THE finest British film of the last year or so IMHO.
Dead Mans Shoes is a witty and original hour and a half that plays with several genres from revenge flick thru' to slasher movie, and manages to playfully turn each on its head. It is filmed in a naturalistic style - much of the dialogue seems to be improvised - that makes the violence when it comes, much more shocking. The setting of a small English village is also not your normal revenge flick location.
The premise is simple - Army-trained Richard (Considine) returns to his hometown with his mentally-challenged younger brother, Anthony, in tow. Anthony has been used and abused by a gang of local drug dealers, and Richard plans to take brutal and bloody revenge...
There are also moments of great comedy here - for instance, the car that the gang of drug-dealers use, rather than being a flash Merc or BMW, is a rattly old green and white Citroen. Seeing 5 of them crammed into this old jalopy is a joy to behold.
Paddy Considine, as the anti-hero Richard is wonderful. An avenging angel that you would not mess with and who is utterly convincing. The fact that our hero happens to be the typical slasher/boogeyman in the style of Halloween and Friday 13th is so well done that it doesn't seem to hard to deal with.
We also have the usual bad guys - the drug dealing bullies - playing the part of hapless and terrified victims. This is summed up in the films climatic scene where Richard says to one of the hapless 'bad guys' - "You. You're supposed to be the monster. Now I'm the ******* beast."
Recommended!
Dead Mans Shoes is a witty and original hour and a half that plays with several genres from revenge flick thru' to slasher movie, and manages to playfully turn each on its head. It is filmed in a naturalistic style - much of the dialogue seems to be improvised - that makes the violence when it comes, much more shocking. The setting of a small English village is also not your normal revenge flick location.
The premise is simple - Army-trained Richard (Considine) returns to his hometown with his mentally-challenged younger brother, Anthony, in tow. Anthony has been used and abused by a gang of local drug dealers, and Richard plans to take brutal and bloody revenge...
There are also moments of great comedy here - for instance, the car that the gang of drug-dealers use, rather than being a flash Merc or BMW, is a rattly old green and white Citroen. Seeing 5 of them crammed into this old jalopy is a joy to behold.
Paddy Considine, as the anti-hero Richard is wonderful. An avenging angel that you would not mess with and who is utterly convincing. The fact that our hero happens to be the typical slasher/boogeyman in the style of Halloween and Friday 13th is so well done that it doesn't seem to hard to deal with.
We also have the usual bad guys - the drug dealing bullies - playing the part of hapless and terrified victims. This is summed up in the films climatic scene where Richard says to one of the hapless 'bad guys' - "You. You're supposed to be the monster. Now I'm the ******* beast."
Recommended!
