A sleeping giant of a spectacle.

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2008)

The summary must sound cliché, but this truly provides as a sleeping giant of a spectacle. Originally shown to my class at school, we tried to postpone this movie by nagging the teacher and ended up watching a movie we started only for slight show. We saw 'The Crow (1994)' and really didn't care much for this film. However, from the opening scene to the closing of the picture, The Shawshank Redemption captured us all and never let our attention away. I had to watch this a few more times with friends and relatives out of school especially with some disruptive kids talking and what-not, but I still couldn't take my mind off the fact that I underestimated this film so much.
If you want someone to watch this movie, then don't make it seem so great. It will take away from watching it by driving the expectations of that person far too high. Possibly the reason this isn't a perfect ten for everyone. Others didn't want to see this movie high in rating or are too pompous to score it high or are just too dense to change the rating from '1' to the actual rating deserved accordingly.
This movie has a quirky name that sounds almost biblical and cast and even Frank Darabont knew this could cause a problem. However, for whoever watches it, the quirky name throws him or her off guard and then pulls him or her into the movie unlike ever possible. This isn't a blockbuster; this is a magnificent film with an outstanding script and incredible and unusual cast. I'm writing this assuming everyone who has read this saw the movie already, and if you haven't... "it's alright".