Last night I watched The Green Mile for only the second time, having not seen it since it first came out on video, and this time watching it in HD.

First and foremost, I forgot how long it was, being nearly 3 1/2 hours. But I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, far more than I did the first time I watched it. It had a great ensemble cast, each delivering good performances all around. I loved how the storyline felt like it was evolving, almost in an episodic like format (which probably is the reason for the marathon-like runtime). And while the content and situation was grim in nature, the film never had that feeling.

But what I really caught this time was the attention to detail to the little things. Through dialogue and plot, normally inconsequential things were described more than you might expect, therefore given importance, like the titular green floor of death row. Plus the overall theme of the cruelty of men, was nicely set and explored through multiple facets. Something you don’t often see in a mainstream Hollywood film.

I read a lot of Stephen King years ago, but gave up on him somewhere in the early-90’s. I felt his novels were far too long with plots unraveling in a somewhat formulaic and Stephen King™-like fashion.

I’m curious if the wonderful commentary of The Green Mile come from Stephen King, who I know has become a much more diverse writer the past ten years, or Frank Darabont who adapted the story and directed the film. In The Shawshank Redemption, a film that Darabont previously adapted from a Stephen King short story, I know he added what thought to be the best themes, making the film, in my mind, far superior to the original text.

Last night I was also reminded of Dreamcatcher, a Lawrence Kasdan film I was really surprised that I ended up enjoying. I don’t think that I knew it was based on a Stephen King story until I saw his name on screen. But watching The Green Mile last night I saw some parallels at how both of the stories seem to unravel in interesting and sometimes unconventional directions.

So I finding myself interested in Stephen King again. I might have to pick up (or download to my Kindle) one of his more recent titles (of which there are many!). I also am suddenly very interested in the latest King/Darabont collaboration The Mist, which recently came out on DVD.

And if you have 3+ hours to kill, check out The Green Mile again. It looks like it is airing all this month on Showtime HD.