A good film elevated by an incredible finale and a great cast

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2016)

The Green Mile is one of those movies that can connect with you very easily, you just have to let yourself get absorbed by its world. Sadly for me, no matter how hard I tried I simply couldn't be fully immersed in it.
It doesn't have that much things going for it from the start. 3 hours is a long time and with this movie it feels like half an hour or more could've been cut, specially since the main conflict doesn't really start until almost an hour into the movie. Is at that moment that you'll either get completely sucked in or totally taken out of the film.
The score by Thomas Newman isn't always on point and its not helped by the fact that movie is all over the place during two thirds of its runtime. Goes from almost a feel good movie, to pretty much a tragedy. The cinematography isn't that inspired and the editing may be a little to slow for some.
Both Tom Hanks and the late Michael Clarke Duncan give knockout performances and are perfectly casted. Problem is, they're pretty much the only fleshed out characters in the movie. You cant really feel how it affects the people around them and that makes some of the performances during one of the final scenes difficult to buy. Its a story only about the two of them but the movie frequently tries to also make it about the world around them and end ups failing at both. That doesn't hurt the finale that much, which absolutely nails the message of the film and will keep you thinking about it for a while.
Its predictable and the obvious religious theme may not be for everyone, but its still a very enjoyable movie.