Title: The Green Mile (1999)

Studio: Warner Home Video

Rating: ‘R’

Running Time: 188 Minutes

Format(s): Anamorphic Widescreen

Extras:  Documentary: Walking the Mile

Trailer

Directed By: Frank Darabont

Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt

Reviewed by: Joe O'Leary

With the release of director Frank Darabont's first two theatrical movies, I've learned one very important fact: Darabont + King + Prison Story = great movie. Darabont brilliantly adapted Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption for the big screen, and I'm pleased to say that The Green Mile is a very worthy sophmore effort.

Whereas The Shawshank Redemption was more about the inmates, The Green Mile is more about the guards at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) runs the Death Row block, named The Green Mile because of the green tiled floor there. A compassionate man, Edgecomb makes sure his guards treat the death row inmates with a certain amount of respect; it's not up to the guards to judge these inmates, as the courts have done that. Their job is to prepare the inmates for their walk down The Green Mile, to their death in the electric chair.

Then one day a huge, hulking prisoner by the name of John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is brought in for raping and murdering two little girls. Right away, Edgecomb notices that Coffey is different from any other inmate he's ever seen. In fact, the more he sees of Coffey, the more Edgecomb wonders if he's even guilty of murder at all. Coffey has a gift, you see, and Edgecomb experiences this gift firsthand. Could a man with such a miraculous gift also be capable of murder?

Darabont knows how to take a movie with little action and lots of dialogue, and make it just riveting. Darabont's script is right on, capturing all the best parts of King's serial novel, and fleshing out all the characters. He also knows how to get a movie cast. Hanks is wonderful as Edgecomb, always letting the human side of this character shine through--not a perfect person, but trying his damnedest to be one. Michael Clarke Duncan got an Academy Award nomination for his role as Coffey, and rightfully so. He delivers a quiet but powerful performance as a man who may or may not be guilty of murder, but who bears his personal pain with dignity. Bonnie Hunt turns in a graceful performance as Janice Edgecomb, the rock that keeps her husband grounded. David Morse is excellent as Edgecomb's right hand man Brutus "Brutal" Howell, and Doug Hutchison (Victor Eugene Tooms from The X-Files) is perfectly sleazy as the despicable guard Percy Wetmore.

The picture is as perfect as you would expect for a recent movie; for such a dark movie, the colors are still powerful and crisp. The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix is great, capturing the echoing hallway of The Green Mile, a thunder storm, and Coffey's special gift.

There are few extras on the disc, and I wish there were more. There is a featurette called "Walking the Mile" which is short but very informative, not a fluff piece. It contains great insights into the film from King, Darabont, and many of the cast members. There is also a trailer and cast and crew biographies.

Even though there could have been more extras (the featurette really should have been a documentary!) this is an excellent DVD. The movie itself is perfectly presented, and is so engaging that the three hour running time will pass by quicker than you think. King is very pleased with Darabont's efforts to date, and the King fans at HU are as well.