The Green Mile

An absorbing three-hour yarn about a year of extraordinary horrors and miracles on death row in a Louisiana state penitentiary, the Oscar-nominated The Green Mile is something of a companion piece to The Shawshank Redemption--both prison movies were adapted by Frank Darabont from uncommonly inspiring and emotional Stephen King stories. Set in 1935, the film centers around the influence of a kindly colossus--a condemned killer named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan--who possesses the power to heal with the touch of his hand. Tom Hanks "stars" as a prison guard struggling with his belief that Coffey is innocent, but the film is ultimately more of an ensemble piece featuring vividly realized (if too broadly drawn) prisoners and guards, with some good and some evil on both sides of the bars. While the final stretch is emotionally and structurally soft, The Green Mile is too involving to be soured by its shortcomings. Warning for the squeamish: the film features several graphic and grizzly prisoner electrocutions as part of its brusque, underlying lesson about the repugnance of capital punishment. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review—Nov. 28, 2006—Warner, 2 discs, 169 min., R, $20.98—Making its second appearance on DVD, 1999's The Green Mile (Two-Disc Special Edition) sports a great transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. DVD extras include audio commentary by director Frank Darabont, a 103-minute “Miracles and Mystery” six-part behind-the-scenes documentary (including “Stephen King: Storyteller,” “The Art of Adaptation,” “Acting on the Mile,” “Designing the Mile,” “The Magic of the Mile,” and “The Tail of Mr. Jingles”), a 26-minute “Walking the Mile” making-of featurette, “Michael Clark Duncan's Screen Test” (9 min.), “The Teaser Trailer: A Case Study” (7 min.), “Tom Hanks' Makeup Tests” (6 min.), deleted scenes with optional commentary (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a solid Stephen King adaptation.]