The Green Mile: Another perfect Stephen King adaptation from Darabont

The Green Mile (Drama, Fantasy)

Directed by Frank Darabont

Starring Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jeffrey DeMunn and David Morse

Warner Bros. | 1999 | 188 min | Rated R | Released Dec 01, 2009

Video:

Video codec: VC-1

Video resolution: 1080p

Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Audio:

English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Turkish: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles:

English SDH, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German SDH, Greek, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

Disc:

Single 50GB Blu-ray Disc

The Film 5/5

If you read my Top 20 Drama articles, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of Frank Darabont’s Stephen King adaptations. The Shawshank Redemption ranks second and The Green Mile is just behind in fourth.

Watching a Darabont movie is like entering another world. He takes his time with the story and the development of the characters. Don’t expect fast cuts and short scenes; each film is a work of art that is meant to be savored.

Before I talk about the film, I have to mention a funny story. Stephen King decided to write the book in a series of six installments. King was inspired by Charles Dickens, who also liked the serial novel format. I found the first installment in a supermarket and kept the receipt. A scan of it is shown opposite. See if you can spot the unusual item (five items from the top). It’s amazing what you can buy in supermarkets these days. I guess I was low on junk food that week? What a terrible diet I had back then.

The Green Mile is set in a Louisiana prison, but, unlike The Shawshank Redemption, the inmates can only interact by talking and never leave their cells to mingle. Each prisoner is condemned to death and is awaiting a meeting with Old Sparky, the electric chair.

The story is narrated by Paul Edgecomb (Dabbs Greer and Tom Hanks), the head warder, and the vast majority of the story is told through the use of flashback and is set in 1935. He explains how he met a huge black prisoner named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan). Coffey is a simple man and seemingly gentle despite his size, but he was found guilty of murdering two little girls. His behavior doesn’t do anything to suggest that he was capable of such an act.

Coffey has a secret, but I can’t reveal it here without ruining the movie. His nature becomes apparent about an hour into the film and it changes everything.

The story revolves around Edgecomb’s role in running the prison and how he reacts when he finds out Coffey’s true nature. Prison life is fairly quiet, but Edgecomb has to deal with an annoying warder called Percy Wetmore. We are told that Wetmore has connections and so the other warders have to tolerate him or risk losing their jobs. Another thing that upsets Edgecomb’s routine is the addition of a new prisoner, 'Wild Bill' Wharton (Sam Rockwell), who likes to make as much trouble as possible.

One part of the story concerns the appearance of a mouse. The reaction of the individual warders reveals something about their own nature and it’s a brilliant plot device. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything more about the mouse without ruining the story.

The Green Mile isn’t what it seems. It begins like a hard-hitting drama, but things change as we discover more about the characters. In the end, the story is about trust and belief. It’s very powerful and some of the characters do extraordinary things. The warders, with the exception of Percy, are a close-knit group. They demonstrate the kind of trust that can only occur between close friends. The stakes are high and the story is compelling.

I’ll say no more about the plot other than that the conclusion is very satisfying.

Darabont draws strong performances from every member of the cast. Hanks is superb as usual, but the story wouldn’t work without Michael Clarke Duncan’s performance and his Oscar nomination was well deserved. I could mention at least 15 actors who played their role to perfection. Darabont was nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay and the film deserved all of the recognition it received. The mouse should have won an Oscar.

The film has a couple of disturbing scenes, such as one of the executions, but is generally a series of character studies. You’ll be sucked into the story because of what the characters do, rather than for any special effects or shocking scenes. The story has a lot of heart and will stay with you long after the credits roll. At 189-minutes, many will be wary of watching the film. Don’t let that put you off. Good films never feel too long, and this is a very good film.

Video Quality 4/5

The VC-1 transfer looks very good for the most part. Detail in close-ups is exceptional and, apart from a few soft scenes, detail is generally strong throughout. Black levels are problematic on occasion. Darabont uses plenty of dark shots using blacks, grays and browns. Sometimes, shadows obscure some of the detail. I’m very happy with the upgrade, but it could have been slightly better. Owners of the DVD will be relieved that the Blu-ray comfortably contains the entire film, so you won’t have to flip the disc over as you did with the DVD.

Audio Quality 4/5

The English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is quiet and I found myself increasing the volume by 10 decibels over my normal level. Once that adjustment was made, everything sounded clear. It’s a dialogue-driven film, but the surrounds do play a part when required. Listen to the sound of the mouse running across the floor and you’ll hear the fine detail in the mix. One electrocution is particularly noisy and you’ll feel like it’s happening right in front of you. I couldn’t detect any imperfections in the track at all.

Special Features 5/5

The extras all appear in standard definition:

Commentary by Director Frank Darabont

Walking the Mile: The Making of The Green Mile (25:30)

Miracles and Mystery: Creating The Green Mile (1:42:54) – If the commentary and “Making Of” features weren’t enough, here’s an in-depth look at every aspect of making the film. It’s split into six parts if the running time seems daunting:

Stephen King: Storyteller

The Art of Adaptation

Acting on the Mile

Designing the Mile

The Magic of the Mile

The Tail of Mr. Jingles

Deleted Scenes (3:38) – Two scenes which didn’t make it into the film.

Michael Clarke Duncan's Screen Test (8:26)

Tom Hanks' Makeup Tests (5:30)

Trailers

The Green Mile is a film about hope, trust, friendship and the power of belief. It’s a stunning achievement and the story never feels boring despite the long running time. I give it a spin every three months or so and am always glad to visit that world once again. Anyone who enjoys good acting, master storytelling and emotional drama would probably find a lot to like in this film.

Overall score 5/5

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My Top 10 Horror Movies: Part 2, #1-5

My Top 10 Horror Movies (continued)


Silence of the Lambs would have been at the top of the list, but it's listed as a crime/thriller and I decided it was ineligible.

5. The Exorcist (1973)

Directed by William Friedkin

Starring Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow and Linda Blair

Like The Omen, here’s a film that relies on building suspense. The most frightening thing about the film is what it makes you think, rather than anything shown on the screen. It deals with possession and we see a sweet young girl transformed into a growling demon. Imagine if that were your child. How would you handle the situation? Would you resort to prayer even if you were an atheist? The main actors do a wonderful job of keeping the scenes serious. If they believe it, maybe we can believe it. The effects all had to be produced using whatever props were available and most look pretty good. This is a film that relies on mood and your ability to think beyond what you’re being shown. It’s genuinely frightening if you allow yourself to be drawn in to the story.

Click here for my full review.

4. The Mist (2007)

Directed by Frank Darabont

Starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurie Holden

Are you starting to notice a pattern in my choices? The Mist shows what happens when people are forced to abandon the normal rules of behavior. A group of customers take refuge in a supermarket when a strange mist descends. One man rushes in and shouts a warning that there’s something in the mist. Some people believe him, but most don’t. The plot develops and the incidents become more serious, until someone is finally killed. A small group witnesses the event and has to convince the other customers that there’s a real threat. People start to form into groups. One is led by a religious fanatic (Harden) and thinks that some form of human sacrifice is the answer. Another is led by the logical local artist, David Drayton (Jane). It’s interesting to see how people perform under pressure and who the true leaders are when the situation demands it.

Click here for my full review.

3. The Birds (1963)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshette

Hitchcock loved to deceive audiences and The Birds is a prime example. The first part of the film shows Melanie Daniels (Hedren) randomly encountering Mitch Brenner (Taylor) in a store which sells birds. After Brenner has left, she decides that she would like to know more about him. She purchases two birds and takes a long drive to his hometown. After questioning a few locals, she tracks down his address. The whole setup makes the film look like a traditional romance, but things change when she’s attacked by a bird while rowing across the bay to his home. The attacks start to become more serious and she eventually becomes trapped with Brenner, his mother and his daughter. Hitchcock never explains why the birds are behaving aggressively and doesn’t need to. The group has to battle to survive and the resolution doesn’t completely reveal whether they will be safe. It’s a snapshot in the lives of a few people in an extreme situation.

2. Psycho (1960)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles

More Hitchcock and another deceptive plot. If by some chance you haven't seen the film, please skip the rest of this summary. The plot is fairly simple, but unexpected. A young woman (Leigh) steals money from work and decides to flee the town. The setup leads us to believe that the story will be about her struggle to evade pursuit. But she stops in a motel for the night and is murdered by the owner, Norman Bates (Perkins). I like how Hitchcock makes us root for Bates and we almost want him to avoid being caught. Perkins plays the role perfectly and appears logical and nervous at the same time. The strength of the film is that it could happen. It's more psychological horror than slasher movie and Bates is a character that we can pity. Some of the shocks were original at the time, but probably seem pretty lame now that we know about such techniques. Imagine seeing this 50 years ago. The Blu-ray presentation is incredible.

Click here for my full review.

1. The Shining (1980)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd 

Kubrick was comfortable working in any genre and The Shining was his attempt at horror. I like so many of his films, but this might be his best. It’s not a strict adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, but I like the changes that he made. Technology probably wasn’t capable of showing Danny’s solo encounter in the hedge maze, but it would have been great to see it. Jack Torrance (Nicholson) is a writer who takes a winter job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. The setting is perfect for a horror movie. He takes his wife (Duvall) and young son (Lloyd) and they plan to live there alone until the hotel re-opens in the spring. All three family members witness weird events. Torrance is a recovering alcoholic and finds that the bar is full of people. The hotel is supposed to be empty. He drinks and talks to the barman. We start to see ghosts of people who lived, stayed or worked at the hotel. The story is about how Torrance loses his grip on reality and becomes a danger to his family. It’s full of mysteries and many are never explained. Kubrick’s film creates its own atmospheric world and it’s good to visit when you’re in the mood.

Click here to see #6-10 on my list.

Did I mention any of your favorites? Feel free to let me know what you think of the list or post your own Top 10 in the comments section.

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My Top 20 Dramas: Part 4, #1-5

My Top 20 Dramas (final part)

5. American Beauty (1999)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and Thora Birch

American Beauty is the story of how Lester Burnham (Spacey) rebels against his boring lifestyle and acts to change it. He’s unhappy with his wife, Carolyn (Bening), while his daughter, Jane (Birch), barely acknowledges his existence. Mendes explores the difference between the image we present to other people and what actually goes on behind the scenes. There’s plenty of dark humor and this might just be Spacey’s best role. All three people make big changes and develop as characters throughout the film. It expresses feelings that a lot of people feel, but never do anything about.

My full review can be found here.

4. The Green Mile (1999)

Directed by Frank Darabont

Starring Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan and David Morse

The best Stephen King adaptations are directed by Frank Darabont. The Green Mile is set in a prison in the 1930s and all of the inmates are waiting to be executed in the electric chair. It’s not a traditional prison story as all of the prisoners have their own cell and don’t come into contact with each other. The warders, led by Paul Edgcomb, have their world turned upside down when John Coffey (Duncan) arrives on the scene. Edgcomb, now an old man, narrates the story and everything we see happened when he was a young man. Coffey is a giant of a man, but is exceptionally quiet and gentle. I won’t reveal how he shakes things up because it would ruin the surprise. It’s a wonderful drama and Darabont takes his time telling the story. Don’t be put off by the 189-minute running time because you’ll probably be sorry that it’s over when it ends. It also has the best performance by a mouse in the history of motion pictures.


Click here for my full review.

3. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis

Reservoir Dogs was a promising debut and Pulp Fiction sees Tarantino take a step forward. His screenplay deservedly won the Oscar and it’s full of the realistic dialogue that’s found in all of his films. Vincent Vega (Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Jackson) play two killers. The most interesting thing about them is their conversations and outlook on life. Bruce Willis is also in the mix, playing a boxer who is paid to fix a fight and goes on the run after failing to keep his promise. The film is full of interesting characters. Christopher Walken appears in just one scene, but you’ll never forget it. Uma Thurman hinted at the potential she would eventually realize in the Kill Bill movies. The non-linear plot is a sequence of bizarre events rather than a coherent story, but I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s hard to pick a favourite Tarantino movie, but this currently has the edge.

2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Directed by Frank Darabont

Starring Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins and Bob Gunton

Shawshank is another Stephen King story adapted by Frank Darabont and it’s also set in a prison. Andy Dufresne (Robbins) plays a man convicted of murdering his wife. Red (Freeman) befriends him and helps him adjust to prison life. The film has been criticized by some for manipulating our feelings, but don’t all movies aim do that? The pacing is slow, allowing us to feel the passage of time as Dufresne serves his long sentence. My favourite scene happens while several inmates are tarring a roof, but the film is full of memorable scenes. I doubt that Robbins or Freeman have ever delivered better performances. As with most Stephen King stories, there’s a real sense of justice by the conclusion. I’m not sure how many times I have seen Shawshank, but I know I’ll keep watching it on a regular basis.

1. Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Directed by David Lynch

Starring Naomi Watts. Laura Harring and Justin Theroux

David Lynch isn’t the easiest filmmaker to like. He doesn’t like explaining the meaning of anything and insists that you draw your own conclusions. Mulholland Dr. is particularly baffling on the first viewing. It’s unclear what’s happening and the whole film is turned on its head in the last 45 minutes. It makes the viewer question the validity of everything that has happened up to that point. Betty (Watts) plays a bright-eyed aspiring actress who befriends Rita (Harring); a woman suffering from amnesia following a car accident. Part of the story plays like a Nancy Drew mystery as the two try to find Rita’s true identity. In fact, the whole film is about identity. There’s an air of mystery throughout and numerous scenes filled with dark humor. It’s also actually quite frightening in places if you allow yourself to be drawn in. If it works for you, you’ll find yourself reading about the film and watching it again within a couple of days. If it fails, you’ll regret ever seeing it. I watched it two days running and have seen it many times since. This is the film that changed the way I think about cinema.

My full review can be found here.

 

See #16-20 on my list here.

See #11-15 on my list here.

See #6-10 on my list here.

I Hope that you enjoyed reading about my Top 20 dramas. Feel free to comment and add your own list.

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The Mist: Frank Darabont adapting Stephen King is always a must-see

The Mist (horror, sci-fi, thriller)

Directed by Frank Darabont

Starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Andre Braugher, Laurie Holden, Toby Jones

Weinstein Company | 2007 | 126 min | Rated R | Sep 16, 2008

Video:
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio:

English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English, French: Dolby Digital 5.1

English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (less)

Subtitles:

English SDH, Spanish

English SDH, Spanish (less)

Discs:
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)

Region free

The Film 4.5/5

Frank Darabont hasn’t directed many movies, but three of them are in my collection. The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are both adapted from Stephen King stories and so is The Mist. Despite its lower budget, The Mist is another strong entry from Darabont.

The thing I like about Stephen King is that most story elements are based in the real world. We can identify with the type of town and the characters who inhabit it. He usually changes one or two things to transport us into another world. In this instance, the other element is the mist. We learn that it has leaked through from an entrance to another dimension, along with some of the creatures from that reality.

The exposition is handled well and draws the viewer into the situation. After a brief description of David Drayton’s (Jane) home life, he travels into town with his son Billy (Nathan Gamble) and neighbor Brent Norton (Braugher). While the three are shopping in the local supermarket, a man runs in with blood on his face warning that there’s something in the mist.

Some of my favorite stories examine what happens when society breaks down. Stephen King seems to enjoy writing about it too. The Stand is one of the best novels dealing with the psychological effects of a catastrophe and The Mist delves into the same territory. Imagine the situation. You’re in a store and a mist descends outside. A man runs in injured and shouts a warning. Do you listen, or do you ignore the warning and assume it’s a natural phenomenon?

Some people are deeply rooted in routines. They know how much they earn and live one or two paychecks away from disaster. Their routine means that they rarely have to think about anything out of the ordinary. They may excel in one or two known situations, but be completely out of their depth when facing the unknown. That’s when we see who the real leaders are. Who will crumble and who will adapt and remain calm under pressure? Will anyone lose touch with reality completely and start behaving in unpredictable ways? Would you steal to feed your family or kill to protect someone? The Mist shows what happens in just such a situation. The results are interesting to say the least.

My favorite character is Ollie (Jones), the assistant manager of the store. He’s a great reminder of how people are not always what they seem. Looking like an older version of Radar O’Reilly, he’s able to step up and make a difference in a crisis.

Darabont doesn’t spend a fortune on special effects, but the result is convincing to me. As the story unfolds, we see a variety of creatures. Some of them are close to creatures we know while others are like nothing we have ever seen.

Another interesting choice from Darabont is the use of sound in the movie. Most entries in this genre would feature music heavily during every action scene. Darabont chooses to just show the events as they happen without trying to influence our mood with music. There are a few muted sound effects for most of the movie, but nothing more. The result is that we are drawn into the situation even more as if we are left alone to think about how we would handle the situation. The one exception is in the last few minutes of the story when The Host of Seraphim (Dead Can Dance) is played during a pivotal scene. Its impact is greatly enhanced due to the absence of music in the remainder of the movie.

Darabont changes King’s original ending. It’s a brave choice and will annoy a lot of people. King remarked that he wishes he had thought of it. It’s a resolution of sorts and it’s certainly not typical Hollywood fare.

Video Quality 4/5

The Mist Blu-ray package consists of two discs; one showing the movie in color and the other in black and white. Darabont is known to prefer the black and white version as it adds to the intended feel. While I like both, I slightly prefer the color version. Detail is good in both and there’s nothing to complain about. It’s not up there with the best the format has to offer, but it’s more than adequate.

Audio Quality 4/5

The movie is driven by dialogue and is as much a character study as a monster movie. With no music for the vast majority of the running time, this is not the type of movie to show off your sound system. It handles everything it’s supposed to without going over the top.

Special Features 4/5

The commentary track goes into considerable depth and is an excellent addition for those who want to know how everything was done. There are also 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a "making of" feature and a discussion with King and Darabont. There are several other features focusing on certain scenes or special effects. Overall, over two hours, and a good supplemental package that’s worth seeing at least once.

The Mist is a fun world to visit for two hours. See it if you are a fan of horror or psychological drama and enjoy a decent Blu-ray presentation.

Overall score 4.5/5 

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