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Dan-56
Reviews
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Good but ludicrously overrated
I quite like this film but it wouldn't make my top 100. The idea it's the greatest film in history is laughable.
Of course the acting's terrific. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins are solid as ever, even if Bob Gunton and Clancy Brown (the Baddies) chew the scenery. And that's the problem - everything is so terribly black and white, with every character springing straight out of a three word summary. Our hero is Good But Flawed, Red is Good And Noble, the Warden is Just Plain Bad and his henchman is Reminiscent Of Another Film (okay, four words).
I've never been inside a prison, but I can't believe all the prisoners would be so damn nice. There's the "sisters" - a bunch of horrid rapists, of course, but they're nothing a small plot contrivance can't eliminate. The "sisters" aside, there's nary a cross word from a prisoner in the whole film.
Racism is also curiously absent. American prisons today are notorious hot-beds of racism. Martin Luther King's dream is bizarrely alive and well in Shawshank, where colour doesn't get a mention in twenty years of "history".
This total lack of realism means it's not really a film about prison at all. And what kind of "character" film can be centred around someone who seems entirely flawless (other than perhaps in his choice of attorney).
I can whinge about the mechanics of the film as well. Voiceover narration is irritating enough - but Red narrating events at which he was not present? Pur-lease. And that final scene - talk about a director who didn't know when to shout "cut". It didn't need much self control to stop at the point Red heads towards Mexico - films for grown-ups shouldn't need endings that resolve any uncertainty.
Speaking of the director, isn't it odd how the maker of the "Greatest film in the world ever" is also credited for The Fan, Eraser, The Blob and The Fly II? It's as if Orson Welles directed "Plan 9 from Outer Space", or Francis Ford Copolla helmed "Megaforce".
I don't mean to make this out to be a bad film - it's far from that. But anyone who rates it the greatest ever should try "Godfather", "Goodfellas", "Citizen Kane", "Casablanca" - something, anything that's not so *worthy*.
The Delta Force (1986)
A strong contender for "most embarrassing action film ever made"
Starts off as a rather awkwardly earnest documentary-style re-creation of a hijacking and switches half way through into low-budget Bondery. Full of big 80s style explosions (with lots of petrol), bad 70s hair styles (five years too late) and small-minded stereotypes of Muslims. Chuck Norris runs the gamut of acting skills from A to A and Lee Marvin proves he can be a hack actor in the 80s as well as the 70s.
Another reviewer wrote that "Chuck Norris paved the way for Stephen Seagal". Perhaps if you view that as a recommendation you'll like this - otherwise steer well clear.
Zero Tolerance (1994)
Cop out for revenge against mobsters who murder his family
Stupid script. Daft body count. Second rate acting. Manipulative and unpleasant junk.