Movie Review: Shawshank Redemption

This time I am reviewing a great movie. A movie, which was ahead of it’s of time and if it would hit the theaters in this day and age it would perform well. Shawshank flopped in the box office and did not perform well when it first came out in 1994. Once the movie became available on DVD and Netflix, it performed well and sold a lot better than it did in the box office.

The movie is stared by: Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, Bob Gunton as Warden Samuel Norton and is directed and written by, Frank Darabont.

The movie is about a banker who is wrongfully accused of shooting his unfaithful wife and her lover. He is sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary. While incarcerated he takes advantage of his skills as a banker and helps the guards with their taxes. Its gets to the point where the penitentiary library becomes sort of an office for tax purposes. The warden of the prison notice Andy skills as a banker and decides to make him launder money for him. The story takes a turn when a new inmate joins the penitentiary and reveals some interesting facts about Andy’s case. The warden then takes drastic measures to make sure Andy stays in jail to keep the money laundering business going.

What really attracted me to the movie is that it was so realistic and how Frank shot it in a way that makes you feel you want to do prison time. Tim Robbins excels as Andy and Morgan Freeman as always makes you feel the character from every aspect. It’s evident that the movie was not easy to shoot. As you watch you will notice the great interaction between the characters and how the movie sequence was shot in a way to hook you into the story. The escape scene re-defines the meaning of the word determination. It’s so unexpected yet so realistic. 

I strongly recommended buying this movie on Blu-ray or DVD because you will love it and I am sure you will watch again.

Before I go, I want to share an interesting fact about Shawshank. Tom Cruise turned down the role because he didn’t want to work with Frank Darabont, who was a new director back then.   

For more info and the trailer, please click here.

See you soon,

Nedal Atawneh

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