Though the film drifts off down some long blind alleys, when Darabont exercises discipline the result is highly effective.
The Green Mile (1999)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:10
Fresh:6
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Though The Green Mile is long, critics say it's an absorbing, emotionally powerful experience.
Runtime: 3 hrs 20 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis:
"The Green Mile" is told in a flashback narrated by Paul Edgecomb to his friend Elaine Connelly. Edgecomb is now living in an old-age home some six decades after working as the head guard on Death...
"The Green Mile" is told in a flashback narrated by Paul Edgecomb to his friend Elaine Connelly. Edgecomb is now living in an old-age home some six decades after working as the head guard on Death Row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary.
Edgecomb’s tour of duty at Cold Mountain in the Depression-era South included watch over a quartet of killers awaiting their final walk down "the Green Mile," the stretch of green linoleum flooring that took convicts from their jail cells to the electric chair.
Over the years, Edgecomb walked the mile with a variety of cons. He had never before encountered someone like John Coffey, a massive black man convicted of brutally killing a pair of nine-year-old sisters. Coffey certainly had the size and strength to kill anyone, but his demeanor starkly contrasted with his appearance. Beyond his simple, naive nature and a deathly fear of the dark, Coffey seemed to possess a prodigious, supernatural gift. Edgecomb began to question whether Coffey was truly guilty of murdering the two girls.
As the story unfolds, Paul Edgecomb learns that, sometimes, miracles happen in the most unexpected places.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, Graham Greene, Doug Hutchison, Jeffrey DeMunn, Patricia Clarkson, Harry Dean Stanton, Dabbs Greer, Eve Brent, William Sadler, Gary Sinise
Director: Frank Darabont
Director: Frank Darabont
Screenwriter: Frank Darabont
Producer: David Valdes, Frank Darabont
Composer: Thomas Newman
Reviews for The Green Mile
The supernatural elements carry an undeniable emotional charge, but the solution to the underlying murder mystery is disappointingly tidy and trite.
There is no doubt that the director has mistaken size for quality with bum-numbing consequences.
Over the epic running time the film inches its way through a complex soap opera of events on the Row, punctuated by three pivotal and grisly executions via 'Old Sparky,' the electric chair.
Unassumingly strong, moving performances and Darabont's durable storytelling make it a trip worth taking.
By taking the extra time, Darabont has made King's The Green Mile into a story which develops and unfolds, which has detail and space.
The Green Mile often grabs, and generally holds, one's attention through the long journey.
Latest News for The Green Mile
November 30, 2007:
Frank Darabont and Stephen King Reteam for Long Walk
Directing three Stephen King movies (four, if you count an early short film) wasn't enough for Frank Darabont. Perhaps cinema's biggest fan of the horror author, the Mist... More...
November 21, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Enchanted Leads Packed Holiday Weekend
This weekend For the first time this decade, a new release seems set to take over the number one spot during the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend at the North American box... More...
August 06, 2007:
Tom Hanks To Star in Darabont's Fahrenheit 451?
The second trip to the big screen for Fahrenheit 451 -- a long and tortured journey that has seen the project pass through the hands of Mel Gibson and others -- seems to finally... More...
August 01, 2007:
Frank Darabont Has Another King Flick in Him?
Frank Darabont is two-for-two when it comes to Stephen King adaptations (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile). His third one, The Mist, looks pretty darn creepy so far... More...
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