No no no!

Rating: Null/10 (8 April 2001)

*--WARNING- CONTAINS SPOILERS--*

Before I begin let me say that I sat down to watch this film with an open mind, despite the bad things I had heard about it.I think Tom Hanks is a very talented actor and I was a big fan of The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont's previous film.
Where to begin with The Green Mile? For a start this film is way too long, clocking in at just under 3 hours.It is hard for any film to hold one's interest for 180+ minutes, but some like Casino or The Deer Hunter manage to do so; The Green Mile fails miserably. The key problem here is the story: Tom Hanks and the others do the best with their parts but ultimately the characters are all two-dimensional and unrealistic: the film supposedly shows us how grim life on Death Row is for both inmates and staff yet every character in the film seems to belong on the set of Fireman Sam or some other children's show. The only exceptions to this are the characters played by Doug Hutchinson and Sam Rockwell, two token villains (one inmate, one warden) who are so OTT and charicatured that they belong in a pantomime.Everyone else is as-nice-as-pie. Given that the prison is supposed to house the most dangerous criminals in the state this somewhat undermines the whole film.
The intention of making everybody so nice is probably to show that the positive side of human nature can shine in even the most grim circumstances, yet Shawshank managed to this with believeable characters, ones who both positive and negative qualities. The ridiculous characters completly ruin the story: it is obvious that Percy will purposefully sabotage an execution, that John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is innocent and indeed that Rockwell was the real killer. The story is weak enough as it is yet Coffey is such an OTT Big Baby that his childish pleas at his inevitable execution are almost funny; I was so bored by this stage of the film that I was mentally urging Hanks and co to power up the chair and cook him.
I maybe excessive in my criticism, but if I am it is only because this could have been a good film- the execution scenes are well shot and are suitably horrific, underlining the barbarism of capital punishment. What we finally are left with however is a prime example of Hollywood emotion-manipulation, a film designed to make its audience cry and therby win Oscars. I saw Bonnie & Clyde a few days before I saw this and that was far more emotional and was very thought-provoking, despite its age.
Some people will doubtless cry their eyes raw at this film and proclaim it to be the best film ever; that's their opinion, which is fair enough. Personally I found The Green Mile to be mediocre at best, and 3 hours is far too long for a mediocre film. One more thing: this film features an indestructable mouse named Mr Jangles. The rodent is probably the best thing about the whole film- his final reappearance is nothing short of hilarious.