The strength of this film is in its simplicity (possible spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2003)

Most viewers do not want to go to overly "artsy" movies because usually they try too hard to be intellectually stimulating but fail miserably because it is a difficult feat to pull off. Movies like American Beauty and Amélie are few and far between. And then there's The Shawshank Redemption: simple, honest, without pretense. It appeals to the viewers heart and soul and not his/her head. No one cares if the prison conditions are 100 percent believable. It's fiction for a reason! I never even noticed the clichés until I read a detailed post describing them, and frankly, I'm content to ignore them. The spinner bait that hooked me on this movie was the relationship between Andy and Red. Watching this movie for the first time (and dozens of times since) I found these two characters to be two of the most likeable characters I could think of. The climax of this movie is in my top five of all time (TSR, Memento, Usual Suspects, Se7en, The Manchurian Candidate). In general, people like happy endings. I am a big fan of tragedies like The Deer Hunter and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but I cannot watch them continually with the same emotion. Watching Shawshank for the Xth time, I experience the same emotional roller coaster as the first time viewed it. People dislike the fact that so many people give this movie a 10/10 rating. I feel quite comfortable giving this movie that rating because it is my favorite movie. It is not a perfect movie, but the rating system doesn't go by technical merit. People should rate films based on their opinion as a whole and not solely upon how well the director uses cinematic techniques. Personally, I couldn't care less