“The Green Mile” – As he did with “The Shawshank Redemption,” Frank Darabont translates a powerful Stephen King prison tale into a screen gem. Mysterious messiah figure John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), the supposed murderer of two young girls, is sentenced to be electrocuted in the 1930s. But, when guard Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is miraculously healed by the simple-minded, big-hearted man, he’s convinced of Coffey’s innocence. “The Green” Mile” is a tale of life and death, reality and spirituality, good and evil, revenge and forgiveness. Soaring emotion – mostly depressing, sometimes uplifting – is balanced with a subtle commentary on the pains of compassion in a cruel world.
– John Hansen, NDSU Spectrum, January 2000