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The Green Mile Movie Review

The Green Mile is a 1999 fantasy crime drama film directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. It’s a very moving, wonderful flick.

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“People hurt the ones they love.

That’s how it is all around the world“

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It follows death row corrections officers during the Great Depression and their relationship with the inmates and one particularly special inmate who has the power to heal living things. I remember loving the Stephen King book this movie is based on and I loved how faithful the movie was, but now I realize that it was a bit too faithful. It is great that the screenplay was almost fully brought to cinematic life, but still that resulted in an overly long runtime with three hours just being too much for this type of movie.

However, it’s still a hugely engaging movie to follow, so ultimately I did not mind the runtime all that much. The film succeeds in its every scene, and that’s in no small part thanks to excellent dialogue and terrific characterization. The characters are beautifully adapted and all are memorable and quite complex.

Tom Hanks is phenomenal as Paul Edgecomb. This is one of his most emotional, most underrated performances as he shined throughout with expectedly great acting. John Coffey himself is this instantly iconic, classic Jesus Christ-type character who can heal dead animals and people, cure illness and is overall just a fantastic, wonderful soul. He’s the heart and soul of this movie and Michael Clarke Duncan entirely deserved his Oscar nomination for this excellent, very moving performance.

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It was crazy seeing Sam Rockwell this early in his career and in such a horrendous, despicable role of a monster killer, but he was quite believable for sure. Michael Jeter is also terrific as the very sweet Del, and Doug Hutchison is suitably slimy as the horrible Percy. All of the performances in this movie are so good, resulting in great character depictions through and through.

The Green Mile also benefits from excellent utilization of its genres. It is a crime drama above all else and it deals with the death sentence during the thirties and how it was carried out is showcased in detail in the movie, which made for a unique period piece in and of itself.

But it’s also a fantasy with that supernatural element being present in a couple of scenes only, but those couple of scenes were thus elevated to truly affecting, classic status. It further showcases just how potent magical realism movies can be and that it’s a shame that we do not get more such movies every year.

Frank Darabont was obviously a Stephen King darling when it comes to adapting his major works. He was a great fit for this material, and although overlong and overly indulgent, he still adapted the book tremendously well. The movie is not just faithful, but suitably cinematic with the outside of prison scenes being superbly executed and shot.

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The Green Mile may be a tad too emotionally manipulative at times, but I found its emotion mostly genuinely earned as I cared about these characters from the first moment onward. The cinematography and score are so strong as are the effects. It undoubtedly deserved its Oscar nominations, and I wish Duncan himself walked away with a win.

Though very long and a tad too emotional at times, The Green Mile is mostly a genuinely moving, wonderful movie that faithfully adapted the source material and brought its characters to life superbly thanks to great characterization and uniformly terrific acting. It’s one of the greatest films of the amazing 1999 and a terrific showcase for the potency of magical realism when done this strongly.

My Rating – 4.5

You can get The Green Mile on Amazon.