The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Director: Frank Darabont
Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Runtime: 142 minutes

Synopsis: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

Performances: 8/10
Screenplay: 6/10
Editing: 7/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Score/Soundtrack: 8/10

Verdict: I started getting into movies when I was in high school. It wasn't long after that I discovered the IMDb top 250 list and quickly scrolled to the top to see which film was deemed to be the best of all time by the website's community. It was the first I stumbled upon Frank Darabont's "The Shawshank Redemption" and immediately sought it out and watched it. I remember being disappointed by the end result. Not because the movie was bad, but rather because even though I hadn't been into the art of filmmaking for long, I still felt like I had seen much better crafted movies in that short period of time. Now, nearly a decade later, I decided to give the Oscar-nominated film a long-overdue second shot, and sadly the verdict is still very much the same.

I already mentioned that I don't think the movie is bad at all. In fact, there are many aspects to it that I enjoyed quite a bit. There's obviously the cinematography by Roger Deakins and score by Thomas Newman that, without being the pair's best work, still stands out by blending well with the film's main themes: hope, friendship, and, of course, redemption. I also very much liked how the movie approaches prison, using it as a vessel to commentate on different perspectives of freedom, life and death, Christianity, as well as the corruption and inequalities we witness in our daily lives. It's no coincidence that Andy, the most "successful" convict in there, is given special treatment by the guards and warden. But the highlight to me was Brooks' arc which I thought was handled with simplicity and maturity.

I wish I could say the same about the rest of the movie, though. The main issue with it was that I felt at all times that the director was holding my hand and feeding information that could've easily been shown on screen. Red himself says at one point that "some things are better left unsaid", making his narration appear even more obnoxious and unnecessary as it already did. Some characters and lines of dialogue were too over-the-top to be taken seriously, and, as a result, I couldn't immerse myself in the narrative. I also would've appreciated the film a bit more had it properly shown the passing of time in Shawshank. The prisoners spent decades in it but always looked as young as they did on the first day, which at one point became extremely distracting.

Polishing rocks may be Andy Dufresne's passion, and I can't shake the fact that this is exactly what the film needed to work better. Is it a good movie I would recommend to pretty much anyone? Sure. But is it the best movie of all time as suggested by IMDb? Not even close.

FINAL GRADE: 7/10