Frank Darabont's masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (9 July 2014)

1994 was the year I was born. 20 years later I watched The Shawshank Redemption and do not regret it. It is truly one of the best movies of all time. I personally wouldn't put it as #1 in IMDb's top 250 list. There are a ton of movies that are on the same level as The Shawshank Redemption.
The story follows Andy Dufresne, a banker who is imprisoned for murdering his wife and her newfound lover. He claims he is innocent but is sentenced anyway. At Shawshank Prison, he meets and becomes friends with a man named Ellis Redding.
This entire movie revolves around their relationship as friends and the type of bond they formed while in prison. Both come from different backgrounds: Andy as a successful banker who is wrongly convicted, while Ellis is rightly convicted for murder. The movie has so much depth to these two characters and really fleshes them both out.
The Shawshank Redemption is also a very powerful, moving film. Watching the movie, a person might think of Andy Dufresne as a modern "Jesus" as to how he is able to convince all of the guards to allow several benefits for each of his friends he meets in prison. He is able to do all of this with no fear as he confronts the main guard Captain Hadley (played in a stunning performance by Clancy Brown). Who knew Dr. Crabs from Spongebob Squarepants could be this cruel.
As time goes on at Shawshank, Andy gains the favor of eventually all the guards and has them for protection against a group called The Sisters led by their leader Bogs. The warden even allows Andy to switch his job to help out other inmates in another part of the prison.
I must mention the other perfect performances of the other inmates. William Sadler plays Heywood, who is one of Ellis's group of inmates. James Whitmore plays the elderly Brooks Hatlen, who is the oldest member of Ellis's group. Honestly, these two actors have perfect performances. Bob Gunton as Warden Samuel Norton is very sneaky and ruthless.
This movie will keep you guessing. Andy asks several times throughout the movie for different items. He gets them, but the viewer is clueless till the end of the movie. Andy does everything to make life at Shawshank enjoyable by doing various deeds throughout the film (despite the protests from the guards and the warden). He doesn't seem to care what others think and seems to do things for others.
In the second half of the movie, a new prisoner named Tommy Williams becomes part of Ellis's group. With the arrival of Tommy, truths are revealed.
I won't spoil anything about the ending, but Andy has one final surprise for everyone that will shock the viewers and everyone in Shawshank Prison. Like I said earlier in the review, the whole movie revolves around Andy and Ellis's friendship.
Stephen King created a novella called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption which Frank Darabont directed this in his first attempt as director.
Thank you Frank Darabont for creating this masterpiece. I also want to thank Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman for portraying Andy Dufresne and Ellis Redding respectively. Thank you Stephen King for writing the book. Thank you to everyone else who was involved in this.