Number 1 on IMDb...and it is easy to see why

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2015)

This movie...where to begin.
Well it's hard to believe that when I sat down to watch this movie, that I was expecting a grim depressing movie, about how bad prison life could be. The main reason I watched it was because I am a Stephen King fan, and I heard this one was the best. So I sat down to watch it, and I was fully prepared to feel depressed, and also sad. And when I finished watching the movie, how did I feel...there is no way to say it other than: The exact opposite. I felt uplifted, happy, and after watching the ending, I simply said that this was one of the best movies I'd ever seen.
What I liked about it so much is mainly the plot, and the characters. Andy Dusfrene, and Ellis 'Red' Redding are prisoners in the Eastern Maine Penitentiary, known as Shawshank. Andy spends over twenty years in the prison, Red even longer. And when I was watching I could feel (even though it is not shown physically) the years passing. The movie spends the first 3 quarters of the movie at the prison, and you really get to know it, and it's inhabitants, very well. The character you get to know best though is Andy. He is a quiet man who keeps to himself, but there is so much more to him then that. In the twenty years he spends there he manages to earn the respect of his fellow prisoners (particularly Red), the prison guards, and the cruel warden Samuel Norton. Then one day he mysteriously disappears. Or to be exact, he escapes, the first man to ever escape from that prison. It takes him twenty years to deceive all the guards, that he is a quiet honest person, that would never try to escape. During this whole time he was planning his escape, right from the start when he asked Red if he could find him (Andy) a rock pick. It took him twenty years to do all this...hat's devotion if I've ever seen it, and that's why I loved his character. Then there's the last 15-20 minutes of the film which take place outside the prison. The last 5 minutes though, when Red (who is also a fairly likable character) decides to reunite with the escaped Andy, it becomes very emotional, and a truly beautiful piece of cinema.
So people say this is the best Stephen King adaptation of them all, but I think calling this movie a Stephen King movie, is like calling The Lord of the Rings a blockbuster trilogy, it just doesn't quite cut it.
In fact I simply must say that this may just be the best movie ever made. It has an excellent plot, gritty and realistic setting, a sense of hopefulness (despite being a prison movies), extremely likable, and relatable characters and an ending that can truly touch the heart and soul of many viewers. It is absolutely 10/10