More admirable than exciting, The Green Mile is another prison-set period drama adapted by director Frank Darabont from the writings of Stephen King. Darabont is an old-fashioned storyteller, and this tale of a head guard (Tom Hanks) on a Depression-era death row who meets a condemned man with miraculous powers (Michael Clarke Duncan) proceeds with all the decorum of a good yarn. Even if this isn’t as accomplished – or inspiring – as Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption it still holds your attention for its three-plus hours. Darabont may choose to work in miserable milieus, but his prisons are largely places of healing and forgiveness rather than pain.
