According to the new movie The Green Mile, a condemned man's walk from his cell to the electric chair is known as the last mile. It's called the green mile at Cold Mountain Penitentiary because the floor there is "the color of faded limes." You could probably walk several miles in the time it takes to watch this movie.

I've always been a firm believer in the aphorism that when it comes to length, a good movie should only be as long as it's good. The Green Mile is good -- but not good enough to warrant three-plus hours. It's a small, simple movie about the bonds between the men on Death Row, and the men who both guard them and eventually take them to meet their maker.

The story unfolds through the eyes of guard Paul Edgecombe (Tom Hanks -- so good you just take him for granted now) and the action picks up as a new prisoner, the immense, African American man-child John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), arrives on E Block. Coffey has been convicted of the horrifying kidnap and murder of two young girls -- but he hardly seems to posses an evil streak, in fact, there seems to be something angelic about him.

In various interviews, director Frank Darabont has confessed to being the master of the world's smallest movie genre: period prison dramas based on stories by Stephen King (the only other film in the category is Darabont's adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption). But The Green Mile isn't just a drama, it's also a fantasy.

Coffey, it seems, possesses a supernatural healing power. He can literally cure the sick with a single touch. The entire film is essentially telegraphed early on. We know exactly what will happen and we're forced to sit there and wait for the next miracle. If the story wasn't so good and wasn't told so well, the movie would be in real trouble.

The tale of a man with divine powers being put to death is hardly new, in fact, some have called it The Greatest Story Ever Told (it's no coincidence John Coffey's initials are J.C.). This version is well immensely well acted and beautifully filmed. At times it's powerful (the execution scenes will make you think twice about supporting capital punishment), other times it's funny. But it's also repetitive, predictable and about ninety minutes too long.

(c) Copyright 1999