked me up more than a few times. Themes of love, hate, friendship, guilt, redemption, and healing all intertwine to combine for a memorable movie experience. Recommended.


Rating:
Summary: Superior Magic Drama
Review: Possibly the best Stephen King movie (although the appallingly underappreciated "The Mangler" might give it a run for its money, but that's in a completely different vein) and one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, including the performances of their lives by Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan in the leads plus outstanding support roles from such talents as James Cromwell (the farmer from "Babe" and "Babe: Pig In The City"), Gary Sinise (from "Mission To Mars" and "Forrest Gump") and Graham Greene (from "Dances With Wolves" and "Grey Owl") to name but a few. The cast has some powerful roles to step into, because of all the King material I've seen or read (I admit I haven't read the original "Green Mile" book but have read most of his other novels and short stories plus seen most of the movies) this has one of the two greatest repertoires of characters: interesting, delved into indepth, most of them immensely likable and even the detestable ones highly interesting and fully-realized. The only King work that compares in terms of such a multitude of A-list characters is the novel "Black House", co-written with Peter Straub (of course Black House's predecessor "The Talisman" contains arguably the greatest individual character (co-)created by King: Wolf. Believe it or not though, Duncan's Coffey character here actually mounts a feasible challenge for that distinction).

Set in a prison, a deathrow at that, in - I believe it was the 1930s; somewheres thereabouts - "Green Mile" takes a different course from most prison-oriented movies by focusing not on brutality but on hope and redemption. That no doubt sounds cliché, but it's never been more true than it is here, with some of the greatest depictions of compassion, regret and remorse, and the existance of redeeming values in outwardly mean souls. Of course, there are also examples of some of the scummier examples of the human race here, and as is the case in a number of excellent stories, it's the mix and contrast of the 'bright' and 'dark' elements that give the movie so much of its potency.

Hanks plays the warden of a prison wing (the deathrow wing) set to receive convicted child-killer Coffey, a hulking giant who (thanks to great special effects) must be at least seven feet tall, and who because of his gentle, childlike nature immediately leads Hanks to question whether he could really be responsible for the crimes he was convicted of. Hanks surprises with his role - the parts calling for the likable, intelligent, gregarious supervisor, it's a no-brainer that he could pull it off; but where circumstances call for the character to come off hard-as-nails tough and dangerous, I would not have known he could pull it off so utterly perfectly. "Green Mile" really shows parts of his range that he'd never had a chance to show before. And Michael Clarke Duncan's performance is something that I'm not even going to attempt to describe except to say that it's a high mark in movie history.

If you're a Stephen King fan and have been putting off getting this one just because it's not horror I urge you not to deprive yourself: this is one of his best works regardless of genre. Or if you're a drama fan and aren't sure if a horror writer will be adept at pulling off this type of material don't worry about that either - that King created this very different tale in addition to such excellent horror as "Carrie" and "The Jaunt" (a particularly terrifying tale in the "Skeleton Crew" anthology) shows his versatility as a writer just like the change of pace for Hanks and several other performers known for different types of roles shows theirs.

Rating:
Summary: Just Heavenly
Review: I am just a chump for "The Green Mile". I know this film is an allegory that lays it's sentiments on a little thick but I am completely hooked. Credit has to be given to Frank Darabont for his excellent direction for allowing this story, adapted from a Stephen King novella, to unfold slowly, but not excrutiatingly so, to a satisfying conclusion. Darabont, to his credit, has assembled a first-rate cast to enact this tale. The always solid Tom Hanks shines as Paul Edgecomb, the stolid head guard of "the mile". Michael Clarke Duncan as the condemned John Coffey, a role that on paper borders on the one-dimensional, shines and gives the film it's heart and soul. Excellent support is offered here by Bonnie Hunt, David Morse, Barry Pepper, James Cromwell,Gary Sinise, and Patricia Clarkson. Special mention should be made for the late Michael Jeter who sympathetically portrays one of the condemned prisoners. My only real gripe about the cast is Doug Hutchison and Sam Rockwell as the film's ostensible heavies. These parts either as written or portrayed are a little over the top. "The Green Mile" sure is long but it is well worth an investment of your time.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome and Powerful
Review: This is a movie that all should watch. Not just for the A grade acting, but also the Powerful message this movie gives out. I'm not a christian and have no desire to follow the christain faith, but this is a story that potrays what could have been in the way of the Resurrection of Christ, but had arrisen as a black man. I know a lot of people did not want to watch this movie, because there were seens of men being electrocted. But what is the real meaning for me was that no matter who or what you are, there is a little something special in you. This is a very special and powerful movie, it will humble you and make you think about who you are....

Rating:
Summary: "What happens on the mile stays on the mile. Always has."
Review: Frank Darabont's "The Green Mile" is a film that takes its time and unfolds meticulously. It is undeniably a well-made film but one that is ultimately undone by a crucial deviation from the source material.

Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is a prison guard in charge of overseeing inmates imprisoned on death row. One day a new prisoner named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) arrives after being found guilty of killing two young girls. Edgecomb wonders whether the imposing man really is guilty of the crime as he seems to be a harmless and gentle individual. After Coffey displays a strange healing power, it becomes apparent that there is something wondrous about the man.

Despite its technical excellence, "The Green Mile" has little in it to make it memorable. The film flounders primarily because of the decision to replace the sobering ending in Stephen King's original work with an empty and inconsequential Hollywood finale. In the novel, Edgecomb's character is subject to a traumatic experience that makes him question his actions in the prison. The filmmakers completely abandoned this ending in order to produce a more generic product for the general public. The story loses much of its weight because of this lack of soul-searching on Edgecomb's part. The performances themselves are excellent although Hanks may have been a little too young for his character. Duncan, Doug Hutchison, David Morse, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, Harry Dean Stanton, Bonnie Hunt, William Sadler, James Cromwell, Gary Sinise, and Patricia Clarkson are all great but the film is still underwhelming despite their best efforts.




Rating:
Summary: Disappointing after "The Shawshank Redemption"
Review: It's not nearly as great as the book with Paul Edgecombe's musings on modern society. I was disappointed in Darabont this time about, just because "The Shawshank Redemption" was so brilliant. There are some good performances, most notably Michael Clarke Duncan, who made an odd couple with Haley Joel Osment when both were nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, and the scene with John Coffey and Melinda the prison warden's wife is brilliant. But the prison brutality seems recycled and the film is too long.

One of the standouts as usual is William Sadler as Klaus Detterick, the grieving father of thetwo murdered girls.