Dead Man's Shoes

as it says on the cover ' one of the best british films in years'

Brian Bennett from London , 21/12/2004

in fact i think i would probably go as far as saying, this is one of the best films i have seen in years.....full stop. now i understand its not going to be everyones cup of tea, but for those out there who like a great film with some good old fashioned brit-grit watch it! it's one of those films where you dont quite know what to do with yourself after it. i mean i watched this film and thought it was great 3 days after watching it, i thought it was amazing - reason being, i kept on thinking about it, it kept on coming back into my head, i think i was a bit traumatised by it to be honest, but if that isnt the sign of a good film i dont know what is.

full of grit and grim, very good acting, and a bit of humor thrown in....watch this!

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Not as good as everyone thinks

RJTaylor from Manchester , 06/08/2005

It's wonderful to see Great British public raving over this movie. Yes, it's good and well made if you're at all familiar with the real life versions of the characters, but it certainly won't travel well. The improvised dialogue often seems forced, and fails to work when a lot of the (inexperienced) actors not only talk but shout over one another, which develops only into a self-conscious garbled mess. This makes any viewer alien to the local environment not only fail to understand the dialogue, but also fail to connect with the characters. Considine is - as always - fantastic, as is Kebbler. However, the wobbly, handheld style of the camerawork appears amateurish and had this reviewer feeling nauseous, even well before the appearance of any of the red, red kroovy.

If you like low-budget, independent film, and some particularly unglamorous yet beautiful shots of Derbyshire, then you won't regret watching DMS. However, if you're looking for a shiny red bloodbath to compare with anything that Hollywood has to offer, (and I say this because I believe that the British Film Industry should well be able to compare itself to the consistent professionalism of Hollywood,) then look elsewhere. This film made a huge impact on me, but at the same time gave me too few reasons to want to watch it again.

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Highly recommended low budget brit-flick.

A customer from Oxford, UK , 01/02/2005

I went to see this at the tiny independent 'Phoenix Picture House' in Oxford when it came out. It should really have been released to a much bigger audience as its brilliant.

Paddy Considine plays Richard, an ex marine who returns to his Derbyshire village to have revenge on the drug dealers who have abused his younger, mentally disabled brother, Anthony. Paddy Considine (who is apparently rapidly becoming the best thing in British independent films) plays the part of Richard very convincingly, with a real air of menace and unpredictability about himself. Toby Kebbell's role as Anthony is equally well acted, but due to the lack of filmgoers who will have been able to see the film I very much doubt they will get the recognition they deserve.

The tension that runs through the film is brilliant and you never know just where Richard will pop up next or what he will do. It also has a very real sense of being in Britain without the clich?d set pieces of bigger Brit films like 'Billy Elliot' or the 'Full Monty' that had to try to appeal to the American market. Its realism almost gives it an air of 'documentary' about it.

If you are squeamish you'd be better off giving this one a miss as some of the scenes are really quite nasty. Its not an especially violent film in the way that something like 'Goodfellas' is, but it can be quite graphic in places and the fact that it is so 'British' makes it seem all the more real. But despite being so gruesome in places, the film also has a fantastically black comic streak running through it - like the drug dealers who think they are 'big time', going round crammed 5-up in a Citroen 2cv!

The script is also fantastic and all of the characters are entirely believable. There are no dodgy 'mockneys' or over-acted 'northerners' which some other films are guilty of!

If you fancy something a bit different that is both awesome and British but without being touted by the tabloids as the 'best piece of British film in years' (only to disappoint when you see) it then this is definitely worth a look. Just make sure your Granny has gone home and the kids are in bed!

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Tension, emotion, violence

Graham from UK [Highly rated reviewer] , 10/01/2007

This movie got some great reviews and a reliable recommendation from a friend so our expectations were high and my wife and I were not disappointed. Dead Mans Shoes is a cracking real life revenge thriller, how people can review with one star is beyond me, there is swearing and violence in this film that is true but it is an 18 cert gritty real life thriller of which the front cover displays a man wielding an axe, honestly people what do you expect fluffy bears and flowers? Perhaps if you left your houses once in a while you would see how close to the truth the drama scenes depicted in the film actually are! Of course the brutal but almost justifiable revenge acts are less common! Dead Mans Shoes clearly had a smallish budget but is fast paced with a strong plot that follows the story of Richard a military man who seeks revenge for past atrocities suffered by his younger brother Anthony at the hands of a gang of small time drug dealing wasters. The movie is filmed in a true brit ‘fly on the wall’ style and has just about everything in it, tension, emotion, violence and together with the strong plot and strong performances from the cast makes for a great watch. A welcome break from the Hollywood fairy tails, shocking yet rewarding. 5 Stars.

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TRUE GRIT BRIT FLICK!

G Horton from KENT UK , 08/03/2005

Very intense gripping film, with strong & graphic storyline. Top perfomances all round from actors. Clever Twist to conlude a stellar british movie.

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A real kick in the guts

Northernsky from Halifax [Highly rated reviewer] , 13/03/2005

Brilliantly capturing the closeted world of small town parochial Britain, Dead Mans Shoes sees Richard returning from his Army stint to wreak revenge on the low level criminals who made his mentally challenged brothers life a misery.

What this film does so cleverly is make the villains three dimensional. Sure they are drug dealers and ostensibly scum, but by showing us their vulnerabilities and allowing us into their inner circle so we can see the bonds that tie them together (Mainly their mutual fear of the reprehensible Sonny) Director Shane Meadows ensures that their fates somehow matter even more.

Paddy Considine as Richard is brilliant at flinty eyed determination while the rest of the cast are superbly naturalistic with their expletetive strewn banter. The murders are not staged or played out for maximum impact. They are quick and often surprisingly low key which is, I suppose, how any premeditated murderer would act. There is a revelation at the end that explains Richards’s motivations more clearly and reveals him to be less than the avenging angel we thought he was.

With wonderful scenery back dropping the drama and a superb soundtrack of alternative music this is a supremely effective piece of film making that deserves to sit with the greats of the genre like “Get Carter” and “Point Blank”. Like those it gives you a real kick in the guts.

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