You know the plot.

Rating: Null/10 (8 October 2004)

I want to respond to the majority of comments made so far concerning the quality of "The Green Mile". The following is a list of comments I have read and felt deemed a response. I am not a movie critic, and I'm not a writer which means the following comments will be simple.
1. This movie is too long. It is long. I did not feel it was too long. There have been movies that were excellently done and I have wondered why they cut it short. I didn't feel that way during this movie. It was just right.
2. Too many characters are developed. I'd like to hear from those who said this which characters didn't need to be developed. Everyone played a role, everyone had a purpose, and everyone did a good job.
3. It's too chaotic/Too many subplots. I'd like to hear from those who said this what they would have eliminated from the movie. We needed to see the old Tom Hanks in the beginning so he could tell his story. We needed all the steps in between to feel crushed when John Coffey is executed. We needed to see how the death of the girls unfolded. Nothing was out of place and nothing was extra. It's also worth mentioning that a complicated canvas of characters and events more closely resembles life. Perhaps it's time movies start doing this more often. If a Russian novelist can get awards for writing a painfully detailed story, why shouldn't a movie?
4. The acting was subpar. Come on. Right. I don't want to be the one to say that crying during a scene means it was well done; that is certainly not correct. You cry during the Green Mile because you are in the movie. When someone acts badly, it's hard to suspend your disbelief. The acting was not goofy.
5. The humor threw the rhythm of the movie off. 3 hours of serious is a lot of serious. Stephen King likes to throw humor into even his darkest of novels (and movies). It works in the horror stories, and it works here.
6. What's the deal with this supernatural stuff? Hey, it's a cool addition. Probably it could have been written without the flies and healing, but why? After all, it is Stephen King.
7. The Delecroix execution was too violent. And electrocution isn't? Hey, we live in a society where we kill people for being too bad. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the ethics of it, but if they author was trying to make a point, he did it well. And again, I say: It's Stephen King. He likes the violence, and this was a nice way to get it in there.
My final opinion, being the completely unqualified and inexperienced critic that I am, is: this movie is really good. The acting was precise, the unfolding of events was well orchestrated, the development of the plot was enjoyable, and most will not feel like it is too long. You will feel sick to you stomach, cry, laugh, get angry, and generally feel pleased that you spent your 3 hours watching this.
Enjoy.