Review of The Green Mile

It's a fact that any film near or 3+ hours is bound to be great and this film is no exception. Based on the fiendishly addictive novel of the same name by Stephen King, this film is directed by Frank Darabont, who, previously handled a Stephen King novel and made it one of the greatest films of our time and of all time. I was very excited to see The Green Mile because of the man behind the camera and the amazing cast in front. But I was scared too. You see, I have this tendency to get scared when a film is based on a novel as I don't really expect the silver-screen adaptation to be as good as the novel and therefore I have avoided such films numerous times. Anyways, the slow-pace and the almost too realistic setting of this film impressed me alot and what I liked even more was Michael Clarke Duncan's excellent performance. What Morgan Freeman was to Shawshank, Michael Clarke Duncan was to The Green Mile. His performance as the 'child stuck in a giant's body' was the real driving force. Another bona-fide performance was by Doug Hutchinson (Percy Wetmore). He correctly captured the sadistic & villainous character! Excellent performances by the lead & supporting cast but from Tom Hank's side, it was a little hammy. Not exactly in the novel but nevertheless, entertaining!

I like to think of this film as Shawshank Redemption in reverse. In Shawshank, It's all about life, while in The Green Mile, It's about death. While Shawshank showed us that hope can be a good thing, The Green Mile was more about miracles and how we judge too soon. I wish Frank Darabont handles another Stephen King novel like maybe The Black House!