Review of Green Mile, The

Introduction

Based at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the prison officer in charge of “The Green Mile”; better known to you and I simply as “Death Row”. Here Edgecomb meets John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) a hulk of a man who is incarcerated after being found guilty of killing and raping two young girls.

During his time on The Green Mile, Edgecomb begins to have his doubts about Coffey’s guilt, as he seems such a gentle and meek individual. Over time, the two men share a series of amazing personal encounters and Edgecomb finds it increasingly difficult to bear the thought of this man being put to death. He therefore decides to do something about it.

Video

We are treated to a first class anamorphic 2.35 transfer that is strikingly effective and detailed. There are no problems with any part of the image and no noticeable compression faults. The darkness of the prison cells and walkways is transferred well with good levels of contrast.

Audio

The DD5.1 sound is equally impressive and although there are few surround effects, the vocal quality is clear and lucid. The movie’s incidental music is good and matches the on-screen action well.

Features

For a film that received much critical praise and 4 Academy Award nominations, you’d have thought Warner would have given us heaps of quality extras. Well, they haven’t. All we get are a feeble 10-minute documentary featurette, some crew and cast information and the obligatory theatrical trailer. Very disappointing, but not a real surprise for a Warner release.

Conclusion

Running at just over 3 hours, this movie could have so easily become engrossed in over-sentimentality. Fortunately, thanks to some quality acting from Hanks and Duncan and ace directing by Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption”), time passes quickly as the viewer becomes engrossed in the drama unfolding on screen. Duncan is particularly impressive in his role and right from the start as he makes his entrance into the prison, he commands the viewer’s attention and respect. It is hard not to get personally involved in his fight for a fair trial.

There’s the usual split of good prison guards and bad, with a particularly nasty piece of work in Percy (Doug Hutchinson) who relishes his daily duties. All the movie’s co-stars are well chosen and put in some good performances.

Nothing really to complain about with this movie, and I can even forgive it it’s extended running time and the occasional piece of Hollywood-style artistic licence. Darabont’s direction is faithful to King’s story and manages to retain all the suspense and thrills of the novel.

For fans of King’s novels (and their transfer to film) and the acting talent of Tom Hanks, this comes highly recommended. And don’t be concerned about losing 3 hours of your life to this movie, I guarantee you won’t glance at your watch once.