Good, but not great - grossly overrated

Rating: 7/10 (11 December 2005)

I'm constantly amazed by the praise heaped on this film. I've always seen it as a good film, but too clichéd to rate as as truly great one.
On the plus side, it has high production values, has a good performance from Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, and it's well-paced until close to the end.
But the downsides are legion.
First of all, some of the secondary characters are utterly two-dimensional (particularly Warden Norton and Captain Hadley). They lumber through the film as such obvious and simplistic bad guys that they may as well have moustaches and wear black hats.
Secondly, the film cranks out every prison cliché in the book. The assaults, the corrupt wardens, the ex-con who can't handle the outside world, the withdrawals of privileges - all have been done before and with considerably more impact.
Thirdly, there are plot holes you could crawl through (as Andy does!). The notion that Andy Dufresne could dig a tunnel for 20 years without being spotted isn't up-lifting, it's ridiculous. Did no-one feel the draught? Did no-one lean against the poster when they visited him in his cell? As a resolution, it's not clever, just silly.
And the finale (from the tunnel to the beach) is overlong and overwrought.
And yet there are standout sequences. The scene where Andy locks himself into the Warden's office and blasts an aria from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro over the prison Tannoy is sublime and haunting.
An enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours, but no more than that.