five years after his directorial debut based on stephen king's writings called the shawshank redemption ( 9/10 ) , writer/director frank darabont returns to the big screen with another prison film based on the famous scribblings of stephen king . unlike the latter film , <NEG> this one is a big , long , laborious bore </NEG> . plot : a seven-foot death row inmate is discovered to have secret healing powers . critique : <NEG> this film is slow , drawn-out , boring , uninteresting , unexciting , predictable and topped with a couple of one-dimensional " evil " characters </NEG> . its only positive attribute lies in its actors who all do credible jobs and its message of hope and belief in miracles . <NEG> the real miracle of my night was the fact that i did not fall asleep during this straightforward , unimpressive film </NEG> about a guy with special powers who we never truly understand or care about . of course , much like all other death row cell blocks , this one is filled with decent inmates who all happen to be " misunderstood " , except for one cookie-cutter crazy guy who is evil personified . and let's not forget all the guards on death row , who also happen to be angels from the heaven above , except for one cookie-cutter crazy guard who is also evil personified ( and is there any reason why there are about six guards when there appears to be no more than three inmates ? ? ? ) . <NEG> am i supposed to identify with anyone in this film ? or even more importantly , am i supposed to give a rat's ass about anyone in this film ? </NEG> well , if i was , i sure missed that boat , because the only thing that i ended up caring about during this entire picture was the obscene amount of fat that tom hanks has been able to burrow under his loose chin . furthermore , <NEG> there is absolutely no reason in the world why director frank darabont needed to take three hours and ten minutes out of anyone's life to present this story . in fact , the story is empty within itself . i truly did not get anything out of the film </NEG> other than the fact that there is a guy on death row who has special powers to heal , and we are left wondering if he should still be executed or not . wow . how interesting . <NEG> the plot's utter predictability is also at fault here </NEG> with one guess as to whom is to get healed by the gentle monster in this film ( we are told that one certain lady has a tumor early on in the movie ) . whip out those thinking caps , kids ! <NEG> hmmm </NEG> , and i wonder what will happen to those two cookie-cutter " evil " guys who have nothing in their system but hate and negativity . <NEG> hmmmm </NEG> , now think hard here , boys and girls . <NEG> what a crock ! </NEG> i am guessing that this film was supposed to be some three-hour exercise in spirituality , but <NEG> unfortunately for me , it was neither spiritual or the least bit engaging . in fact , it was one big bore . i didn't see the point of the movie , i didn't see the point of the story and i certainly didn't see the point in tom hanks' big double-chin </NEG> . all in all , <NEG> a bad movie </NEG> starring some great actors doing solid work , especially michael clarke duncan as the man of the hour , john coffey . give that man an award or something !
