Only one thing lacking...

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2004)

Overall, this is one of the finest films I've ever seen. Frank Darabont's masterful screenplay rendering of Stephen King's marginal novella brought every possible human emotion into play. And, every actor in the film did a superb job of translating this fiction into a believable reality.
On a scale from 1 to 100, I'd rate this movie a solid 99. Only one thing was lacking in the film to raise that score to 100 ... but this is just a personal thing.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOLLOWS:
During his time in prison, Andy Dufresne learns the identity of the man who killed his wife - a man named Elmo Blatch. And, he learns enough information about Blatch to render him "trackable" by an investigator. If 2 brief scenes had been added to the film, I'd have rated it a perfect film:
ADDED SCENE #1 - Shortly before his escape, Andy is seen talking to another inmate who gives him contact info for a person on the outside who does contract murder.
ADDED SCENE #2 - Shortly before Red's release from prison, we see him reading a newspaper story on the murder of an ex-con named Elmo Blatch.
Between the time of Andy's escape and Red's release, there would have been ample time for Andy to hire a private eye to track down Blatch and, afterward, hire a contract killer to kill him. Had I been Andy, I'd not have felt truly free of the suffering I'd endured in prison unless I knew the real killer got his just due. What Andy did to the Warden and Hadley is all well and good. But Blatch's death would settle all scores once and for all.