Good not great

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2007)

Shawshank Redemption is entertaining and well made. It's not, however, the greatest movie of all time. It's a thoughtful film and is remarkable for appealing to people who don't usually put a whole lot of thinking into their cinema. It covers the greatest range of viewers for like-ability from the Fast and the Furious crowd to the Lost in Translation audience. I don't think it'd attract big numbers from the cinema nerds of Eraserhead fandom though. That's not to say that Lynch fans should have a more weighted vote on IMDb. It's just that if you're into your cinema and you watch a lot of good films, from obscure to popular, then being told Shawshank Redemption is the best film of all time is like hearing someone say Radiohead is the best band ever. Yes, they're very good but you suspect their cheerleaders are only comparing them to Coldplay, U2 and REM.