MovieChat Forums > The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Discussion > Did Shawshank deserve its place as the h...

Did Shawshank deserve its place as the highest rated film on imdb?


Since there is currently no polling option, I will list the choices from A to E.
A. Yes
B. Belongs in the top 10
C. Belongs in the top 250
D. Belongs in the top 1000
E. Completely overrated.

reply

A

reply

What's "IMDB"??

reply

hahaHa

reply

A--yes, I always thought so. It's a wonderful human story about the triumph of the spirit.

reply

B-C. Great movie, but not the best.

It's important to note that the rating system on IMDb - which is a perfect site for finding movies, and the platform is really well designed- is incredibly flawed, and not to be trusted in this capacity. When The Dark Knight came out, TDK fans downvoted The Godfather, in the hope of making TDK #1, and The Godfather fans downvoted TDK, because they didn't wanted to lose the top spot. (This also happened with The Return of the King, but with less influence.)
http://250.took.nl/title/tt0111161 Here you can see that The Shawshank Redemption is actually first on the list continuously since August of 2008, which is around the time when TDK came out (18 July 2008).


Even though I don't think its the greatest movie of all time, I really like this movie, it has a magnificent storytelling, lovable characters, and a really interesting story. The mood of the movie, is one of the best in movie history. It Belongs near the top, but I would still put some timeless classics(The Godfather, Ciziten Kane, 12 Angry Men) or some modern masterpieces(The Lord of the Rings) or my personal favourite of that era, Pulp Fiction above it.(The Shawshank Redemption is #11 on my personal top 100 list)


reply

I'm completely agree with u.

reply

A for me. Always hard to judge objectively if one movie is better than another when comparing movies from different genres and times, but The Shawshank Redemtion is my personal favorite movie of all time across all genres.

reply

So you are not being objective then since you broke your own rules. -How Come? As to Gernes, Is it you favorite comedy and Civil War movie as well?

reply

D. It is a very good film, but a little generic and predictable at times. I rated it 8/10. I would likely rank it towards the bottom half of top 1000.

reply

Predictable since maybe so many other things have stolen from it since it first came out?

reply

You could do a lot worse. I think it's great that such a fine film (and one that fared so poorly at the box office) has become "the people's choice."

reply

I agree with this sentiment. I'm just glad it is something decent and not Avatar or Transformers, etc.

reply

I really enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption but I'm not sure I would consider it the best film ever.. I'm not sure what I would put in that place though.. American History X is probably my number 1 film but I do also think it could be argued that the Lord of the Rings films deserve the position because of their scope but it's so difficult to choose just 1 film and say it's the best because 'the best' can mean so many different things and doesn't always mean 'most enjoyable'.

reply

I think American History X is a better film also. When it comes to films I tend to rate like against like... so I would think of Lord of the Rings as one of the best in the fantasy genre, although I'd say Game of Thrones has surpassed it even though it's a television show.

reply

Game of Thrones is easily the best TV show I have ever seen. I agree with you though about comparing like to like which is why it's so hard to come up with a number 1 film overall.

reply

C. Excellent film worthy of being in the top 250, but no where near the top 10.

reply