King has always been known for having an ear for realistic dialogue, and with much of Shawshank being character driven, with all of the important story information relayed through conversations or from Morgan Freeman’s voiceover, you needed actors who could deliver these lines convincingly. It’s impossible to imaging Red being played by anyone other than Freeman or Andy Dufresne by anyone other than Tim Robbins. Even the smaller roles are handled with aplomb, as if everyone knew this film was going to be something special and they needed to bring their A-game. 

For the rest, the 4K HDR transfer will be the definitive way to own and view this movie, with the film looking its very best. Originally shot on 35mm film, this new transfer is taken from a 4K digital intermediate. Of course, even the best film-to-4K transfers never have the ultra-sharpness of modern digitally filmed titles, but even still the image quality is mostly fantastic throughout.

Where you can most appreciate the added resolution is in closeups, where edge sharpness and facial detail is outstanding. You can see the contrast between the smoothness, fine lines, and small pores in Robbins’ face against Freeman’s more weathered skin. You can also appreciate the texture and weight of the stones, concrete, and cement throughout the prison. Clothing also really enjoys the added detail, such as the texture and fabric on the numbered patches all prisoners wear, the fine pinstripes on the prisoners’ shirts, and on Red’s hat.

As is fairly common in film-to-4K transfers, longer-range shots don’t seem to retain the sharpness and detail and look a bit softer, such as the initial scene where we fly over the prison and see the inmates scattered down below. Fortunately, much of Shawshank is filmed in close to medium shots that benefit from the 4K transfer.

There are a lot of shots in dimly lit areas such as inside the prison or even a cell, the laundry, or solitary where the lighting is often harsh, naked bulbs, and the new HDR grading helps these to have more depth and pop. The flourishes of gold on the guards’ uniforms and hats and the Warden’s cross also get a nice bit of sparkle. We can also really appreciate the many varied shades of blue in the prison uniforms.

A couple of scenes that really stood out to me were the shot outside when Andy and crew are tarring the room. Here you see the sleek, gleaming black of the tar, with the emerald green grass, and the red brick of the building with the blue-grey skies. When Hadley and Andy have their “conversation,” notice the razor-sharp edges of them as they stand over the edge of the building. Another scene was when Red and Andy were sitting outside in the yard chatting, and you could really see the sharp lines in the mortar of the walls, with tons of image depth.

This release features a new 5.1-channel DTS HD-Master mix which I would call serviceable of the material. There were certainly some scenes with ambience, such as in the laundry, or in the prison yard, or the chow hall, but for the most part audio is across the front three channels. You get a bit of expansiveness upmixed into the height speakers, expanding the soundstage of the score, as well as some of the prison PA announcements, and also making outdoor scenes sonically feel bigger and more open. There was a scene where they were unlocking inmates from their cells, and you got a nice sense of people moving around and doors opening above you. The finale’s big thunder and lightning storm also gets some nice weight in the sub channel as well as filling the room with the downpour. Ultimately, the most important audio is the dialogue, and that is well and clearly presented in the front channel.

I’m hesitant to call any movie perfect, but Shawshank is timeless and holds up every bit as well today as it when it was released in 1994. The casting, the acting, the dialogue, the pacing, and the story . . if this isn’t perfect, well, it’s damn close. Watching it again, I can’t think of anything I would change or wish they had done differently. This is highly recommended and sure to please for years to come.