Review of The Shawshank Redemption

Darabont's adaptation of a Stephen King novella is a throwback to the kind of serious, literate drama Hollywood used to make... Against this weighs the pleasure of discovering a first-time director with evident respect for the intelligence of his audience, brave enough to let character details accumulate without recourse to the fast-forward button. Darabont plays the long game and wins: this is an engrossing, superbly acted yarn, while the Shawshank itself is a truly formidable mausoleum.