NOT THAT GREAT!!! OPEN YOUR FRIGGIN EYES!!!!!!

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2001)

Many, many people jock this movie, calling it an intelligent, philosophical and moving epic, but It's really not all that. It is a good movie, but it is not great or thought provoking at all. That year, 1994, was a great year for movies considering Pulp Fiction, Ed Wood and Quiz Show among others, yet people think Forrest Gump and Shawshank Redemption are great' movies? Gag me.
Here's some of the problems (Don't read this if you haven't seen the movie)
Morgan Freeman's character - Don't get me wrong Freeman is a great actor (even if he always plays the same part) but seriously, did you ever watch MTV's Scared Straight' or listened to Chris Rock's stand-up? Now tell me what kind of 18-year-old murderer goes to prison and kicks around using words that would make Edgar Allen Poe go get his copy of Webster's? Freeman's character's narration also served as a purpose to constantly bludgeon the viewer with 2nd rate philosophy people who've never been to prison come up with. By the end I was literally exhausted from the constant stream of corny insight I've already heard. Tell the truth now... If you saw a murderer on the evening news you'd probably want him dead or at least in prison for life, yet here you're supposed to rejoice in his parole as a result of a tired, bitch-em-out-I-don't-care speech that only seems to come up in movies. Another detraction to the narration is Morgan Freeman dropping the F, it never sounds right.
The Warden - How many absolutely despicable characters has that guy played? Has anyone that evil ever run a prison? That is classic jail movie material. Obviously the filmmakers realize people will be upset about glorifying criminals so the answer is to make the authority pure evil. How irritating If you want to convey criminals, just show them having fun and being real people; don't try to cover it up with evil police, try Bonnie and Clyde or Pulp Fiction, much more interesting.
Brooks  Some serious button pushing here. Brooks is a typical, lame attempt to draw out some sentiment. The bird thing is a rip off of Escape from Alcatraz and like Freeman's character he's a great guy who happened to commit an offense so despicable he's in one of the most secure prisons in the country, but we can forget about that, right? The `Brooks was here' hanging himself because he can't keep up is another Hollywood favorite. Who hangs themselves? My gosh, at Nuremberg guys took poison to avoid being hanged because of the shame and disrespect. Yet, Brooks hung himself when at his age he could have waited a week and let nature take its course. Or better yet if Brooks got an old-fashioned whore and binged himself to death on alcohol and mind-altering drugs. Almost sounds like fun, who would prefer hanging? You know who, a character in a movie. That pretty much sums up the Shawshank Redemption, for what its aiming for it misfires because there is nothing genuine or authentic about it.