The Green Mile (Blu-ray)

It’s no surprise that The Green Mile is a fantastic movie. Set in a prison, scribed by Stephen King and helmed by Frank Darabont, you’d expect it to follow firmly in the footsteps of The Shawshank Redemption. While initial responses to the film were as positive as expected, what is surprising is just how different it is to its fantastic predecessor.

This time taking a trip through the supernatural and focusing less on the inmates and more on the guards as they deal with having to execute an extraordinary innocent man, The Green Mile is an epic tale that’s brutal and heart-warming in equal measure. Beautifully shot, eloquently scripted and providing ample proof that Shawshank was no fluke, it’s a film that deserves proper treatment when it comes to home entertainment. However that’s failed to happen so far as the first DVD had little in the way of worthwhile extras while the more recent special edition had the extras we all wanted, but annoyingly spread the film over two discs. Naturally then, hopes were high for the Blu-ray to finally deliver the goods. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.

While the colours pop off the screen, the picture is grainy from the get-go and very rarely displays any moments of stand-out clarity. The darker scenes result in shadows all mashing together into indecipherable solid blocks of black and the lighter bits are frequently soft at the edges. In fact, you’ll only really notice the transfer upgrade when there’s a close-up of Tom Hank’s anguished mug. Even then, it’s not as detailed or crisp as you’d hope for. Aurally, it’s not so hot either. The sound seems almost muffled at points while, at other times, it’s so flat that you could end up wondering if your surround sound is working properly.

Extras-wise, things are okay. You get Darabont’s informative commentary and a heap of featurettes that have popped up on the DVD releases. As for any exclusive extras that make use of Bonus View or BD Live, you’ll be thoroughly disappointed. As such, the whole package comes across purely as a means to get everything that’s been released previously onto one disc. Sure the picture is marginally better, but it’s not worth the difference in price. It doesn’t even feature the book that comes with the US version. Hold onto your cash and wait for the inevitable special edition, unless you simply must have the film on Blu-ray right now.

Overall Verdict: A superb film that fails to really shine in HD – pretty bad considering it’s only a decade old.

Reviewer: Jordan Brown