The Shawshank Redemption: Special Edition (DVD)

A special edition DVD and re-release was the honor given for the 10th Anniversary of The Shawshank Redemption, a movie that dodged its target audience while in theaters, but found love on video.

Personally, I saw Shawshank when it made its way to my local dollar theater back in 1994, and the main reason it sticks in my mind is because during the first 5-10 minutes there was absolutely no picture, only audio. Lucky enough the error was corrected and I saw one of the best movies ever in the theater.

Now, people everywhere, have fallen in love with the story of two men and their lives in the Shawshank prison and the trials and tribulations they endured... as the idea of hope rings throughout the cells.

Shawshank enjoyed seven Academy Award nominations despite the fact that it brought in only $28 million in domestic box-office before finding success on video, and to think a film with that small of a number at the box-office would be getting an anniversary edition is quite an accomplishment.

As for this special edition, the movie is obviously great, but the special features become a bit redundant and really unnecessary considering there two full-length documentaries, when one would have been satisfactory, and there is a comic spoof of the movie called The Sharktank Redemption, which isn't funny at all.

Along with that there is a feature-length commentary with writer/director Frank Darabont, which really is mind-numbingly boring as well as a segment from the Charlie Rose Show with Darabont, Robbins and Freeman, which is good if you are bored on a Sunday night, but otherwise I have never really found Rose's show to be that good and he is bumbling and stumbling around this one just as he does every episode.

On top of the major features you also get a stills gallery, storyboards, trailer and a DVD-ROM Weblink, none of which are reason enough to by this edition alone.

As far as this edition being "special" it falls short, but as far as this movie being amazing that is where it succeeds. So it really comes down to whether or not you own this one already. If so, don't bother with upgrading to the Special Edition, if not, you may as well buy this one considering it is only about four dollars more than the original release.