Terrifyingly Overrated

Rating: 1/10 (24 September 2009)

Shawshank is on TNT approximately five million times a year. It is the second-highest rated film on IMDb, and it was nominated for seven Oscars. It is a movie that can make grown men cry. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins deliver great performances. Thomas Newman's original score is beautiful. It's an engaging film about perseverance, friendship, will power, and hope.
But then again, does it really belong in the same company as Godfather, Godfather II, Schindler's List, and other consensus top-ten films? Is it really one of the ten best films of all time? First off, the villain of the film, Warden Norton, is an incredibly cartoonish, two dimensional bad guy. He and Cal from Titanic could have a "pure-evil-for-the-sake-of-being-pure-evil" standoff. Aside from greed, we have no idea what made him who he was. The Warden is pure evil, and is willing to kill the prisoner who can help prove Andy's innocence in cold blood. And yet, even though Andy is the one man who could expose him and all his criminal dealings, he doesn't do the simplest thing and just kill Andy. Why not? Because Andy has to wind up hugging Red on the beach years later.
Secondly, think about the scene where Andy locks himself in a room and plays classical music over the loudspeakers to the rest of the prisoners, who stop in the courtyard and stare up in awe and wonder. Are you kidding me? The scene tries to be a powerful, emotional peak in the film, but it comes off as laughably implausible, even in the 1950's.
Finally, the movie makes it a little too easy on the audience by giving it all the answers. Is Andy guilty? Does he really escape? Will he and Red ever meet up again? Nothing is left for the audience to wonder about, no ambiguity — everything is spoon-fed to the audience in tasty, happy-ending bites, right up to the final "hug on the beach" scene. Wait this movie ends with happy people hugging on a beach? Yes it does.