First off, films REALLY DO have the tendency to be overrated or underrated these days. And this film is no exception. Simple fact, I'm not a fan at all of Stephen King or his work, or the films that are BASED off his work. Just too dark, too controversial, too creepy, too horrendous, too controversial, and too uncomfortable to sit through.

Is this really one of the 10 best films of all time? Shawshank is not a downright bad movie but it has some severe flaws and I have no clue how everyone chooses to overlook them. The problem I have with it is how it absolutely oversimplifies everything. Shawshank for the most part focuses on exploring the idea of "Hope" (one of the most overused ideas in any prison movie), but in order to do so, it treats everything as black or white with no middle ground. I will say that "The Shawshank Redemption" is not an "awful" film. This isn't a poorly made film with more crude humor than storyline. One of the positives of the film lies in the IMAGERY. The shot of all the prisoners in the prison yard looking up to the heavens as music plays is an amazing shot, one of the most memorable shots I've ever seen.

Shawshank was really hard to watch; with all the violence and swearing, I don't think it does the story justice. I understand this film was nominated for Best Picture, and I've heard people whine, left and right, that Forrest Gump did, and Shawshank didn't. Well, the way I see it, I really don't mind. I don't like how this film seems to use the name of God, or Jesus, as a bad thing, used by the world's biggest hypocrites in Shawshank (ie. the Warden); it's one of the reasons why I like Forrest Gump better so much; there isn't much violence, hardly any swearing, and even treats & talks the name of the Lord in a good way.

The villain of the film, Warden Norton, is an incredibly cartoonish, two dimensional bad guy. He and Cal from Titanic could have a "pure-evil-for-the-sake-of-being-pure-evil" standoff. Aside from greed, we have no idea what made him who he was.

I see that actors William Sadler and Jeffrey DeMunn are well known for being in this flick, though a much better film that they both star in is "Rocketman" (1997), a wild, slap-happy family-friendly comedy. Please do check it out sometime!! And I don't even like hearing Morgan Freeman curse at all. "Driving Miss Daisy" is a much better performance of his, and is a great way for people to be introduced to him, growing up (or maybe even "Evan Almighty" is a good one, too). Tim Robbins, I guess was okay. Though he was also bizarrely in "Howard the Duck"; it doesn't have anything to do with it, I know - it's queer to see how far he's come. And it sure is strange the head guard, who is often so prone to violence & swearing is the one who voiced Mr. Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants. Ar-Ar-Ar-Ar! Though to be fair, the escape scene is really where things get interesting, how everything comes together, and the ending definitely is pretty sweet - kinda makes you wish you could see the ending go on from there.

But in the end, I'm quite glad I didn't grow up with this film - because, sadly like many others, it might have brainwashed, badly-influenced, or manipulated me to what "reality is supposed to be like" in such a subversive & biased way.

I never had any friends that ever "owned" or ever "recommended" this film, because likely they feel the same way.

One other thing that subtly bothered me was, if this story takes place over 20 years in prison... why doesn't anybody seem to AGE??? What happened to the Makeup Department??

Though I don't entirely hate this film - it's got likable actors, good acting, cool character development (i guess), great camera work, decent music, some good effort, and a feel-good ended scene - but it's really overwhelmed by so much bad, it almost makes the good stuff non-existent or even seem "sugar-coated".

IMO, Groundhog Day is a much better film worth to be nominated for Oscar and even considered one of the "greatest films ever", not this nor "the Godfather".

5/10

PS: Want a better film from 1994??? Go watch either "Iron Will", "Angels In The Outfield," "The Jungle Book," "The Swan Princess", "A Troll In Central Park", "Speed", "The Little Rascals", "True Lies", "The Santa Clause", or even "Forrest Gump."

PS 2: "Pulp Fiction" should not even have been NOMINATED that same year for a "Best Picture" Oscar, being an overrated worthless pile of nothing - it should've been the Lion King nominated! Pulp Fiction can go off and die.