Enjoy the excellence and perfection

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2007)

Year after another this movie has defended its place on IMDb's Top 250 movies of all time -list and it has done in at the second place. Is there anyone who finds it kinda odd that it's on the second place rather than the first one? I mean, at the Top 250 -list this and "Godfather" has the rating of 9.1, but when you click on "The Shawshank Redemption" it seems to have the rating of 9.2 and even more votes than "Godfather". Is it just that the staff at IMDb has just simply forgotten to update the list? Well anyways, to the review itself. I just watched this movie last night and I've seen it once before as well, as I am indeed the proud owner of the DVD. The movie is just pure excellence, or at least for me and it is no wonder it's ranked so high at IMDb. A perfect example of the fact that Stephen King is not just a writer of horror.
What probably amazes me the most in this movie is that it's just so very well written. I mean, I think that a screenplay couldn't be more perfect than it is in this movie. It's just so good that it makes you smile throughout the movie, it just flows through so smoothly that it makes you think "How on earth can it be this good?" Pieces of the puzzle connect together in a rhythmic way, which make your eyes freeze because of the harmonic perfection it provides, it makes you show your emotions: It makes you sad, it makes you angry and it makes you laugh. It's just so good you don't want it to end. Just pure completeness.
The cast is just superb, every right actor for the right role. I must admit that I've never liked Tim Robbins so much, but in this movie the role given to him is just perfect and the role performance he does is his best yet to date. No other person can make that cold glance he does with his eyes, the whole cold substance he has. There is just something so spooky in him. Even when Tim Robbins does a great job, even more greater job does the all mighty Morgan Freeman, who I think is one of the best actors in the history of the movies. The man just doesn't have a bad role performance, maybe even not an average one. His role performance as "Red", the provider of things at Shawshank prison, is for me just so ideal. I think that the choice of him being the narrator in the monologue is just brilliant. Morgan Freeman's voice is just so fitting to this movie that it almost makes your skin tremble. The monologue itself is also very well written and it progresses itself among the whole screenplay in a so magnificent way that.. Well, I already told you about the completeness.
The one who is in charge of the music is the composer Thomas Newman, who I think is the perfect choice for composing the music to a movie like this. If I had to choose someone else, I think the closest one would be Micheal Giacchino, but I can't even think about that so much as the music in this movie is just so amazing in the way it is. The main theme of the composition is just beautiful and the whole soundtrack just simple blows you away. The chords build up this entirety and changing variations throughout the movie which can only be envied because of the beauty of it. Just brilliant.
I can't praise this movie enough, I feel like I'm still not complimenting it enough, but in the matter of fact that's all I've done in this review. I have to mention the directing as well. It's just so smooth it collaborates with the screenplay so well, that it just is a real pleasure for the eyes. The director Frank Darabont really, quoting all the cliché's of complimenting, really captures the essence of this movie. It's just not the parts which make you the most amazed, it's honestly the whole movie. I can't say directing could be more perfect because it just is. In my opinion anyways.
If you haven't seen this movie, you've really missed a masterpiece in the history of movies. I tried to write this review without giving away any spoilers, as the plot has some twists and tweaks in it as well, so it's also very original. Just see this movie and you will finally understand how it is on the second place at IMDb.
The Shawshank Redemption shines even after 13 years.