ClichÃ©d prison movie - why is this at number 2???

Rating: 4/10 (6 May 2005)

When I first saw this movie in 1994, before the hype, I thought it was a passable flick; nothing special and certainly in keeping with the usual schmaltz expected from any non-horror Stephen King work. In fact, with the exception of Morgan Freeman's excellent performance, I found it imminently forgettable. Then, lo, came the Academy Awards with a surprising nomination for Best Picture. Then, even worse, came the belated hype from its legion of fans. I could not understand this adoration of a movie that was as sugar-coated as that other saccharine movie of 94, Forrest Gump. Worse than Gump's unpalatable cuteness, however, was Shawshank's genre clichÃ©s: the rape scene, the prisoner's pet, etc. Had no-one seen Escape From Alcatraz or Birdman of Alcatraz? For me, Shawshank is possibly the most overrated film ever made, a fact emphasised by its place at No. 2 in the IMDb top 250.