Read the book FIRST!

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2001)

(POSSIBLE SPOILER)
I'd cautiously recommend this film to someone who's read the book, preferably more than once; if you see the movie first you're settling for a flattened-out version of the original with an unforgiveably hokey change in the ending. The acting and set I'd give an A++ to, the casting maybe a B (was Harry really that old? he was supposed to be a rookie!) but the treatment of the story itself I found very disappointing, particularly when I'd been told how faithful the movie was to the book.
A big problem was the cutting of the present-day section of the book, which makes it clear that this story is a memoir this 104-year-old man is writing in an effort to come to terms with his past. Some of the aspects that bothered people in the movie, such as the prison guard characters being so enlightened about race or the main character's wife being so perfect, weren't such a problem in the book as these were all being seen through the lens of memory, over a gap of 60 years. Likewise, all the moral ambiguities that made the book more than just a good yarn totally vanished in the film. In the botched execution, for example, the book makes it crystal-clear that Paul (Tom Hanks' character) has the authority to stop the execution and in fact he sees the execution is being botched in time to stop it. He doesn't, however, because years of looking the other way, not sticking his neck out, not rocking the boat have so thoroughly corrupted him that he lets a man he is responsible for get burned alive rather than make himself conspicuous. In the movie, however, he just looks dumb and oblivious. All the good characters in the movie are totally good; all the bad guys are totally bad and the movie suffers as a result.
Similarly, the religious themes in the book were totally excised from the movie except a rather clumsy parable making Coffey a Jesus figure. My theory on that is that Hollywood can actually do a quite good job with stories about well-known religious figures (Moses, Joan of Arc, Peter Marshall, e.g.) but hasn't a clue as to what to do with "ordinary Joe" characters to whom religion is an important motivation.
Very good direction, acting and set; worth seeing if you've read the book and can fill in the blanks.