THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
Label: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), A (Blu-ray)
Rating: R
Duration: 142 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 2160p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) with HDR, 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Frank Darabont
Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore
Released in 1994 The Shawshank Redemption is an adaptation of Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (1982). The film marked the feature directorial debut of its screenwriter Frank Darabont who had previously penned scripts for iconic horror flick Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), The Blob (1988) and The Fly II (1989). While the film was considered a box-office dud upon it's initial release it has since gone on to become bonafide Hollywood classic that was nominated for seven Oscars and a re-release the following year base on the late-coming acclaim.
The film tells the sort of messianic story of a prominent banker named Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins, The Player) who is convicted of the shooting death of his cheating wife and her golf pro lover and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the Shawshank State Prison in Maine. where he is greeted by the insidious duo of Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton, Dolores Claiborne), the corrupt prison warden and his right-hand man Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown, Pet Sematary 2), a brute prison guard who is feared by all who know better. Andy quickly befriends another lifer, Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman, Se7en), who has an uncanny ability to smuggle contraband into the prison, which serves any well when he requests a large poster of Hollywood starlet Rita Hayworth and a rock hammer, which he swears is too small to use for a jail break, so Red obliges.
The pair develop quite a friendship through the years, as he does with a number of fellow inmates, including wise-mouthed Heywood (William Sadler, Tales from the Crypt presents: Demon Knight), Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore, Them!) an elderly prison librarian with a pet crow, and rock n' roller Tommy (Gil Bellows, Love and a .45). He also makes enemies by way of a gang of homosexual rapists called The Sisters" lead by Bogs (Mark Rolston, RoboCop 2),who regularly are after his tender ass, and as Red says through his narration at one point, " I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that, but prison is no fairy-tale world".
Eventually as the years begin to roll by Andy because of his banker background begins to financially advise the prison staff and even the warden himself, then helping Norton launder money he has acquired through a corrupt enterprise. The way the film builds up to the finale which has a wonderful this-is-how-de-did-it montage is to me perfection, a pitch perfect film from start to finish that established Darabont as not just a master screenwriter but a fantastic director right out of the gate.
Shawshank is an epic story with a fantastic script by Darabont, deft direction, and an all-star cast lead by Freeman and Robbins as well as Gunton and Brown, as well as dozen of all-star character actors who bring the prison community to life with a cinematic language and poignancy that has turned out to be timeless. It's sort of fascinating that a film with prison rape and corrupt prison staff murdering inmates and running a money-laundering scheme is considered a family movie time classic, but it is, and that's a testament to the quality of the writing, acting and craft.
Darabont was ably assisted in it's creation by Academy Award winning cinematographer Roger Deakins (Barton Fink, Blade Runner 2049, 1917) and composer Thomas Newman (The Lost Boys, 1917) who cement the lyrical cinematic language of the film. Truly a timeless film that I watch every chance I get, back when I still had cable TV and surfed the channels if I came across this movie I would camp out and watch it, no matter where in the story I happened onto it - if it was on, I was all-in!
Audio/Video: The Shawshank Redemption arrives on 4K UltraHD and Blu-ray from WBHE in 2160p UHD framed in the original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. There's no mention of a new scan of the film so I will assume this is coming from an existing master, and it's clean and free of dirt, debris and blemishes. We get some very pleasing depth and clarity, and the increased resolution offers pore-peeking fine detail and texture in the close-ups - it look fantastic. There's a significant difference in color-timing betwene the Blu-ray and the UHD, the latter of which does have some of that teal/orange push creeping into it but overall it's a solid color-balance that offers truer blacks and some primaries that have a nice pop to them.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. No Atmos upgrade for Shawshank but it's a solid uncompressed presentation with some terrific use of the surrounds that build tension and atmosphere with the sound of thunder, the clank of prison cell doors and gunfire are delivered with precision.
Onto the extras, the UHD disc only carries the audio commentary from Screenwriter/Director Frank Darabont. On the Blu-ray disc, which is the 2008 disc recycled sadly, we get all the other extras, which are archival and quite dated. This is a prestigious film deserving of new extras, I was a bit bummed that WBHE didn't do more for it, but they're not really do new extras for their catalog titles on UHD these days, I would love to see that change.
The 2-disc UHD/BD/Digital combo arrives in an Elite black keepcase with a single sides sleeve of artwork. Now about that artwork, WTF are WB thinking using a stock still from the movie when they have that iconic illustrated
movie poster by Drew Struzan sitting in the vault, are you fucking kidding me? C'mon, at least offer a a reversible sleeve with it, damn, that Struzan illustration would have looked amazing on the slipcover, and would have sold untold units all by itself. I would hate to think that WB didn't want to pony up for the rights, because this movie gave them quite a bit of prestige and made them a lot of money! Anyway, inside there's a code for a digital UHD copy of the film which I redeemed through Vudu which did not contain the supplemental extras.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Screenwriter/Director Frank Darabont
- “Hope Springs Eternal: A Look Back at The Shawshank Redemption” (31 min)
- “Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature” (48 min)
- Audio Commentary by Screenwriter/Director Frank Darabont
- “Hope Springs Eternal: A Look Back at The Shawshank Redemption” (31 min)
- “Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature” (48 min)
- The Charlie Rose Show with Frank Darabont, Tim Robbins, and Morgan Freeman (42:21) (42 min)
- “The SharkTank Redemption” (25 min)
- “The SharkTank Redemption” (25 min)
- Theatrical Re-Release Trailer (2 min)
- 5xStills Galleries (17 min)
- Storyboards: “Bogs Takes a Fall” & “New Fish Arrive” (9 min)
- 5xStills Galleries (17 min)
- Storyboards: “Bogs Takes a Fall” & “New Fish Arrive” (9 min)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is easily my favorite prison film of all-time; it's also a top three Stephen King adaptation; and a top ten favorite film if I'm being pressed about. It's just a classic flick that I love to pieces, so it's great to have it on UHD and looking better than ever on home video. Obviously this is a no-brainer, an essential film for all movie-lovers and well-worth the upgrade for those indulging in 4K Ultra HD.
