Plot too thin

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 1999)

I'm afraid that I must join the chorus of those that question the placement of this movie at the top of the rankings. Although I enjoy the movie a great deal, it is mainly because of the superb job done by the actors, especially the leads. Without that, I don't think the movie would have amounted to much, because the plot is relatively thin; wide swaths could have been cut from the film and no one would have noticed. Take the library Andy built. It did not advance the basic plot at all, as with other scenes. You could argue that it was precisely these small events that made the film good, and I would agree. But that's my point:there wasn't really anything tying the movie together other than our sympathy for the characters. While well developed characters are a central part of any good movie, there should still be something driving the action other than our sympathy for them; i.e. some sort of chain of events that drives the action independently of the characters. To everyone who thinks this is the best movie ever, I invite you to watch a couple films from the top 5 of the AFI list. You can argue about the AFI's placement all day, but all of the top 5 are better rounded films than Shawshank. If you still feel Shawshank is better than the rest, more power to you.