The Green Mile

The Green Mile is the second of what I suppose you could call a trilogy of films adapted from Stephen King stories by Frank Darabont. After the critical and commercial success of the film that is currently sitting on top of IMDBs Top 250 (Shawshank Redemption), The Green Mile is another human, emotional journey, with an added fantastical edge. Set in a 30s detentions centre for those on death row, the green mile is the last place those committed to die call home.

Despite a mammoth three hour run time, it never seems to drag. The characterisation of the main characters, and the performances from Hanks and Clarke Duncan, are fantastic, both showing strength and insecurity in equal measure. The film dares to show those on death row, particularly Michael Jeter's character, who have been condemned to die for terrible crimes, as incredibly humane and hinged characters. The real villain is Doug Hutchison's Percy, who has to be one of the most despicable, hated characters in film history.

Despite the overall positivity of the piece, it can be fairly grim stuff. The subject matter becomes increasingly dark, sometimes shocking, which ups the stakes and the drama by a couple of notches. The film confronts you with the worst of human life, and gives us a light at the end of the tunnel in John Coffey. However, there is no real message or morality tale here, if nothing else it seems to be simply that bad things can happen to good people, and that magic would be cool if it actually existed. It wasn't a tale of personal triumph like Shawshank, this is just a fairytale, but you have to say, a very good one. But, when would you really be in the mood to watch it again?

8/10