DVD Review – Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Shane Meadow’s Tale of Revenge in a Small Midland Town

Feb 21, 2009

Before This Is England Shane Meadows made this captivating yet disturbing film following one man's quest for vengeance within a small community.

Shane Meadows is often regarded as one of the best of the new batch of British filmmakers. His films, such as A Room For Romeo Brass and This Is England, depict the side of English life that the common man can relate to whilst tackling themes and issues that most directors are afraid to touch. With Dead Man’s Shoes he presents a more traditional story but with the gritty realism of his more famous work.

A Man on a Mission

Richard (Paddy Considine) is a paratrooper who returns to his home town of Matlock in the Peak District to get revenge on a group of drug dealers who have been tormenting and taking advantage of his younger brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) who has learning difficulties. What starts as petty vandalism, such as breaking into their homes and spray painting their walls, soon turns to violent murder as the gang realise who Richard is.

It is a tough film to watch at times and so it should be, as the victims are occasionally humiliated before meeting their end but it also has touches of comedy like in the drug trip scene. As Richard picks off the gang one-by-one the reason for all this carnage is slowly explained through grainy black and white flashbacks and intercut with images of the two brothers as children.

Tied Together by Considine’s Captivating Performance

Dead Man's Shoes is a fine film and extremely well crafted which isn’t surprising considering that unlike many of his contemporaries Meadows is a proper filmmaker who understands how to create a cohesive narrative without insulting his audience's intelligence. He’s someone who doesn’t need millions of dollars or explosions and can make a film with the bare minimum budget yet still make it visually striking and emotionally dramatic in less than half the time it took Tarantino in the bland Kill Bill.

Although Meadows’s direction is superb it’s Considine’s performance that steals the show. His portrayal of a man fixed on one mission but also feeling a sense of self loathing for not being there for his brother when he needed him most is nothing short of impressive. The confrontation with Sonny (Mark Stretch) at the garages is intense enough to make your hair stand on end. Given that Considine co-wrote the script means that it is far easier for him to embody the character who is calm and passive one minute, raging and violent the next.

That’s not to say the supporting cast don’t do a good job, all of them are believable as horrible men suddenly fearing for their lives and Kebbell doesn’t overdo a role that could have very easily become a caricature. The soundtrack, using songs by Aphex Twin and Bonnie Prince Billy, could almost have been written especially for the film and adds to the dark atmosphere.

DVD Extras

The DVD comes with a collection of nice features such as extended and deleted scenes, including an alternative ending, an interesting making of documentary about the background and following the director during the film’s release and a lively and occasionally amusing chat track with Meadows, Considine and producer Mark Herbert.

There’s also a short comedy film by Meadows called Northern Soul with Kebbell as a man who dreams of being a wrestler that’s okay but not really worth repeated viewings.

A Film that Questions the Notion of Revenge

Dead Man’s Shoes is a very human revenge story that tests your beliefs and your emotions. You know that Richard’s actions are wrong but somehow deep down you think that his targets deserve their fate, especially after you learn the full story. What the film conveys, like all good revenge tales, is that a quest for justice is not always the right course to take, as Richard says to one of his victims: “You were supposed to be the monster...now I'm the beast.”

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