Review of Green Mile, The

Introduction

"Unquestionably the best picture of the year" touts the box to The Green Mile.

Starring Tom Hanks, the film by director Frank Darabont received four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and is the director`s second film, his first, The Shawshank Redemption is on many people`s list of favourite films, mine included.

Although based on a Stephen King story, this is not a horror film - The Green Mile is a drama that primarily deals with the relationships between the guards on the mile and their prisoners. Tom Hanks, as ever is superb - it`s not inconceivable that he could have won yet another Oscar for this performance. The supporting cast all put in excellent performances, particularly Michael Clarke Duncan (Bear from Armageddon) who was also nominated for an Oscar.

The Green Mile is a whopping 3 hours and 8 minutes long, but don`t let that put you off - the quality of the acting, filmmaking and story make it a thoroughly rewarding way to spend an evening.

The basic synopsis is as follows: Hanks plays Paul Edgecomb, in charge of the Green Mile at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. The "Mile" is the home to prisoners awaiting execution in the electric chair one of them, John Coffey has been jailed for the rape and murder of two children.

Coffey is a gentle giant and Edgecomb has serious doubts about his guilt, confirmed when Coffey displays his miracle powers. Edgecomb is then left with the dilemma of performing his job as executioner or his duty as a human being.

Video

Warner generally provide high quality visuals on their DVDs and the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer here is no exception. The picture is stable, free from problems and very detailed.

Being a character based movie, there is little in the way of special effects, but everything is well done and adds to the quality feel of the film.

The film is set almost exclusively in the prison which is beautifully recreated and filmed.

Audio

A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is provided on the disc. Being mainly dialog based, the focus is on the centre channel and speech is clear throughout the film. Incidental effects and music help to build atmosphere when required.

Features

There`s not a great deal in the way of extras, but given the length of the movie, Warner probably had trouble fitting anything else on the disc!

There is a 10 minute featurette which is interesting enough but too short, a trailer, production notes and cast/crew bios (although you only get information on some of those listed onscreen).

As with other discs, the packaging consists of a "snapper" case, the inside of which details the 53 chapter breaks.

Conclusion

The Green Mile is a superb film. A quality cast lives up to its billing and the director builds on the foundations of the equally superb Shawshank Redemption.

The film is long, perhaps too long, but despite the mammoth running time maintains interest through the strong characters and acting. Each character is well developed throughout the film - Hanks is seen as a good man, loving husband and determined to do his job professionally and to treat the prisoners well during their stay on the Mile. Percy however is in the job because of family connections and treats the prisoners like scum, he however gets what is coming to him in the end!

The feature count is a little disappointing, but in reality the movie is the most important part for most purchasers and they will not be disappointed.