Number 518 on the top 1000 films of all time is Shane Meadow's 2004 revenge thriller: Dead Man's Shoes.
Richard (Paddy Considine) is a former paratrooper who returns to his hometown of Matlock, Derbyshire with one thing on his mind: revenge. In his absence, a group of petty crooks led by the psychotic Sonny (Gary Stretch) have been tormenting Richard's younger autistic brother Anthony (Toby Kebells.) Richard is a man out for revenge and you best stay out of his way.
Shane Meadows made this film on a tiny budget of 700k, but he made the best of his low-budget with this entertaining, but not amazing film. It was certainly a good watch, but definitely no worthy of a higher place on the top 1000 film list. Much of the violence happens off-screen, most of the camerawork is hand-held and Meadows filmed on location, all providing a good level of realism. In some ways, this film felt like a pre-cursor to Meadows' breakout directorial effort of This is England.
Paddy Considine is the only big name (although Toby Kebbells has gone onto big things) in Dead Man's Shoes and he did well enough with a relatively shallow character. He won an Empire Award for the role. There isn't much behind Richard's character other than vengeance. Who knows why he is wearing the gasmask when he is committing his crimes especially since the bad guys already know his identity?
The crooks he aims to kill are similarly two-dimensional with Gary Stretch giving a somewhat campy portrayal of the big bad Sonny. Perhaps that's because Gary Stretch comes from a boxing rather than an acting background. Although maybe I'm just in the minority with this opinion as he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. I think Toby Kebbells - in his film debut - was one of the better actors, which was reflected in his nomination for Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards.
Paddy Considine also co-wrote the script with Shane Meadows and screen-writer Paul Fraser. I call it a script, it was more a general outline with much of the drama and dialogue being improvised by the actors. Perhaps that's why some of the dialogue was so damn cheesy. I'm thinking about the end where Richard started talking about beasts and monsters.
Speaking of the ending, for once I managed to actually guess the twist. I'm not sure if that's a reflection of my own lack of intelligence or the predictable nature of the film.
*spoilers*
Maybe this isn't a spoiler if you're smarter than me, but it is revealed that Anthony was driven to suicide by the gang's bullying. The earlier scenes where we see Richard speaking with his brother? He is talking to his brother's ghost. I don't have much problem with the twist itself, but the execution was strange. Anthony was tormented by a group of six bullies until it's revealed that there is a secret seventh one who stood by as an unwilling participant. This man Richard aims to kill last. I found this strange. Sonny was the ringleader. We see how sadistic he was, not just to Anthony, but to everybody. Why wouldn't Richard save him for last?
The undeveloped characters, cheesy writing and strange ending aside, I ultimately did enjoy Dead Man's Shoes. It just shows you don't need a Hollywood budget to make an entertaining film.
