The Shawshank Redemption Details

Is this the greatest movie ever made?

An all time classic. If you haven?t seen this movie yet, ensure that it is top of your list. It tells the story of wrongly accused murderer, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), and his story of survival inside a maximum security prison, aided by his friendship with 'the only guilty man inside Shawshank', Ellis 'Red' Reddings (Morgan Freeman). Along the way it branches into at least six different side stories that, halfway through the movie, while still entertained, one wonders what they have to do with the plot. The answer is everything, as becomes apparent by the end.

I won't bore you with details of the individual craftsmanship that went into this movie, but I will advise anyone who has not seen it to see it, and as soon as possible. Keep watching until the end, and there is no possible way you can be disappointed. It is absolutely masterly directed by Frank Darabont, and while I thought that his other Stephen King-based film, The Green Mile, was fairly slow and self-indulgent, this isn't. It is drawn out and long, but absolutely impeccable and amazingly inspirational. It delivers the message that even in the face of abject adversity, hope will always prevail. This message was recently hammed up quite terribly in 'The Two Towers', but in The Shawshank Redemption, just one very simple quote sums it up: 'Hope is a good thing. Possibly the best thing. And no good thing ever dies'

This is one for the ages. I cannot imagine that the uplifting effect of this movie will ever die. There is no possible way it could be better. The only possible reason I can think of for not liking or being inspired by this movie is that you just don't want to. There are no two ways about it. Even after nine years, this holds strong as an absolute masterpiece of film-making, and a staggering achievement.

What can I say - this simply is one of my favourite movies of all time. I've always enjoyed watching Robbins and Freeman on screen, and to see them together in a film of this calibre - wow. Of course, the story is based on Stephen King's novel, which I loved too. This must be one of the few films where the film adaptation really ADDS something to the book, rather than takes something away. I can't think of anyone better as Andy Dufresne as Tim Robbins, he's just perfect. Wish there was a sequel to this!!