Dead Man's Shoes Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
He's in all of us.
Richard returns home from military service to a small town in the Midlands. He has one thing on his mind: revenge. Payback for the local bullies who did some very bad things to his brother. At first his campaign employs guerrilla tactics, designed to frighten the men and put them ill at ease. But then he steps up his operation, and one by one these local tough guys are picked off by the terrifying angel of vengeance that Richard has become.
| Paddy Considine | Richard |
| Gary Stretch | Sonny |
| Toby Kebbell | Anthony |
| Jo Hartley | Jo |
| Seamus O'Neill | Big Al |
| Stuart Wolfenden | Herbie |
| Paul Sadot | Tuff |
| Paul Hurstfield | Mark |
| Emily Aston | Patti |
| George Newton | Gypsy John |
| Neil Bell | Soz |
| Craig Considine | Craig |
| Matt Considine | Matt |
| Andrew Shim | Elvis |
| Arthur Meadows | Mourner |
| Shane Meadows |
8.00 out of 10 (11735 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Excellent *spoilers*
posted on 20 Aug 2009Caught this little gem of a film on Channel 4 tonight. Had never heard of, or seen it before - but thanks to a tip off, I'm glad I watched it. Superb performances all round - none more so than Paddy Considine.It's the story of Richard, an ex-soldier who returns to his hometown to wreck revenge on those who tortured his younger brother, Anthony. Anthony was a young lad with learning difficulties, who fell in with the wrong crowd once his brother left to join the army. Richard's prime motivation is revenge, but he is also driven by guilt and ultimately it leads to his downfall. I understand that the film cost very little to make, which add's to it's impact.
God will forgive them
posted on 20 Aug 2009God will forgive them etc..., This is the best line in any film i have ever seen from the very outset of the film you have no doubt that Richard (Paddy Considine) is uncompromising in his attitude towards revenge . I live in this area of England and the stark grey images combined with the lush green fields work fantastically well on film , the characters are your everyman types that everyone knows or knows of in their town .It shows the dark under belly of small towns in central England , its stark imagery doesn't glorify violence in the way usually associated with this type of film . The characters that Richard reeks his revenge on are likable in there own way and comedic at times , i think thats the winning formula you don't hate the characters and want to see them die but you don't mind that they must .Its a fine balance that most films don't manage to achieve , all in all its one of the best revenge flicks i have seen in years . Paddy Considine plays an excellent anti hero who you sympathise and empathise with in equal amounts knowing all the time what he is doing is lawfully unacceptable but morally just . Altogether a fantastic film with an excellent engaging storyline , its not 'Hollywood' so will have its critics but its a step in the right direction for British film .
This Film Must Be Seen !!!!!!!
posted on 31 Jul 2009I love this film! Just from the menu screen of the DVD I knew it was going to be a damn good film........and what a film it is.I don't think I should say anything about this film 'cos I think the viewer should watch this with NO EXPECTATIONS in mind. I know some people who visit this site just want someone else's opinion ,but believe me -this film is a gem..........and after watching it you'll understand why I don't really want to comment on it.I bought this DVD with no understanding of what it was going to be like(except for the writing on the back of the DVD case)and I can honestly say that this film blew me away.This film is so well made,with elements of Comedy,Horror,Thriller and Real-Life Observation,that it's hard to place it under one Category. The score is brilliant, and works so well with all of the above that the viewer is almost hypnotised by the films progress and undetermined state of mind, that it makes you wonder where this film is going. I think this is a vital ingredient to a Great Film.All in all,.........see it......rent it ......buy it.....ENJOY IT!!!!!!!!
A brutal revenge thriller with a wry, black-as-ink sense of humour, and loads of graphic nastiness.
posted on 15 Jul 2009Despite the fact that I'd heard that his films were something pretty special, for some strange and inexplicable reason I had been turning my back on the work of Shane Meadows. Even Dead Man's Shoes, which falls squarely into the revenge genre that I love so much, had lain unopened on my DVD pile for quite some time.Then, last night, for no other reason than it was the first title to hand, I ripped off the cellophane from DMS and popped it in my player. And I was gob-smacked. The film was an absolute stonker, brimming with dark humour, brutal action, and raw emotion, and featuring an excellent central performance from Paddy Considine, as an ex-soldier taking revenge on the low-life scum who tortured his mentally disabled brother.Considine, as Richard, older brother to the impressionable Anthony, is absolutely brilliant and gives a chilling and memorable performance as a man who will do anything in order to even the score. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that, whilst Richard was serving in the army abroad, Anthony fell in with 'the wrong crowd', who delighted in teasing and tormenting the poor lad.Richard, something of a fearless hard-nut, returns home to the Midlands and takes on those who hurt his brother—most of whom now make a living dealing drugs—and, one-by-one, dispenses his own brand of justice.Unrepentently grim, yet laced with an absurd streak of humour (the bad guys in this film drive around in a green and white striped Citroën 2CV!), Dead Man's Shoes is a unique viewing experience enhanced by innovative direction, mean spirited violence, a haunting soundtrack, and an ending that packs one hell of a punch.If you've got Dead Man's Shoes laying unwatched in your stack of DVDs, take my advice: open the bloody thing up right now and watch it!
Bone jerker!
posted on 01 Jul 2009This is a movie so stripped down to the bare bones it got under my skin more than any other film I've seen recently. It takes the equivalent of an emotional hand grenade to bring tears to my eyes but this was so harrowing an experience I found them watering! This is at heart a very religious experience that plays on the meaning and the fulfilment that comes by way, and, is in the way, of redemption. I doubt if anyone saw this coming from the Director's other stuff. A very constructive British film in the way that so many British films are not. A fantastic job by Paddy Considine - if only all Brit Cinema had so many layers! If only they had Paddy Considine.
This film is dark but wonderfully made and acted.
posted on 01 Jul 2009This was a really good film, i thought paddy considine was terrific and really worked the role well.There was a a lot of heart in the story and it didn't sugar-coat the harshness. I don't generally like slasher films and I think people may be freaked out by this as there is no 'cartoon' violence or humour in those scenes to make it more palatable, as in said slasher type films. That's not to say there's no humour in the film, it's just that the areas for each are clearly defined..this is after all played straight. The point of the film would be diluted if the necessary force was let up just to save people's taste.OK, well...that's this rather poorly written review over. I would urge you see this film, a very good tale....very dark and bittersweet.Thanks
Simmers and burns
posted on 25 Jun 2009I happened to catch this on C4, late one night. I had an early meeting, gave it a cursory glance.I was a mess at that early meeting. Much of the filming takes place in the town in which I grew up, went to school. I sat in front of the TV in a daze.I know the locations, and I know that one's relationship with a small town can be intensely parochial, incestuous even, certainly masochistic. When I was watching this, I thought to myself 'this person dislikes my home town as much as I do!'. I thought for a brief while that I was empathising with the gaze.Well, that's not quite the case. Seeing other people film in your familiar space, even though you're not there any more, means that you reassess that space: I might criticise, but no other oik has the right to! I do know that while this isn't a perfect movie, it's a damned good one, and it does hit home, in some respects if not in others. In places it's hilarious. Paddy Considine is brilliant. It's not flattering; it has its truth, and I'm very glad it was made.The humour is wonderfully worked; the landscape speaks for itself (I hope); the plot is what it is, and the tragedy is a small provincial town wondering what to do with itself...So bits are clunky... more bits are beautiful, and more still are very funny. Dead Man's Shoes is not a comfortable film to watch, but heck it's worth it.
nice work
posted on 13 Jun 2009Dead Man's Shoes is a nice little British film about a man who comes back from war to find his 'spastic' brother has been mistreated by some of the local drug punks. The cast seems a little old to be playing these parts, but it is a foreign film. The action, acting, and the screen play are quite good and this seems to be a well above average production. Some quaint British scenery and towns give added visual appetizers. I had some trouble understanding the dialog because of the thick British accents and slang, but the words weren't necessary to understand the plot. Another thing that bothered me is that everyone's teeth were so glowingly white. Usually druggies don't take that good care of themselves. Some nice touches and good heart.
The Makings of a Cult Classic!
posted on 28 May 2009I rarely post comments on IMDb, but I felt that commenting on this incredible film needed to be done. Dead Man's Shoes is simply an astonishing film, from the onset the viewer is drawn in completely, my attention never waned. Without revealing too much, this is a brutally realistic revenge story of young man full of harmful emotions, regret, guilt, anger and helplessness. He is highly trained as a professional soldier and upon hearing of his (mentally challenged) younger brothers torment returns to his quiet home village seeking justice and revenge on those who supposedly deserve it.I believe the film is set in Derbyshire, certainly the East Midlands of England. This works nicely, as such a beautiful, rural setting contrasts heavily, yet kind of works with the films gruesome content. This aspect of the film only helps to reinforce the feeling of misplaced emotion and confusion.The young soldier toys with his brothers bullies, he hunts them down one by one, killing them in a merciless nature, gets inside their heads, plays tricks on them, humiliates them and turns them against one another.Completely violent, gripping and disturbing in its visual effect. Every character is portrayed with real consideration by talented actors. With great direction, camera work, soundtrack and post-production, this film is a must-see for pulp fiction and fight club fans.You really must watch this film!
Probably the best film you will ever see
posted on 04 May 2009Acting 100% Plot 100% Directing 100% Distubing 100% if your a Thirty something, living in the north of England this story will hit home so hard. It took me about, six minutes to get absorbed into this masterpiece, all the way through I was saying to myself, this is the best film I have ever seen... my wife who usually talks all the way through every movie we put on...was silent !! I don't want to tell you anything that happens in the film... just go and see it and make your own mind up. If you try to find out what its about, this will lead to expectations of the genre, please just let the story unfold in front of your eyes, as I did, I knew nothing about this film other than it was a British film4 production. I didn't fancy the title..it sounded a bit corny but there wasn't anything else to watch on a wet Wednesday evening.
Mai Lai and the power of the single individual.
posted on 02 May 2009I came to this film with the story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam burling around my head. Charlie Company butchered 500 old men, women and children that day. A helicopter pilot flying recon saw some civilians hiding in a ditch, landed his craft between the villagers and US ground forces and ordered his crew to return fire if anyone tried to prevent him from getting to the Vietnamese. Hugh Thompson was brave enough to try and stop the madness, the only one awake. Yet, when he came back to the States he was branded a traitor and subjected to intimidation and abuse. When Thompson walked into the officers mess everyone walked out. The easiest bit for Thompson was that day at My Lai.This story is echoed in Shane Meadows' film. Do nothing and you have blood on your hands. How many other My Lai's did Thompson prevent? I urge everyone to meditate on the power of the single individual, particularly in these days of fear and false witness. If you loved this movie find out about Warrant Officer Hugh P. Thompson. As Richard says, "Not them, YOU, what did you do?" The sweeping aerial shot of the houses at the end made me think of all the people watching it happen on TV.
Handmade Revenge
posted on 12 Apr 2009The problem with British film is that it is usually woefully underfunded and poorly edited, so unless you have strong acting coupled with a strong storyline the film will always be destined to fail. Dead Man's Shoes fails on many levels but one.By the time Richard has exacted revenge across a few small towns of the Midlands, I often felt a great desire never to visit the place ever again. There are long drawn out sweeps of bland and meaningless countryside coupled with long sweeps of bland and meaningless council estates usually ending inside an insalubrious and deviant interior. There are also numerous and highly annoying short spatial sequences that develop the plot regarding Richard's brother (Kebbell), and with the denouement we are more than aware of the brutality enacted on Anthony, but, ironically, never actually empathise with how brutal or damaging those acts were. Although there are some comic elements they will only be appreciated by people who know about the drug culture or sexual deviancy; naturally you are not being asked to identify with these council-estate characters. Perhaps the biggest problem lies with Considine's portrayal of the vengeful Richard. Although he exacts revenge with gusto and aplomb, there is never really any element of menace or intimidation we are used to with films such as Death Wish or Shoot Em Up, and he plods across that tedious landscape as though he were Vladimir from Waiting for Godot.That being said the film does have moments where such beautiful poignancy and sentimentality shine through, occluding the ample negative elements. The acting between Richard and Anthony are often magical, and become more and more endearing until the viewer is rewarded with a painful epiphany. It would have been an ideal moment to end the film, but Richard has to slaughter a few more lower-class drug addicts first.
Best movie I've ever seen by Haggle
posted on 10 Apr 2009Easily one of the best films I've ever seen Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine team up for the second time and deliver one of the best movies of the decade, the scenery and gritty style of filming compliment each other perfectly.The story if you haven't seen the film already is as follows, an ex marine (Richard played by Paddy Considine) returns to his home town to take revenge on a gang drug dealers who Wronged his brother on various occasions and what follows is a violent killing spree of revenge the character of Richard and his lack of sympathy for the men hes hunting down just go to show how enraged and deadly he can be Paddy Considine plays the role flawlessly and rage of the character is shown in his facial expressions, hes such a brilliant actor.But rivalling Considine is Gary Stretch who delivers an equally brilliant role as the leader of the drug dealing gang and the first confrontation between the Considines and Stretch's character is brilliant the scene is very tense shown in both Richards facial expressions and threats and Sonny's (Stretch) sudden turn from being a confident hard man to being terrified of Richard as all his gang are. the soundtrack which is mostly folk compliments every seen especially the the scenes where Richard and his brother are walking through the country side as the scenery compliments every song.All of the actors do very good jobs especially as meadows chose to use mainly local actors.There is a very unexpected twist at the end which blew me away and just proves that Richard has gone insane with rage, the ending is especially brilliant and left my girlfriend in tears.I strongly urge any one to watch this film and i believe deserves a much higher overall rating. ten out of ten from me
Powerful dark drama...
posted on 31 Mar 2009I saw this film last night, my flatmate whose last recommendation was "Transformers" and who usually watches Kung fu flicks told me that it was a brilliant movie. I was dubious.How wrong could I be.This is one of the greatest,darkest, films I have ever seen. A basic revenge movie it revolves around one mans search for personal, and painful, justice. I have read many threads discussing the movie bemoaning that it didn't really have "real" gangsters in it and that it didn't work as a comedy nor did it provide pornographic violence. What this film does provide is stunning acting and a twisted dark and realistic portrayal of distorted lives. The victims although guilty are human and real and the vengeful brother, full of righteous invincible anger, is also a man on the edge unable to draw back from his path.There is no forgiveness in this film and none is possible, before you watch be warned that there is no happy ending within, just as you are told in the opening line of the film. It is emotive and painful to see the depth of the main characters hate and it's expression in merciless torture of his victims and their unfolding "matter of fact" execution.I couldn't pay this film a bigger compliment than to say that even if I told you of the "twist" it would still not prevent the emotional hammer blow from falling as you watch. This film makes you want to cry at the cruel throwaway accidental nature of things.Dead mans shoes is one of the saddest most eloquent pieces of cinema I have ever seen, expressed brilliantly and filmed just as it needed to be filmed, the acting is as good as you will ever see. Against the beautiful grey green of the rural north midlands of England, this film is as thought provoking as it is sad, as it is brilliant. Forget about the budget and the lack of stars you will not see a better, more human, more moving film than this for a long time to come.The word is overused but nonetheless it is a masterpiece which will stay with you. You will recommend this film to everyone you meet after you have seen it.
Totally awesome revenge flick
posted on 29 Mar 2009Most people would focus on the violence in the film and ignore the important morals of the film. This movie is pretty disturbing, in my opinion, especially the flashbacks of mentally-challenged Anthony in the dope house, but although the moral majority may find it appalling, dreadful and sickening it does prove a point by showing that there really are evil, immoral people in the world. Yet the government choose to disregard this thematic element and make out that someone will copy the murders that happen.The genre of this film is that of revenge mixed with typical slasher movie fundamentals (the protagonist wears a Travis Bickle-type jacket complete with gas mask). The main character of the movie is Richard (Paddy Considine) who wants vengeance for his slow brother, Anthony (Toby Kebbell) for his sick and cruel torture. The acting and directing is superb.My personal favourite moments in the movie would have to include Herbie (Stuart Wolfenden) leaving a crack house when, just as he goes to open the door, Richard is just standing there with his mask on looking right at him through the glass door. Another scene I loved was when Richard drugs the villains, making them defenceless and slaps them about, "Dance at my party!" All in all, the film is totally awesome and a must-see.10/10 ***** A+
Taxi Driver + Rambo +Get Carter=One of the best U.K. Films in years.
posted on 27 Mar 2009After getting bored of the same type of Richard Curtis ROM-Com's for films being made in the U.K.I have to say i think this is the best film from England in a very,very, long time.After the failure at doing a Curtis like film with Once upon a time in the midlands.Shane Meadows said he would not make another film,but he has come back with this.Unlike those ROM-Com's,this is a film where,instead of a punch-line,it gives you a punch in the face!!. The Plot:Two brothers return to the homeland they had left,Eight years ago.And find that it is getting overrun by drug dealers and gangs.The brothers,particular for Richard (played by a great Paddy"24 Hour Party People"Considine,go out for revenge, View on the film:While the films plot is not that original (in a room you can see one of the dealers have a Taxi Driver poster on his wall!!).The film moves at a very fast pace.Meadows (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Considine)keeps the film moving fast,and gives you a bit of a shock ending (one that you will have to watch yourself).The film has a really good cast with Considine being a great stand out as Richard. Final view: If you are like me and getting tired of all those Rom-Com's,and you want to see the next Get Carter,then you should see this.
Lets play switcheroo.
posted on 19 Mar 2009Richard an ex-paratrooper returns back to his hometown in the British Midlands, after spending some years in the military. Upon his arrival, he learns from his simple-minded brother Anthony that within those 8 years, that a local gang of drug peddlers and thugs have been giving him a rough and unpleasant time for their own amusement. Richard wants revenge for their disrespect, and that's the only thing on his mind as he slowly torments his victims, until they start losing it and then terrorises them to their death at his own hands.For such a tight-made independent feature, Shane Meadows' "Dead Man's Shoes" is a confident, evocative, brash and haunting take on the dark, cold and deep side of retribution and finally redemption. It's a highly admirable achievement, because it's truly an uncomfortable ride made more authentic by an everyday factor of real characters grounded in blunt, unflinching reality. Being a revenge story, the plot is straightforward and tactical. However it's actually atypical in the way it lets things play out with more so a drama and morality element giving it meaning and some groundwork to undertake, as we wait for the revelations. Clichés rarely enter the frame. A realistically crafted script eclectically compels with character relationships and provides agreeable black humour. The flashback scenes are nicely handled too. Everything is kept pretty restraint, even though it's confronting, this is done more so by psychological interplay, where it can raise some touching and daunting images of less means more. It's violent, but not extreme or gratuitous, just simply frank and cruel in a genuine sense. Watching Paddy Considine's Richard string 'em along, as he basically switches shoes with his victims and puts them into the degrading situation they forced his brother in to. Comes across as elaborately powerful, as he taunts, toys and lets these weak-minded cowards suffer, as he slips into even darker territory by continuously messing with his game, with such little effort. We know what's going to occur, but it still manages to repel and unnerve. So the question is, who's the monster now? And the resolution to that satisfies. Paddy Considine impresses greatly in his intensely multi-facet and intimidating performance. He brings such a pot-boiling intensity that's just waiting to break out of that ominously calm looking outer shell. The way he goes about it, shows the talent and control to balance these ever-changing temperaments (anger, sorrow, freakish spurts and to having a joke at his brother's tormentors expense) in a very believable and forceful manner. Excellent and gripping indeed! Most of the characters aren't likable, but the cast do a fine and natural job with them anyhow. In the support are the likes of a humanely good Toby Kebell as Anthony and the fitting Gary Stretch as the disquietingly slimy and macho thug-boss Sonny. Meadows' established direction is gritty and downbeat, where he drums up a slow and droning tempo that intentionally saps you. The colourlessly stark surroundings are dour as can be. Hanging off the film was an effectively sombre atmosphere of menace and unsettling tension rooted amongst the beautifully implemented and desolate rural/working-bound setting. A poised, hypnotically direct style of photography etches its way in and a melodiously harrowing music score with a folk-like touch, only gets more eerier as the film moves along.It's no flawless enterprise, but in all, it's an ambitious foray done with enough aplomb and holds a remarkably strapping lead performance by Paddy Considine. It simply takes hold and never lets your eyes move off it.
A great film with an extraordinary performance by Constine
posted on 07 Mar 2009I wasn't expecting much from this film when i picked it out at Blockbuster. It looked violent so I thought why not? I didn't recognise any of the names in the film. If I see the name Paddy Constine on it then i will not hesitate to watch it. I think this guy may quite possibly be one of the finest actors I have ever seen. I love Pesci in Goodfellas and how he can scare the viewer. He isn't fit to tie this mans laces. I will be very surprised if Paddy Constine is not a major, major film star very, very soon. Its just a shame that England have half arced talent such as Jude Law and Daniel Craig representing us in Hollywood when this man is simply exceptional. If I was making a film (to coin a phrase0 he would be the first name on the team sheet. I was gob smacked at how good he was.
Unnerving intensity and brutal realism
posted on 27 Feb 2009Paddy Considine is Richard, a returning soldier who seeks atonement for the torment and humiliation his mentally-challenged brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) suffered at the hands of the drug dealers and lowlifes while Richard was in the Army. Set in the English midlands among ancient castles and rolling farmlands, Shane Meadows' (This is England) fifth feature, Dead Man's Shoes, is more than a by-the-numbers story of revenge against those who bully weaker, vulnerable people. It is a black comedy with a serious message – that unchecked violence, regardless of the righteousness of the cause, brings the perpetrator to the same level as his victims. While this theme has been done before, rarely has it been brought to the screen with such unnerving intensity and brutal realism.Divided into five day-chapters, Dead Man's Shoes opens with two men walking through rural Derbyshire to the background song "Vessel in Vain" by the English group Smog. Captured by cinematographer Danny Cohen, it sets an idyllic tone but one that is soon interrupted by the man carrying a backpack who says to the camera: "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that," and then sets out methodically to prove his point. Richard, an ex-paratrooper, has a grim, determined look that almost belies the humiliating pranks he initially plays on his victims, painting their faces while sleeping and leaving cryptic messages on their walls before he moves on to more relentless punishments.The first time we see Richard's fangs is when he is confronted by gang member Herbie (Stuart Wolfenden), at a pub who menacingly asks him, "What are you looking at?" only to met by teeth-bearing rage and an unprintable retort. The good-natured, semi-improvised dialogue of the thugs (barely decipherable through thick accents) soon moves to the ugliness of Richard's bloody campaign to pick them off one by one. While this occurs, Meadows provides black and white flashbacks to show Richard's justifications for his actions - the increasing abuse being inflicted on Anthony who lacks the resources to stand up for himself.The film is dotted with memorable moments: the macho crime boss Sonny's (ex-boxer Gary Stretch) accidental shooting of Big Al (Seamus O'Neill) after the five drive up in their tiny 2CV to the farmhouse where Richard is staying; the face-to-face confrontation between Richard and Sonny while the boys wait in the car; Richard donning a gas mask to lurk about and scare the living daylights out of Herbie; a dark but daringly realistic Speed and LSD trip in which the dealers experience what they have inflicted on others; and a final plot twist that will leave you gaping.Dead Man's Shoes is a riveting work whose power lies not only in the staggeringly believable performance of Considine (who-co-wrote the screenplay with Shane Meadows), but in the film's dirge-like, almost spiritual tone that is enhanced by the elegiac music of Arvo Part. Ultimately, Richard's belated attempt to redeem his guilt and rescue his own soul suggests that retribution should be left to the universe to sort out and that redemption can only lie in acknowledging and taking responsibility for our own actions.
Bleak, powerful and utterly affecting; Meadows' best alongside Romeo Brass
posted on 28 Aug 2009Dead Man's Shoes is a typically British take on the territory of films like Straw Dogs, Death Wish and Last House on the Left, with director Shane Meadows and actor Paddy Considine offering up a reflection of callous violence and searing redemption - shot through with a gritty realism and a stark streak of dark comedy - which will eventually give way to one of the most emotionally crippling final acts ever committed to film.Beginning with a montage of super-8 footage of the two protagonists as children - inter-cut with their older incarnations wandering across a desolate field to the strains of alt-country favourites Smog - the film immediately sets up a dark foreboding that will cast a shadow across the rest of the film. The story is simple, following a discharged soldier who returns to his hometown after an absence of eight years to get revenge on the gang of local thugs who viciously tormented his younger, mentally handicapped brother while he was away. Looking at it on paper, the plot could have easily stemmed from the most shallow and manipulative 80's action blockbuster, with Meadow's making allusions to the first Rambo film, as well as Get Carter and the films aforementioned. However, anyone who's seen Meadows' previous films, most notably, Twenty-Four Seven and A Room for Romeo Brass, will be aware of his style of film-making, which often involves scripted scenes that are beautifully composed by the cinematographer, juxtaposed with hand-held improvisation sequences featuring non-professional actors, or actors with limited experiences.Unlike retro Hollywood revenge dramas such as Rambo, Death Wish and various other projects, Meadows and Considine don't paint the characters as good and bad, or black and white; instead, they offer equal shades of both qualities to both the avenging Richard and the local thugs. This means that as well as feeling sympathy for Richard and his brother, we also feel sorry for the thugs, who here come across as amiable losers, not too dissimilar to the kind of characters you could find in any Ken Loach social realist film. The use of dark humour, or naturalistic humour, which is characteristically British (finding humour in even the most absurd situations because you're not sure how to react, etc) work very well in these early scenes in establishing the thugs and also in creating an atmosphere that eases us into the film before Meadows' hits us with the more shocking and abrasive stuff in the second act.The script is brilliantly structured, with Meadows and Considine setting a mood with only the vague suggestion of a plot; allowing the story to become clearer as the film progresses through the use of grainy black and white flashbacks. As we become more interested in the thugs - and even begin to question Richard's actions - the effect of the flashbacks and the behaviour depicted within become more and more brutal, so that we start to see the full picture emerge. It is only then, towards the third act, can we fully appreciate the true extent of Richard's carnage. This is probably as bleak as cinema gets (easily on par with other devastating works like Dogville, Irreversible, All or Nothing, Straw Dogs, Stroszek, Cries and Whispers, A Short Film About Killing, The Match Factory Girl, etc), with Meadows offering some brutal set-pieces and a really claustrophobic and suffocating atmosphere - particularly in the later scenes - which document real human horror in a manner that is completely unflinching.Considine's performance as the seemingly damaged Richard is a revelation - easily as great as his portrayal of Rob Gretton in 24 Hour Party People, though completely different in tone - as he manages to convey a sense of danger and menace, whilst all the while retaining an element of restraint; which, somehow, makes him all the more disturbing! The other actors are also very strong, particularly Toby Kebbell as the mildly retarded (childlike) Anthony, who, along with former boxer Gary Stretch and unknowns like Paul Sadot, Neil Bell and Stuart Wolfenden (who make up the main bulk of the gang) bring a realism and a naturalism to a film, which, in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, could have easily become a series of trite clichés. Nothing about Dead Man's Shoes ever feels trite; the brisk 80 minute running time remains riveting throughout (largely down to Considine's towering performance and the bleak but beautiful imagery of Meadows and cinematographer Danny Cohen) whilst the use of music - covering everything from Bonny Prince Billy, Dangermouse, Aphex Twin, ClayHill, M Ward and a variety of others - captures the real spirit of the film perfectly.Dead Man's Shoes is already one of my all-time favourite films, and is a film that I would argue to be one of the greatest British films ever made (as written in 2005). Meadows' proves that powerful and emotionally engaging films can be made on a shoestring budget, whilst also demonstrating quite clearly that there IS life in the British film industry outside the cosy realms of Richard Curtis. Although it may be a little too depressing for some viewers, for me, Dead Man's Shoes remains a shining example of what real film-making is all about... and should be of interest to anyone with a serious love of film.