The Green Mile Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust667 AT aol DOT com)December 26th, 1999
The Stephen King books that usually adapt well to the screen are the melodramas. Sure, in terms of horror, we have had "Carrie" and "The Dead Zone," yet often they are so ludicrous ("Maximum Overdrive") and badly shaped that they come across as pale echoes of their literary counterparts. "The Shawshank Redemption" was one major exception to the rule, as well as "Stand By Me" (both adapted from the "Different Seasons" book). "The Green Mile" is based on a six-part novel from 1996, once again focusing on a prison setting (as did "Shawshank"), and once again directed by Frank Daranbot, who also helmed "Shawshank."It may not be as moving or as deeply profound as "Shawshank," but it will do.
"The Green Mile" begins with a old man at a nursing home who weeps when he watches Fred Astaire singing "Cheek to Cheek" in "Top Hat." The reason for his distress is outlined in a flashback to an Alabama prison in the 1930's where he worked as a prison guard. Tom Hanks plays death-row guard Paul Edgecomb, who has a urinary tract infection he tries to keep hidden. There are other guards in this pristine-looking yet ominous, lime-colored prison, such as David Morse (once the gentle, bird-like doctor in TV's "St. Elsewhere") as the imposing second-in-command, the clean-cut kid (Barry Pepper, best remembered as the Biblical sharpshooter in "Saving Private Ryan"), and the past master guard (Jeffrey DeMunn), who's seen it all. There is also the ambitious, mean, sadistic guard, Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchinson), who has no qualms about taunting the prisoners or killing mice. One mouse in particular that has the guards in awe is adopted by a prisoner named Delacroix (Michael Jeter), and named Mr. Jingles.
One day, a massive bulk of a man named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is brought in for the crime of killing two young girls. He seems like a sweet man, afraid of the dark, and takes a liking to Mr. Jingles. Paul Edgecomb doubts the man is capable of violence, especially when John's hands glow mysteriously and heals Paul's infection. But nobody has heard of Mr. Coffey. "He fell out of the sky," says John's former lawyer (Gary Sinise, in an outstanding cameo).
"The Green Mile" spends an inordinate amount of time expounding on the daily routines of the guards - their camaraderie, how they bring in the prisoners, their respectful treatment of them, and the preparations for the inevitable executions (there are two of them in the film, and they are quite disturbing). All this is as powerfully executed, no pun intended, as anything in "The Shawshank Redemption," and the performance by Hutchinson reinforces that. His character, Percy, has a killer instinct but he can also be scared and taunted - it is a twisty, fascinating character.
The major fault with "The Green Mile" lies with the tedious bookends showing an older Edgecomb, and it feels like writer-director Darabont is vying for the same emotion as "Saving Private Ryan." No sale, and it is an unwanted distraction that detracts from the more powerful moments in the film. Another fault lies with the enormous sobbing scenes that actor Michael Clarke Duncan is required to do - every scene he's in, he's teary-eyed. Duncan could have used some moments of silence so that we would not know what to think of such a gentle giant. On the other hand, director Darabont aims to make every moment as dramatic as possible, cued with stretches of Thomas Newman's musical score, making every scene far too self-important. I've said it before, and I will say it again - restraint is an admirable trait.
Though it does not match the power of Darabont's "Shawshank," "The Green Mile" has a few great scenes in what is otherwise a middling, semi-laborious film that plays it safe, and would have benefitted from some screenplay deletions. But in an era where there are so few good Stephen King films, "The Green Mile" is a step in the right direction.
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