Not "Shawshank Part II", much to my relief.

Rating: Null/10 (27 January 2002)

Minor spoilers.
I was skeptical when I heard about this movie. I thought, like I'm sure many others did, that after the achievement of `Shawshank' that the same director (Frank Darabont) was making another prison movie based on the same author as the previously mentioned work. To put it bluntly, this had the possibility of disaster via redundancy written all over it.

Of course I loved it. Probably because its use of a prison is more of a vehicle for its apologue, than the dominant presence that it was in `Shawshank'. The numinous aspect of the story was also enjoyable, as it never seemed to overcome the humanistic portion of the tale. And like all non-horror King films it has a certain, wellKingesque (for the lack of a better word) quality that pervades adaptations of his works (`Stand By Me', `Hearts in Atlantis', etc). There is a kind of quaint, yet mystical element to these film versions that always seems to transplant you into their world for the duration of the film.
How you ultimately feel about this movie probably comes down to how you feel about powerful manipulation in the guise of pure evil (Percy and Wild Bill) and pure good (John Coffey). In fact Coffey is not only innocent he is a veritable saint, and inevitable martyr in a plot that is as old aswell as old as Jesus Christ. The gray areas between the polarizing forces of morality are the rest of the prison guards and other death row inmates. We learn much about one of the guards, Paul Edgecomb (Hanks), and a little about his co-workers, but what is significant is what we learn about two of the condemned. Character development and themes of repentance pervade our dealings with Arlen and Del, and tug at our sympathy, while leaving almost no knowledge of their criminal acts to use in judging them. This is probably best, because they are fictional characters, so the filmmakers can't be excused of glossing over anything heinous, and it precludes a probable mire in dichotomy, which would lengthen an already long motion picture.
It is always an interesting phenomenon, in my opinion, how all the dramatics, sweeping music, appealing actors, and other blandishments of the big screen can engender affinity with characters we would normally excoriate.