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danthemitchell came out of the closet to say:
I really can't get behind this movie. It is excessively sentimental, to the point of almost becoming camp. Many of the characters (particularly the warden) are completely artificial and under-developed, which gives the film a really forced feeling at times. It's also completely manipulative and arbitrary in its sense of morality, forcing characters and actions to fit into the broader narrative rather than letting them develop through the performances or the (absent) direction. Deakins's cinematography is breathtaking (as always), but that's the only "great" element at work in this film, the rest of it is compentent but forgettable. Worst of all, Darabont continues to repeat these mistakes in other films, constantly indulging in melodrama and other excesses.