Richard, a former special forces soldier, returns to his hometown to exact revenge on a gang of townie drug dealers who teased and tormented his younger, simpleton brother Anthony. Unawre of Richard’s return, the local drug runners find vandalization of their property and even of their person as they slept through the night, a playful jest of threats send pointing fingers at each other rather than an outsider looking in to destroy them. When some drugs go missing and one of them recognizes Richard as Anthony’s brother, the recollection of what happened to Anthony sends them into an anxious state that Richard may want retribution for his little brother’s pain and suffering. Pranks and thefts are only a prelude to the pain and suffering Richard seeks to unload onto them with plans of snuffing them out one-by-one but beating them at their own game of fooling around but with the intent to kill. How far will Richard go before he succumbs to the level of those who fed into his wrath?
“Dead Man’s Shoes” is a very meat and potatoes, independent revenge thriller from cowriter and director Shane Meadows that features the dangers of the bullying against those not able to withstand the mental capacity to absorb such unprovoked abuse and brutality as their unable to process and comprehend what that looks like. The story is also a relatable to the siblings having experienced a brother or sister at the receiving end of the abuse and wanting to do something extreme about it, and those who have done something extreme about it, with the retribution acts swallowing the soul. Paddy Considine debuts as cowriter on the UK production under the Warp Films, Big Arty Productions, and Film4 collaboration. Mark Herbert and Louise Meadows coproduce the film in the rolling hills and low agricultural landscape of Derbyshire that feature small English towns and skeletal abbeys.
Cowriter Paddy Considine stars as Richard, the former soldier and older brother deadest on avenging his brother’s honor. Considine has that 1000-yard stare with a stoic, emotionless expression of a man who masks his hurt with murderous action that speaks louder than words. Garbed in a long green, military fatigue-like coat, a short, boxed beard, and his military duffle, Considine set himself to take on rinky-dink drug operation of a smalltown in the English countryside. Richard control leaves gang leader Sonny (Gary Stretch, “Mega Shark Vs Crocosaurus”) at a disadvantage by dropping in unexpectedly with erratic behavior and not hint a plan against his crew made up of mostly bumbling and bickering buffoons, played by Stuart Wolfenden (“The Eschartrilogy: Book of the Dead”), Neil Bell (“Dune Part I and II”), Paul Sadot, Seamus O’Neill (“Attack of the Adult Babies”), Paul Hurstfield (“The Spell”), and George Newton (“Creatures of the Night”). However, one of the men are not like the others, carrying a different vibe from the rest of the hyena-rowdy drug pushers that puts Richard in a predicamental position of with how rapidly h’s succumbed to violence to the likes of those he’s toying with and dispatching that makes him reflect and be more contemplative with his brother. We don’t get much time with little brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell, “RocknRolla”) who mentally handicap and follows his brother around to point out who wronged him back when, being exploited for the amusement of Sonny and his men, but Anthony puts into question older brother Richard’s sanity and motivational drive that continues a downward spiral of apathetic derangement. “Prevenge’s” Jo Hartley and “Butterfly Kiss’s” Emily Aston are the only two female actresses in the film but the story’s nearly completely male centric that leave Hartley and Aston’s characters in the dust of minor support rather than significantly operating in the narrative.
For a revenge thriller, Shane Meadows doesn’t dress up the violence. There are no extravagant shootouts, prolonged chases, explosions, surviving by the skin of your teeth, or anything of that nail-biting, edge-sitting, hair-raising tension to raise the stakes and create the anxiety of a live or die moment. Instead, “Dead Man Shoes” carries out like any premediated murder would with an unexpected calmness in handing down wrath with a touch of class. The bells and whistles are saves for the cast to portray a raw sliver of life in crime and the shared blood between two brothers with nothing in common and on opposite ends of the spectrum. Anthony was a deep shame from within Richard and that shame converts to violence in an afterthought of atonement for his own feelings about his brother. He must run through a slew of bad guys who abused him to see his own faults in their relationship. As Richard and Anthony walk through the countryside on their way to town, there’s hardly a word or two between them but their proximity to each other is relaxed, comfortable, and without sibling difficulty that initially will have audiences believe a strong bond but the twist ending sheds a different, more problematic connection of poignant regret and disgrace that puts a good soldier on a downward path. While the rest of the cast, mostly the gang, are petty shallows of people with no depth of character, only one other character rivals Richard’s complexity and it’s the one who’s left standing after Richard’s steamrolling, yet quiet as a church mouse, dysfunctional onslaught.
“Dead Man’s Shoes” receive new life with a Second Sight Films Blu-ray release.” Second Sight’s Blu-ray is AVC encoded with high-definition, 1080p resolution onto a dual-layer BD50. Shot on Super 16mm film and then blown up to 35mm for theatrical exhibition prints, Meadows’ film doesn’t look like a Super 16mm shot production with the appears of more a 35mm detail. The natural grading doesn’t add any pizazz but that was not Meadow’s goal with heavily stylization. Details are still touch and go, mostly leaning toward the lesser defined aspects of texture as some aspects of the Midlands are lost in the background and in the rolling foliage Richard treks, but delineation and contour check out okay. No blatant or obvious issues of compression pains. Second Sight presents the film in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The UK English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is more firepower than it needs but definitely is a solid sound design that levels the three major aspects: dialogue, soundtrack, and ambience. Dialogue is clean, clear, and prominent while the environment and action subside to fit with exact dynamics to scene. The various indie-folk soundtrack wanders with Richard and Anthony across the land, also providing a prologue and epilogue bookend of resonation that connects with the tale tattering themes of loss of one’s physical and mental self. There are English subtitles available for selection. Second Sight provides plenty of special features with a raw, bare, indie production with a new audio commentary by director Shane Meadows and producer Mark Herbert, a second audio commentary by Andrew Graves and Jon Towlson, and a third audio commentary with director Meadows, lead actor Paddy Considine, and producer Herbert. Also included is a new interview with Meadows and Herbert Quite a Journey, a new interview with actor Toby Kebbell A Very Fine Line, a new interview with Gary Stretch The Right Horse, an interview with director of photography Danny Cohen Made an Impact, deleted scenes, extended scenes, the short film “In Shane’s Shoes,” the short film “Northern Soul,” and the music video from Danger Mouse and Jemini. The release comes in a smokey gray Amaray Blu-ray case with an uncredited new artwork on the single sided sleeve. There are no other tangible features included. The UK certified 18 film contains strong language, strong revenge violence, and hard drug use. The region B encoded Blu-ray has a 90-minute runtime shelf life.
Last Rites: “Dead Man’s Shoes” is quaint, hyper-local, and simply vengeance. The Second Sight Films Blu-ray is a great celebration of Shane Meadow’s tiny but tenacious thriller.
