The Green Mile: Review By Jakn

We all knew that Stephen King could do just more than scare people with his horror stories. King's heartwarming story of childhood friendship made us laugh, feel suspense, and feel like a kid again with 'Stand By Me', King's first novel brought on screen that wasn't a horror story. He also showed us another story of friendship with the prison story brought from Frank Darabont 'The Shawshank Redemption', which also may have not been a horror story as well, but scared the hell out of me by also showing me why I don't want to and will never go to prison, but anyways. 'The Green Mile' is possibly King's third novel brought to screen and Darabont's not only second Stephen King adaptation, but also his second somewhat of a prison movie, which is nowhere close to being as creepy, disturbing, or as graphic as 'The Shawshank Redemption' and found 'The Green Mile' to be a much better film.

Now 'The Green Mile' maybe a half-hour longer then 'The Shawshank Redemption', which would made this over three hours and people may find to be too long for a movie, but for the 'The Green Mile' three hours wasn't a problem for me at all. Why? There is some much feeling, magic, emotion and power that King and Darabont bring us in 'The Green Mile' that it draws you into the movie that you won't even notice the time we spend into this astonishment that also sometimes makes you wonder and think about mysterious things about the movie, such as some of the characters.

The story of 'The Green Mile' is darkly and significantly told with wondering mystery involved that brings emotion and tears with its script and storytelling. The story is set in a small prison called The Green Mile that provides the electric chair with a group of prison guards that treat each other like good friends. A big black man (don't take it as any raciest) named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is sent to The Green Mile for being accused of killing two small female children, but when the guards see how John Coffey occasionally cries and his emotions, they sometimes think if he really did commit that crime, especially Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) who later finds out that Coffey has supernatural powers.

The characters and are one of the best things about the film along with the actors and their acting. All of that absorbs you inside the movie. I start explaining some of the main characters and sometimes along with the actor and their performance starting off with the main character Paul Edgecomb who is played by Tom Hanks. Paul is the guard who is having a major problem and doesn't believe in miracles. He's the main character in the film. That's basically what I can say about Hanks character, but Hanks's acting on the other hand is remarkable. Tom Hanks is a great actor (as usual) in 'The Green Mile', but I wouldn't say he's the best actor in the film. The best and most absorbing actor is Michael Clarke Duncan who plays John Coffey. His performance is so powerful and emotional that at times his character will make you cry. Michael Clarke Duncan performance in 'The Green Mile' is the most eye-jerking performance I've seen yet and also one of the best supporting performances I've ever seen.

Duncan's character John Coffey may look scary and frightening on the outside, but on the inside he's scared, he's afraid of the dark, he's sweet, kind, caring, and he wouldn't even harm a fly. Speaking of flies and frightening it was pretty frightening to watch flies coming out of Coffey's mouth after he would heal somebody from his powers. Now if you haven't seen 'The Green Mile' before and read about flies coming out of Coffey's mouth then you're probably thinking that it's a stupid senseless scene that would come for a bad horror movie, but it isn't! The flies coming out of Coffey's mouth makes sense because when he uses his supernatural powers to heal somebody's pain he feels that person's pain, and with the flies coming out of his mouth it shows that he is releasing that pain to fly away. That's why it makes sense.

Another frightening scene in the film, that also disturbed me and brought chills down my spine, is when John Coffey laying on a rock holding those two little girls dead covered in blood as John Coffey screaming at the top of his lungs in sorrow and guilt. That would have to be the most frightening scene in the film.

Another important character in the film to bring up is Edward Delacroix (Michael Jeter. This character is another prisoner that doesn't belong in prison. Not because he was accused of a crime he didn't commit like John Coffey, but because of the some of the things that Edward has is common to some of the things Coffey has. Edward is kind, caring, sweet, and wouldn't even harm a fly just like Coffey, and you know right from the very beginning that Edward wouldn't harm a fly because he finds a small little critter Mr. Jingles. Mr. Jingles isn't played or voiced by an actor. He's just a cute little mouse that can do tricks a make people laugh that runs around the small prison looking for food, then finds Edward as someone to take care of him. That's basically all to say about Mr. Jingles, anyways.

When Edward first finds Mr. Jingles you think that he just wants the mouse for his tricks, but then as the film develops you see that Edward cares about Mr. Jingles more than anything in the world and would give his life to protect the small mouse. When you see the relationship between Edward and Mr. Jingles you think to yourself "Why is this person here when he would even harm a mouse?" Then he you take a look at John Coffey and Edward you notice that there are prisoners that are such scared and caring people. They aren't even meant to be prisoners.

Now to talk about the bad and desp*cable characters of the film. There are only a couple of desp*cable characters so I'll first start off talking about Percy Wetmore (Dean Hutchison). Percy is also a guard in the small prison but he is a complete bully that is cruel to others, unreasonablely mean, lazy, dangerously careless, and tries his hardest to hurt Mr. Jingles. Percy is such an *sshole and a piece of human garbage that you want to beat that hell out of him because of how he acts towards others. If you think that you've gotten enough information about Percy, then just you wait and see what he (purposely) does to Edward.

The second (and last) desp*cable character in 'The Green Mile' is a prisoner named 'Wild Bill' Wharton (Sam Rockwell). Not really much I want to say about him, wouldn't want to spoil the twist about him, but I will say that 'Wild Bill' is "A bad man." Just like how John Coffey said it.

These are the characters and actors that will draw you into 'The Green Mile'.

The directing that Frank Darabont does is beautifully terrific. His directing also draws you into 'The Green Mile' making you feel power and emotion. With Darabont's Stephen King movies, you know that it's going to be great. Another thing that's great about Darabont that he is great with working on the endings, so just wait until you see the ending in this movie because I promise that you will not stop crying. Not only that this is possibly Frank Darabont's best work and best movie he will ever make, but this also makes him one of the best movies directors that ever lived.

'The Green Mile' is an absorbing, gripping, powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, tear-jerking experience that must be seen by all. When I watched this film I realized that Stephen King also knows how to make you cry and feel emotion other than scaring the hell out of you. This is possibly the most sobbering, tear-jerking movie I've seen yet. This is the best Stephen King adaptation ever made and not only that but 'The Green Mile' is one of the best movies I have ever seen!