The all time greatest

Rating: 10/10 (18 March 2015)

There are very few films that can simply blow a human being's mind away but boy; Shawshank redemption does one hell of a job. From the very get go, Shawshank will have you on the edge of your seats.
Tim Robbins, a man whose career was on an initial down hill slide with flops such as Howard The Duck redeemed himself and then some with his portrayal of a man who looses everything in a second and then spends 20 years trying to get it all back. Robbins gave a calm misdemeanor to his character, which always gave the impression that he had something planned, that we were not expecting. Morgan Freeman gives, in my opinion the best performance of his distinguishable career. He maintains a streetwise wisdom and this, too me, makes him the "go to guy" of the prison. His calm yet intelligent nature is kept through out the film and does not seem affected by Andy but after the escape, Freeman does superbly in showing the contrast in the streetwise dealer of the prison to a man who misses his friend. Thomas Newman's compelling score sets a dark and ominous tone and does what many scores don't; it reflects the thought of the characters as opposed to the tone of the scene. Darabont created a diverse prison world from the street smart ones, to the homesick ones to the rapists but I was not a fan of how racism was sidestepped in the movie. If I had one nit pick, and this is scraping the bottom of the barrel; I would have expected a few racial slurs directed at some of the prisoners, particularly Red. It would have been true of the time but then again its not the point of the story.
Ultimately, Shawshank Redemption is a masterpiece and has a powerful yet happy enough ending to touch the heart of anybody.