An Amazing Movie... The Greatest? I'm not too sure

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2010)

I want to start out by letting everyone know: I read Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption first, this may change the views I have towards the film (though not by much, but we'll get to that later).
Shawshank Redemption is by far the best emotional roller-coaster that I've ever been on. I laughed some, I cried some, and I felt a genuine love for the characters and their struggle. In some ways, I want to say this is the greatest film ever but then I think about it, it's not the greatest film. There is a lot about it that makes it fantastic, some elements have the potential to be "The greatest". Here's the thing though: it's not the greatest movie I've ever seen, I just can't find anything that I dislike about it. This may not make a whole lot of sense, but think of it this way: for a very long time my favorite movie was Pulp Fiction (Tarantino), the raw feeling I got after watching Pulp was so new to me that I couldn't help but stand up and say "That was the greatest movie I've ever seen." Immediately my friend disagreed with me, but Pulp just worked for me. I watched Shawshank with this same friend, and we had a discussion about how we felt about it. I didn't feel the raw emotion that I felt after Pulp, he agreed, but I also told him I thought it was excellent, he agreed. What he told me after that was: "You know, I can see how it's the number 1 movie on IMDb, there's almost nothing to complain about, so there are fewer people who are going to hate it." He was absolutely right, there's just nothing to complain about.
Now to the cast: Robbins and Freeman play a fantastic duo, (Freeman was a great choice for Red, even though Red is described as Irish, for real, in the novella) and like always Freeman plays his best. I'm not too acquainted with Robbins, but he did everything right, and he made Andy Dufrense a likable, but mysterious and distant character that Dufrense is. Freeman plays Red fantastically, flat out amazing, the nonchalance and joking nature of Red is captured perfectly by Freeman. The rest of the cast does very well, especially James Whitmore, who plays Brooks, the oldest convict in Shawshank State Prison. His role is one of the few in all of history that's brought me to tears.
Seeing how there's no action, there's not much to talk about in the effects department, so I'll move on, straight to the story. I have a theory that Stephen King is not a good writer, at least I don't think so, but he is a fantastic storyteller. Shawshank is no different, the plot unfolds well, few details are missed, and the pace is perfect: not too fast, not too slow. I think a lot of the credit there goes to Darabont though, he did a fantastic job bringing an often under looked Stephen King novella to life, and I have no complaints on his work.
In my opinion there's not a whole lot to say regarding this film, it's fantastic, but you have to watch it to understand why. So, pick this one up, I think this a movie with a broad base, which is very hard to dislike, no matter if you turn your mind off and enjoy (it's still followable) or if you like to think about every detail. I highly recommend it.