Try getting through customs with THAT suitcase! (Dead Man's Shoes (DVD))

Member Name: l-m-n-o-p

Product:	Dead Man's Shoes (DVD)
Date:	31/10/06 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Bleak, brutal and surprisingly emotional

Disadvantages: Ending was a bit of a letdown; won't be to everyone's tastes

Firstly I just want to mention Dooyoo's ridiculous categorising of this as "horror". I'm writing this review on halloween, and it's not even horror today.

ALSO, I'M REVIEWING THE FILM ONLY - THAT MEANS NO DVD EXTRAS

Dead Man's Shoes is a pretty apt name for this bleak, brutal British revenge thriller - yes thriller, not horror. It's directed by relative newcomer Shane Meadows (whose previous films include 24/7 and Once Upon A Time In The Midlands) and it stars Paddy Considine, who has now become something of a Hollywood name, after appearing in Cinderella Man, and the upcoming Bourne Ultimatum.

It was nominated for best British film at the 2005 Baftas (losing out to Vera Drake) and won an Empire Award (Best British Actor for Considine), so it's fair to say it's earned a bit of critical acclaim.

Paddy Considine plays Richard. He's just returned to his home town after being in the army for a couple of years, but he's not back to celebrate. He's come back to take revenge on a gang of drug dealers who assaulted his younger, mentally ill brother, Anthony (played by Toby Kebbell). And boy is he angry.

On the first day of his five day revenge-a-thon, Richard meets Herbie (Stuart Wolfenden) in a pub, and has an immediate effect on him. You see, Herbie is one of the gang members, so he runs off to give the others a message: Richard's back in town. The leader of the gang is Sonny (played by Gary Stretch), and of course he's none too pleased at the new arrival, so they have a little sit down and decide upon a course of action to eliminate the threat.

Richard isn't afraid of Sonny and the gang - he has nothing to lose, and he's hell-bent on revenge - so he begins to terrorise them in their own homes. At first he simply watches them until they become paranoid, but soon his plans develop into something much more vicious.

The revenge thriller is a genre that's been covered many times really, as is the British crime thriller. I'll be honest and say that I haven't actually seen any of these films before, but I would imagine Dead Man's Shoes is a very good addition to either of these genres.

It works mainly because of the gripping central plot, its gritty realism, and the riveting lead performance from Paddy Considine. The story is extremely simple in essence, and at about the halfway point I thought I knew exactly where it was going. Luckily, the story becomes a bit stranger as it progresses (including one drug-fuelled scene that borders on the surreal), and by the end it actually gets quite philosophical and meaningful.

The film is pretty violent, which you should have guessed already by the title, the poster featuring a man holding an axe, and the 18 certificate. However, it's definitely not a horror movie, so don't expect a pile of hacked-up corpses by the end. The acts of violence are quite few and far between, and when they occur we're talking Se7en rather than Final Destination. Either way, Dead Man's Shoes is not a film to show your kids!

It's very gritty and low budget, and this makes it all the more brutal and shocking. It's set mostly in a council estate, but there are also lots of scenes in the surrounding countryside and farmland; both are quite bleak and depressing in their own ways.

Dead Man's Shoes is also surprisingly artistic, and some might find it not action-packed enough for their tastes. There are frequent shots consisting of just Anthony and Richard walking through the country accompanied by gentle guitar music, and the film opens with a montage of Richard's childhood, interspersed with… well, more walking shots. At times the pace is also quite slow, although for the most part is zips along nicely, and at 90 minutes it never outstays its welcome.

Also, we are shown how the gang abused Anthony in a series of arty black and white flashbacks, always accompanied by a kind of country, acoustic guitar-based music. These get gradually more and more sickening, and they aren't easy to watch, especially with the bizarre contrast of the background music.

The most memorable part of this film though is the riveting, ferocious performance by Paddy Considine. He is truly terrifying at points, and he sometimes erupts into violence (the first meeting in the pub springs to mind), whilst at other times his character seems really macabre and sick in the head (the suitcase scene). There's something in his eyes; you can just tell he's full of rage and he's on the edge. He also proves, along with the first series of Doctor Who, that a gas mask is possibly the scariest fashion accessory imaginable.

The other performances are all excellent, particularly from Toby Kebbell as Anthony, who pulls off a really convincing performance. Gary Stretch playing Sonny looks a bit like an evil George Michael, and really does make you hate him, whilst the other, stupider members of the gang provide some much needed humour - the "al fresco" scene is hilarious!

If I had to make a complaint, it's that the ending was a bit unbelievable and rash. Although the twist was certainly bold and different, I felt as if the director was just deliberately trying to add a moral message onto the end of a film which probably didn't need it, and I thought it would have been better without one.

Overall, Dead Man's Shoes is a film I would heartily recommend - it's powerful, shocking, quite creepy in parts, and ultimately it makes you think quite a bit due to some unexpected twists and turns. It's also worth a look purely for Considine's astonishing portrayal of a man fuelled by the desire for revenge. On www.imdb.com it says if you liked this, you might like The Devil's Rejects. But don't let that put you off.
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The cheapest online price for Dead Man's Shoes is £5.99, from www.play.com. I think I've seen adverts for it on Film4 too, so you might be able to see it on there sometime.

Directed by: Shane Meadows

Starring:

Paddy Considine … Richard
Toby Kebbell … Anthony
Gary Stretch … Sonny
Stuart Wolfenden … Herbie
Jo Hartley ... Jo
Paul Sadot ... Tuff

Running Time: 90 minutes

Classification: 18 (Very strong language, violence and drug use)

Production Year: 2004

My Rating: 4 stars

Summary: Violent but artistic revenge thriller