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MOVIES / ON DVD / DEAD MAN'S SHOES
Dead Man's Shoes

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Dead Man's Shoes (2006)

55%
33%
79%
N/A
N/A
N/A
55 %
Reviews Counted: 38 Fresh: 21  Rotten:17 Average Rating: 5.7/10
 
Consensus: Lacks the provocative edge needed to give it a substantial kick. Though enhanced by cramped, gritty camerawork, this unsettling look at violence and revenge lacks the provocative edge needed to give it a substantial kick. more
 
Runtime: 90 mins
Synopsis:
Talented director Shane Meadows (A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS) teams up with fellow Brit Paddy Considine (IN AMERICA) for this exhilarating venture towards the dark edges of the human psyche. Considine plays Richard, a former military man who looks like life has chewed him up and spat him out in the... [More]
Talented director Shane Meadows (A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS) teams up with fellow Brit Paddy Considine (IN AMERICA) for this exhilarating venture towards the dark edges of the human psyche. Considine plays Richard, a former military man who looks like life has chewed him up and spat him out in the most ugly way imaginable. As Meadows's film begins, Richard returns to his small home town along with his mentally challenged younger brother, Anthony (Toby Kebbell). It quickly becomes clear why Richard has returned: some years previously a gang of local thugs, led by the thoroughly unpleasant Sonny (Gary Stretch), tortured Anthony, and Richard is hell-bent on making them pay for their crimes. Meadows gradually allows Richard's psychotic tendencies and lust for revenge to unravel, crafting a number of scenes where Richard teasingly mocks Sonny and co. before delving into scenes of shockingly relentless violence. An unusual film for Meadows, who has mostly plied his trade as a director of wry British comedies, DEAD MAN'S SHOES is packed full of unbearable tension and densely claustrophobic camera work. The film really belongs to Considine, whose impressive performance feels painfully real, often mirroring legendary on-screen psychopaths such as Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle (TAXI DRIVER) or Michael Caine's Jack Carter (GET CARTER). Although the violence is unremitting when it comes, Meadows carefully judges it so the film doesn't descend into meaningless slasher territory, instead choosing to steer his film into a satisfying fantasy-revenge scenario aimed at anyone who has been tormented by small-town aggressors. [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Emily Aston

Director: Shane Meadows
Screenwriter: Shane Meadows
Producer: Mark Herbert

DVD Info

Release:

May 9, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • (unpecified) - English
  • Subtitles - Spanish - Optional
  • Subtitles - English - Closed Captioned

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

Disturbing, uncompromising and completely gripping.

Full Review | Comment
04/01/06 03:36 AM
Colin Kennedy
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
02/09/06 03:16 AM
Time Out
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Ratings Image

It's as though there are two completely different films uncomfortably mixed into one and they're just fundamentally incompatible.

Full Review | Comment
03/24/05 10:08 PM
Joe Utichi
FilmFocus
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Dead Man’s Shoes is never less than watchable, thanks to Considine’s performance, but it’s never really engaging either and there’s a definite sense of the end not justifying the means.

Full Review | Comment
10/19/04 10:38 PM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
Ratings Image

A thorny take on the morality of crime and punishment, it's a back-to-basics guerrilla production that sees Meadows heading back to familiar gritty territory.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/04 07:27 PM
Jamie Russell
BBC
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Ratings Image

The ending feels like a desperate attempt to inject some emotion into the film. And it just doesn't work.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/04 07:27 PM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

An original, complex, and utterly gruesome revenge parable...

Full Review | Comment
09/04/07 05:15 PM
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Film Threat
Ratings Image

click for full review

Full Review | Comment
06/21/07 03:39 AM
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses
Ratings Image

Isn't a mess, but it's sure no competition for Winchester 73, Once Upon a Time in the West or even Kill Bill, films in which payback really is a bitch.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/07 03:29 AM
Lewis Beale
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

Startlingly powerful, slightly loopy take on the revenge flick . . . offers a wry authenticity that the too-stylish, tough guys and gals in Tarantino's wanna-be-epics of retribution can't exude.

Full Review | Comment
02/01/07 12:32 PM
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
Ratings Image

The film is further proof that revenge, even when served as a cold dish as this is, ends up being far too chewy for a satisfying movie meal

Full Review | Comment
11/10/06 02:11 AM
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Ratings Image

Film plays as a quirky Brit riff on everything from U.S. slasher pics to revenge oaters but without Meadows' usual psychological complexity.

Full Review | Comment
08/04/06 02:48 PM
Derek Elley
Variety
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Ratings Image

Though Meadows makes a lot of it, he mucks it up before it's over.

Full Review | Comment
08/04/06 02:46 PM
Shawn Levy
Oregonian
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In a swift 86 minutes, director Meadows and co-writer/star Considine give us a methodical, handsome, emotionally intelligent version of the revenge flick.

Full Review | Comment
07/21/06 06:21 PM
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
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The whole thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Full Review | Comment
07/07/06 06:54 PM
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
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Atuações formidáveis (especialmente de Considine) em um filme moralmente ambíguo que, ao mesmo tempo em que funciona como maravilhosa releitura de Carter, o Vingador, analisa a natureza retroalimentadora da violência.

| Comment
06/11/06 01:59 AM
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

What makes it intriguing and eminently watchable is Considine's deft almost low-key portrayal of what is essentially an avenging angel.

Full Review | Comment
05/30/06 04:49 PM
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews
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In the end, the picture's more pulp than juice.

Full Review | Comment
05/20/06 03:31 AM
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Ratings Image

There's a hint of Shakespeare's goriest tragedies here, sucked dry of any attendant heart, emotional depth or compelling human interest.

Full Review | Comment
05/18/06 02:14 PM
Jessica Reaves
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

This is a moral film without an agenda, a revenge saga that refuses to takes sides.

Full Review | Comment
05/13/06 05:21 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Related Forums

Audio Interview with Shane Meadows
by: marcf 10/29/06


REEL_REVIEWER
DEAD MAN'S SHOES gets a NYC preem @ the 4th Annual TRIBECA film festival! Post #1
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/8/06


REEL_REVIEWER
DEAD MAN'S SHOES gets a NYC preem @ the 4th Annual TRIBECA film festival! Post #1
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/8/06


REEL_REVIEWER
DEAD MAN'S SHOES gets a NYC preem @ the 4th Annual TRIBECA film festival! Post #1
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/8/06


REEL_REVIEWER
DEAD MAN'S SHOES gets a NYC preem @ the 4th Annual TRIBECA film festival! Post #1
by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/8/06
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