The Green Mile

How The Green Mile could have eluded me for so long is truly beyond me. Frank Darabont is indeed a master of prison films. He always directs in such an engaging way that the result deeply captivates the viewer, and it’s almost impossible to find any flaw in it. Compared to The Shawshank Redemption, this film hit me more emotionally, as the story is an incredibly strong dose of intense moments that affect you like few other films. Tom Hanks confirmed his place in the acting elite, and the supporting cast also shone, especially Sam Rockwell, who thoroughly enjoyed his role as a wonderfully slimy bastard. And of course, Michael Clarke Duncan... whenever he was at the center of the action on screen and started a dialogue with Hanks, those were the moments that made this film so successful with audiences. Darabont knows how to skillfully work with characters and their dialogues, making the script one of the most elaborate aspects of The Green Mile. I suppose it’s time to consider reading the King novel, as I believe such a well-crafted film must have been based on a similarly high-quality source material. I give it 93%. (08/22/2019)

Michael Mann has "Time is luck," Tom Hanks has "Earn it." Within the span of two years, Hanks starred in two similarly phenomenal films where the setting plays second fiddle, because the main role was a well-lived life. However, while in Saving Private Ryan he plays the rescuer, in The Green Mile he is the one being rescued. Frank Darabont has a masterful ability to work with emotions, doing so in a simple and understandable way (with music, editing and directing actors), yet it is not simplistic or overly sentimental with a carpet bombing approach towards the viewers. The film is full of nuances and grand gestures, from which everyone can take what they personally prefer. (06/04/2014)

Darabont stepped into the same river for the second time. After The Shawshank Redemption he made another film with a prison setting, and again based on a Stephen King novel. And again great. Not, great, brilliant! When I walked out of the cinema, I was like drunk. At home, I was jumping up and down with delight that I had seen the best film of my life. Now, in hindsight, my emotions have cooled, but I definitely rank The Green Mile among the most remarkable films of recent years. (04/13/2003)

This is a kitsch tear-jerker that relentlessly and mercilessly tortures the audience for over three hours with its relentless pursuit of maximum pathos. It uses New Testament parables, miracles, the supernatural, compassionate glances, and spares no expense with the large number and intensity of its clichéd characters. A miracle happened to me, too, and it was that I somehow endured the three hour running time, but only just. In retrospect, I can not help but marvel at how anyone could be moved by such a matchless piece of trash, let alone how it could be so massively popular... I understand that lovers of severely kitsch tear-jerkers may find something to like here, but for me, it rather reaffirms, again and again, that the adaptations of King's books, with the exception of The Shawshank Redemption, do nothing for me. For the performances of Hanks and Duncan I give 1 star, a higher rating is out of the question as I can not think of anything constructive. (01/03/2021)

The Green Mile made an even stronger impression on me (forgive the conventional comparison) than Shawshank when I first watched it. Gradually, though, the roles have reversed significantly, and it emerges that the former title represents filmmaking conducted on a much simpler narrative basis, which at times applies pure emotional cynicism far more forcefully and ostentatiously than the more subtly constructed and poetic Shawshank. Yet words are inadequate to describe how much I admire and love this film, its "absorbing" narrative concept, the performances, its dramatic timing and its ideas. Darabont again leads the attention in a minimalist way, enclosing his actors for three hours in a fictional world where, despite the strict rules and the depressing aura of inevitable death, he defines a precise space for conflict, hatred and fear, but also hope, friendship and humour, and by constantly changing moods depending on the presence of a particular character and gradually tightening the screws on the reveal of the main mystery, the director establishes one of the most complex emotional experiences in the history of cinema. If you want to experience films and draw inspiration from them, The Green Mile will suck you in, move you to tears and show you that even in the least joyful places, where the minutes drag on and life seemingly has no meaning, it pays to be a good person. Miracles really do happen, not only John Coffey but Frank Darabont in particular is proof of that; ) (04/24/2011)