Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSpectacular 4K upgrade from the regular Blu-ray for one of the most beloved films ever made!
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2021
This 4K Blu-ray of this incredible movie looks phenomenal! Once you've seen it you'll never settle for the regular Blu-ray again!
"The Shawshank Redemption" stands as perhaps the very best adaptation of a written work ever translated into a motion picture--and an amazingly good movie as well.
Many years ago, having just finished reading King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", I turned on my TV and saw a commercial for the movie version opening the very next day, so I made plans to go and see it.
Avid readers always hope that a film adaptation of a book they love will do justice to that book, even though 99 times out of 100 we're sorely disappointed to see it utterly ruined by a screenwriter who apparently either doesn't get the book or doesn't like it and decides to change everything.
Still, we keep hoping every time around for an adaptation by someone who actually loves the book and tries to do right by it--even if we really expect in our hearts for that hope to be utterly dashed.
To my surprise and joy, I was treated to the truest, most accurate adaptation of a written work I had ever seen brought to the screen--and, being such a voracious reader and an avid movie fan, over the years I've seen more of them than most people can imagine!
The writer and director of The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont, had achieved an absolute miracle by somehow managing to get over 95% of the book onto the screen, something I'd not only never seen happen before, but had never imagined was even possible!
I thought the movie was truly magnificent, one of the finest movies I'd ever seen in my life, but I wondered if anyone else in the theater was as impressed by it as I was.
When the film ended and the theater audience actually stood up and gave the movie a standing ovation, many whistling and cheering (something I'd never seen happen in a movie theater before), I knew I wasn't the only one blown away by how incredibly good this movie was.
Over the next couple of weeks, though, I was saddened to see how poorly it performed at the box office, and soon enough it had disappeared from theaters altogether.
If you are a film lover, to see a movie so incredibly good vanish into oblivion breaks one's heart.
But then, it was released on home video, and without any push from the studio, it unexpectedly and miraculously began to grow in popularity through word of mouth alone. People who watched it loved it so much that they told all their friends about what a great movie it was--and those friends rented it and told all of their friends about it too. As a result "The Shawshank Redemption", initially a compete box office disaster, continued to grow and grow in popularity over the following months to eventually become the very successful number one home video title of the year--and it continued to grow in popularity beyond that point, eventually becoming one of the most beloved films of all time.
When a national survey was performed and people were asked to name their one single all time favorite film, it amazed the film community by unexpectedly coming in second place out of all of the motion pictures ever made, bested only by the number one selection "The Godfather".
This is a movie that has cast it's spell over millions--with one of the most satisfying and downright best endings ever to grace the silver screen.
There were only two changes made from the novel, the character of Red was changed from a red haired Irishman to Morgan Freeman. Since Red's being Irish was only just basic character background information and really had no impact on the story whatsoever, changing this so that the perfect actor for the part could play him was of no consequence to the story and strengthened the film enormously.
The other change involved the disposition of one character and the change only made the impact of one of the best endings in movie history that much stronger.
Everything about the movie, from the excellent cinematography to the superlative casting, the pitch perfect pacing, and even the emotionally evocative musical score by Thomas Newman created the identical feel and atmosphere of reading the book itself.
This movie was clearly a labor of love by a filmmaker who worked his tail off to translate a book he adored as faithfully as possible into a movie--and he did a truly magnificent job, succeeding at it more beautifully than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams.
"The Shawshank Redemption" is so beloved by fans that it has also become the one movie most often shown on television.
But, please see the 4K version. The 4K Blu-ray puts the HD version to utter shame.
Every aspect of the 4K version, from the image sharpness and the fine detail level, to the color palette and the shadow details are all dramatically improved.
This is a truly excellent looking disc of one of the most phenomenal motion pictures ever made.
If you haven't seen The Shawshank Redemption, please do. I promise you that afterward, you'll be sorry that you waited so long to experience this superlative masterpiece. And if you have already seen it and already know what an incredible movie it is, the 4K version honestly makes it an even better viewing experience--almost like getting to see it for the very first time all over again!
The "Shawshank Redemption" is a one of a kind film experience--and seeing it in 4K makes that experience even more memorable. This 4K Blu-ray disc comes with the highest recommendation I can possibly offer. Every movie collector who loves great films should have a copy of this excellent disc in their collection!
