Movie Review: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

According to multiple internet sources, IMDB lists this film as the number one greatest of all time. Do I agree with that? It depends on how you watch the movie. The Shawshank Redemption is a flick that came out in 1994. It stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in the leading roles. The film follows Robbins character, a man who was accused of murdering his wife and the man she was cheating on him with, as he enters Shawshank prison. When he gets there, he soon makes friends with an inmate who was a seniority of 30 years. This is Red. He's played by Morgan Freeman. The movie then goes on to chronicle the prison shenanigans and also chronicles the relationship between Andy and Red. Now TBH, I don't totally believe that this is the best film ever. In fact, there are numerous moments in this film where we aren't really getting any action and instead, are receiving a pretty slow and forced script. The delivery isn't perfect in all areas. It took me many times to understand why people view this film in the light that they do. Today, I saw the film in it's whole. I understand why people like this film in the way they have for years at a time. This movie is so much more than it presents itself as. What really engages me (I think probably the most out of everything) in this film is the relationship between Andy and Freeman's character. Red is a prisoner of thirty years, Andy is a prisoner of maybe a year when they first meet, if that. What's fascinating is that as these two talk, we see that Morgan Freeman's role sees himself in Andy. I'd never realized that about this story. Now granted, I had not seen the full length film. Andy is who Red was, when he first came to Shawshank. That's the power of this movie. It's a reflection. Literally. One of the things that I didn't realize was how that is more apparent as the film progresses. The acting in this film is a great aspect. It's solid performances allow for a painfully honest delivery of life in prison. Overall, The Shawshank Redemption is a very good movie that has to be analyzed below the surface in order to appreciate the value of a movie, such as this film. Three stars.