It's all about the story

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 2004)

I find it amazing that a film like this rates so highly on the IMDb Top 250.
It's not really a 'cinematic' film like LOTR or Star Wars- you don't look at it and go 'wow, what an amazing shot!' or 'how did they do that?'. Similarly, it's not chock-full of catch-phrases and snappy dialogue like 'Pulp Fiction', 'Casablanca', or indeed memorable scenes like 'the Godfather'. Could anyone really talk about 'Shawshank' in the way that people always discuss 'the Godfather' or 'LOTR'- "remember that moment when..."
'Shawshank' isn't a big, spectacular film, and nor is it particularly witty.
Instead, its success is entirely down to the quality of the story, helped along by some very 'real' acting. I've now seen this film 4-5 times on odd occasions, and it just gets better every time. The story just draws you in- you feel for the characters, and I love the way the surprise (well, surprise-ish) ending is perfectly believable without ever being overtly signposted. I've heard that it's been much more successful on DVD and video than it was at the cinema- and I think that illustrates the type of movie it is.
'Shawshank' is perhaps the best 'story' movie of recent times, and clearly deserves its place near the top of the IMDb rankings. Watch it curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and a warm cosy wife...