The Shawshank Redemption: 10th Anniversary

Reviewed by:
Paul Ulane

Stephen King books work on film about as well as Stephen King's face works on film, but that didn't stop The Shawshank Redemption from garnering seven Oscar nominations. (Minor footnote: It took home exactly zero in the year of Gump.) Two all-star leads (Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman) held the prison-break drama together through it's two-hour-plus running time, and now it's stuck around long enough to warrant a 10th anniversary edition. The celebration begins with "A Look Back," a featurette that visits the set in '94 to observe how the movie came together, starting with King's novella and moving through specific scenes and the score. A pointless comic spoof, The Sharktank Redemption, likens the film's story to a Hollywood suit trying to make it in the ruthless world of Tinseltown agents. Another featurette, "The Redeeming Feature," uses current interviews with Darabont and the cast to chart the movie's growth from box-office bomb to timeless classic revered by Internet bloggers everywhere. A tour through the film's prison and commentary with Darabont round out the anniversary, by which time the overwhelming extras will have you ready for your own break—coffee, bathroom, prison, or otherwise.

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