The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
88 %
Reviews Counted: 52 Fresh: 46 Rotten:6 Average Rating: 8/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 25 mins
Synopsis: In writer-director Frank Darabont's THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover in the late 1940s. However, only Andy knows that he didn't commit the crimes. Sent to Shawshank Prison to do... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Director: Frank Darabont
Screenwriter: Frank Darabont
Story: Stephen King
Producer: Niki Marvin
Composer: Thomas Newman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Screenwriter: Frank Darabont
Story: Stephen King
Producer: Niki Marvin
Composer: Thomas Newman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
It's an old-school melodrama at heart, sturdy and forthright and upstanding, but without a whisper of complexity or wit.
Comment
09/23/07
Top Critic
A 'life-affirming' tale about life imprisonment, The Shawshank Redemption is the kind of old-fashioned entertainment that is easily overvalued in an era of diminishing expectations.
06/28/07
Top Critic
A passing reference to 'The Count of Monte Cristo' offers a partial clue to what makes this movie compelling.
06/28/07
Top Critic
I have not read Stephen King's novella (his first non-horror), but some of the movie's deficiencies, such as the old-fashioned morality tale and portentous messge about camarderie and redemption--must have been in the source material.
01/13/07
...a throwback to the kind of serious, literate drama Hollywood used to make.
06/24/06
An amazing movie. Easily one of the best movies made during the 90s and definitely one of the top 'prison' movies of all-time. Pretty much everything about this movie works and works extremely well!
06/24/06
The Shawshank Redemption works not only as an excellent prison drama, but as a metaphor for overcoming our own private prisons.
01/25/06
The Shawshank Redemption is one of those films that is a true work of both art and magic.
10/31/04
It's a simple story elegantly, cleverly told, not to mention expertly acted.
09/24/04
Top Critic
Freeman, in particular, is exceptional. His performance is so unshowy it can easily go unnoticed, but it's the soul of Shawshank.
09/14/04
Flawlessly acted and directed, this film packed the strongest emotional wallop out of any film [in 1994].
01/13/04
Without a single riot scene or horrific effect, it tells a slow, gentle story of camaraderie and growth, with an ending that abruptly finds poetic justice in what has come before.
05/20/03
Top CriticRelated Forums
defacto "favorite movie" of blither dolts world-wide.
by: Maven 4/4
by: Maven 4/4
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