Old fashioned and entertaining? Sure. Great? No way.

Rating: 8/10 (26 August 2006)

Word of mouth alone has turned this modest prison movie into something of a classic and there are many people who rate it as their favourite film. It's what's probably conventionally called 'a man's picture' but there are many women who love it, too. And there is no denying it's a good tale well told. There is nothing ostentatious about it. It's writer/director Frank Darabont was new to movies and he didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He structured the film like a forties or fifties film; old fashioned, traditional and likable, but not a great movie by any means.
And yet it has scenes that stay in the memory and which people recall fondly, (even if they are very brutal), and dialogue which sounds familiar. Unfortunately, early in the film there is a clip from "Gilda" that is more iconic than anything in Darabont's film. (Sometimes homage can be detrimental to a film).
Tim Robbins is fine as Andy, the young banker in Shawshank for the murder of his wife and her lover, (the film basically confirmed his star-status), but it is Morgan Freeman who walks away with the film with a quietly magnificent performance as Red, the old timer who befriends Andy and who is the film's narrator. Freeman gives the film a dignity and gravitas it really doesn't deserve.