Highly Overrated But Still Good

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 2018)

However delightful as it is, The Shawshank Redemption has no allegories and no statements to make and it brought nothing new to cinema in either style or substance. It had no revolutionary ideas or approaches - it's only a very safe buddy-story. A damn good one, but still just that. So it can impossibly be a film that will be remembered or studied, because what will it be remembered for? Friendship? Huh, neat.
But moving on and looking past that, it is possibly one of my all-time favourite films for the feelings it leaves. Sure, it often jerks you for tears just a bit too purposely, but this is forgivable because emotion is crucial to a prison story. On top of that, it never falls prey to predictable sappiness - probably because of its content which is devoid of sentimental romance and instead fills you up with a tragic friendship. It is so well-sewn together by a feel-good narrative by Morgon Freeman that it is impossible not to enjoy this film.
Not much can be said about the actors that hasn't been said. Morgan Freeman gives one of the best performances of his career, and even though I've only seen 2 or 3 other Tim Robbins movies, I'm sure the same can be said for him.
Though I don't agree with the multitudes of people that call this the best movie ever made, it was still a very good, very well made, very entertaining and almost heartbreaking.
This is a film that should be seen because its a good movie, not because its a great one.