The Green Mile Main Cast:
Director/Screenwriter: Frank Darabont Rating: 4 Stars - recommended. Plot Summary: Paul Edgecombe (Tom Hanks) is the head guard on Death Row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary, Louisiana, in 1935. He is a sincere, quiet man, who shows compassion and mercy to the inmates in his block. He runs a tight ship but always with the intention of getting things to run smoothly and not upsetting the inmates anymore than necessary until each in turn walk the Green Mile to the electric chair. The Green Mile is the name given to the block due to the green floor that leads to the electric chair. The only fly in the ointment is a sadistic guard Percy Wetmore (Doug Hutchison) who can exercise his cruelty knowing that he has political connections to protect him. Then John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) arrives on Death Row. John Coffey is a huge 7-foot, blackman, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of two little girls. However, it soon becomes apparent that John Coffey is not the devil personified but a simple, gentle giant who is afraid of the dark and who has a special gift.................. Review: The Green Mile is a highly entertaining emotional film cleverly presented and packaged. However, while The Green Mile is a very good film it is not the clasic I hoped for. Death row under the supervision of Head Guard, Paul Edgecombe is the setting for good, evil, mercy, compassion, meditation, repentance and redemption. The problem is that all this comes with a heavy handed dose of sentimentality and sprinkled in sugar. There is no doubt that this film will melt the hardest of hearts and there will be many a wet eye in the audience. But was this film made with one eye on the Oscars? I think so. Love him or hate him Tom Hanks has appeared in some very good films over the years and as you would expect he gives another very good performance here. Michael Clarke Duncan is excellently cast as the gentle giant and his performance really pulls on the heartstrings. Doug Hutchison is very believable as the evil sadistic guard Percy. I also have to mention Mr. Jingles (a little mouse who lives on Death Row!), the smallest actor of them all, excellent performance! The lasting thought from this film is "everyone has to walk the Green Mile sooner or later and sometimes the Green Mile seems so long." I just about believe that very thing! Reviewed by Niall Quinn, PremierMovieReviews |
|
|