Ambitious, but ultimately falls short

Rating: 5/10 (12 December 1999)

After watching over 3 hours of The Green Mile, I turned to my friends and we all agreed - this movie was disappointing. While it clearly was well-filmed and had some terrific performances, especially by Doug Hutchinson and Sam Rockwell, the movie lacked the emotional force to carry you through such a long movie. For better or more likely worse, it will be compared to Shawshank and its safe to say that it never reaches that lofty perch. I laughed once and never felt chills...it never moved me which is usually why I go to the movies in the first place.
I find it interesting that, in my opinion and with few exceptions, the best adaptations of Stephen King books come from those that deal with human emotions in the real world (Shawshank, Misery, Dolores Claiborne, Stand by me, Cujo) without resorting to some odd supernatural force (see/read the end to "It" or "The Stand"....terrible). King can really build up a story and I'm willing to suspend my disbelief but when he never offers any sort of explanation, it takes away from everything that has come before it. He's not a terrific closer and this ending once again proves it in my mind.
In my own personal top movies of all time, Shawshank holds the #1 spot so I really wanted to love this movie. I just don't think the story was strong enough.