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The Green Mile (1999)

tomatometer

80

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 132
Fresh: 105 | Rotten: 27

Though The Green Mile is long, critics say it's an absorbing, emotionally powerful experience.

73

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 9

Though The Green Mile is long, critics say it's an absorbing, emotionally powerful experience.

audience

93

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 719,255

My Rating

Movie Info

Director Frank Darabont, who made an acclaimed feature film debut with The Shawshank Redemption (1994), based on a Stephen King novel set in a prison, returns for a second feature, based on King's 1996 serialized novel set in a prison. In 1935, inmates at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility call Death Row "The Green Mile" because of the dark green linoleum that tiles the floor. Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the head guard on the Green Mile when a new inmate is brought into his custody: John

Jun 13, 2000

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

All Critics (132) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (107) | Rotten (28) | DVD (34)

Much of the three-hour movie takes place in the prison, but the resonant characterization, expansive plotting, and judicious use of exterior locations and flashbacks turn the walls into windows.

April 8, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

To more than a few viewers, this one will feel like a life sentence.

August 24, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comments (7)
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Three long hours of wind, an exercise in titanic self-importance intent on passing off klunky rhetoric as poignant drama.

April 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Superior craft is something we've come to expect from modern movies, but not soul. It's the soul of this movie that's so heartening.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | Comment
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Green Mile often grabs, and generally holds, one's attention through the long journey.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By taking the extra time, Darabont has made King's The Green Mile into a story which develops and unfolds, which has detail and space.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: At the Movies | Comment
At the Movies
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Thoughtful, intelligent movie for older teens.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

...the older I get and the more often I watch this movie, the more I like it. I suppose the new high-definition picture and sound don't hurt, either. (Blu-ray Book Edition)

December 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...despite the clichés and stereotypes, the film's cast manages to lift it from the depths of the commonplace and make watching it enjoyable.

December 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

How many blockbusters deal with that kind of grief?

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | Comment
Sight and Sound

Though the film drifts off down some long blind alleys, when Darabont exercises discipline the result is highly effective.

August 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Dotted with many fine moments, clotted with a few flabby ones.

February 14, 2008 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

Overextending its welcome, Frank Darabont's film is the most commercially popular adaptation of a Stephen King novella, but it's also a slow, often dull prison drama.

February 5, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

The supernatural elements carry an undeniable emotional charge, but the solution to the underlying murder mystery is disappointingly tidy and trite.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Although The Green Mile is a satisfying and affecting movie, it's not The Shawshank Redemption -- not by a long shot.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comments (2)
Combustible Celluloid

One of the best prison films ever made.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Mr. Jingles was robbed! (no mouse-Oscar)

January 1, 2005 Full Review Source: StaciWilson.com | Comments (2)
StaciWilson.com

This movie is being described as inspiring? To me it just seems morbid, melancholy, sad, and far too long.

December 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Looking Closer | Comments (5)
Looking Closer

Of all the movies based on King novels, The Green Mile ranks near the top -- but below Darabont's first, The Shawshank Redemption.

June 26, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | Comment

Darabont explores the range of human kindness and cruelty as he lovingly and patiently sculpts his large cast of characters against magnificent scenery.

February 17, 2003 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | Comment
Hollywood.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Green Mile

A rare film that sets a supernatural element within a realistic world. Tom Hanks gives another stellar performance, as always, and Michael Clarke Duncan shows tryue acting skills. The entire movie flows perfectly, with surprising emotion and elegance.

December 8, 2011
Nathan H.
Nathan Hall

Super Reviewer

Old Paul Edgecomb: We each owe a death - there are no exceptions - but, oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long. "Paul Edgecomb didn't believe in miracles. Until the day he met one."The Green Mile; loved the book, love the movie. Frank Darabont took another prison drama story from Stephen King and once again

February 3, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

    1. Paul Edgecomb: Your name is John Coffey
    2. John Coffey: Yes sir boss. Like the drink, only not spelled the same.
    3. Paul Edgecomb: Oh, you can spell can you?
    4. John Coffey: Just my name boss. J-O...
    – Submitted by Nikki-Lee P (23 days ago)
    1. Paul Edgecomb: On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job?
    2. John Coffey: You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?
    3. Paul Edgecomb: Yes, John. I think I can.
    – Submitted by Ceara R (3 months ago)
    1. John Coffey: I couldn't help it, boss. I tried to take it back, but it was too late.
    – Submitted by Kaeomakana T (6 months ago)
    1. Toot Toot: No!
    – Submitted by Facebook U (8 months ago)
    1. Paul Edgecomb (elderly): We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, but oh God, sometimes the Green Mile seems so long.
    – Submitted by Robert R (8 months ago)

Latest News for The Green Mile

November 30, 2007:
Frank Darabont and Stephen King Reteam for Long Walk
Directing three Stephen King movies (four, if you count an early short film) wasn't enough for Frank...

November 21, 2007:
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