A film that is actually better than the novel.

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2000)

There are so many reasons why 'The Green Mile' should be a bad film. The fact that the story has been adapted from a best-selling novel, the fact that the film is over three hours long, and most of all the fact that the story is based around the supernatural powers of a man. Curiously 'The Green Mile' is not a bad film though, infact it is a very powerful and emotive movie which can summon up fear, anxiety and tears in the same five minutes.
Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is a prison warden on a death row known as the Green Mile, a result of the emerald green tiles on the floor. In the summer of 1933 John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), the biggest man you'll ever see, is sent to 'the mile' for raping and murdering two young girls. Curiously Edgecomb is not afraid of Coffey, as he is with most of his inmates, and after a while begins to suspect Coffey's innocence.
Hanks, once again, delivers a first-class performance, helped by the rest of the cast, noteably Michael Clarke Duncan (Armageddon) in his first major role. There are no Hollywood heavyweights propping up the main actors, infact you probably haven't heard of any of the other actors, except for Gary Sinise, who makes a brief appearance as a newspaper journalist (this is a Tom Hanks film afterall!).
I read the novel before seeing the movie and in my opinion the movie wins hands down. Although three hours may be too much for most people, it just flew by for me, and I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a tear at the end.
Nine out of ten and a candidate for film of the year.