Thriller Research // Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

"Richard returns home from military service to a small town in the Midlands. He has one thing on his mind: revenge. Payback for the local bullies who did some very bad things to his brother. At first his campaign employs guerrilla tactics, designed to frighten the men and put them ill at ease. But then he steps up his operation, and one by one these local tough guys are picked off by the terrifying angel of vengeance that Richard has become."

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Dir: Shane Meadows

Screenplay: Paddy Considine & Shane Meadows

Starring: Paddy Considine, Toby Kebbell, Gary Stretch

Awards:

Nominated Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film

Mark Herbert Shane Meadows

Nominated British Independent Film Award	Best British Independent Film
	Best Actor Paddy Considine
	Best Supporting Actor/Actress Gary Stretch
	Most Promising Newcomer Toby Kebbell
	Best Director Shane Meadows
	Best Screenplay Shane Meadows Paddy Considine
	Best Technical Achievement Lucas Roche (editor) Chris Wyatt (editor)
	Best Achievement in Production

Won Golden Hitchcock

Shane Meadows

Won DGGB Award

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in British Film Shane Meadows Tied with Pawel Pawlikowski for My Summer of Love.

Won Empire Award	Best British Actor Paddy Considine
Nominated Empire Award	Best British Film
	Best British Director Shane Meadows

Won Evening Standard British Film Award

Best Actor Paddy Considine

Nominated ALFS Award	British Actor of the Year Paddy Considine
	British Director of the Year Shane Meadows

Dead Man's Shoes (2004) is Thriller-Drama Directed by renowned director Shane Meadows, set in his native British midlands. It follows the story of 2 brothers who return to the small town they left 8 years previously only to find it run by the same gang of drug dealers and thugs. But they are not there for reunion, rather to wreak revenge on the men who did some very bad things to the younger of the 2. Led by quality performances by Paddy Considine and Newcomer Toby Kebbel , the slasher/ thriller has been described as "Taxi Driver meets First Blood in the midlands" winning multiple awards and boosting the career of the now prolific director Shane Meadows.

"God will forgive them, He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that." 

Utilising a fresh and original small-town setting lacking in any notion of glamour, a typical convention of the thriller genre, the film follows the efforts of a soldier bent on revenge and on a gang of criminals with a dark past trying to evade him and protect their own lives. The film contains many of the conventions of thriller films, like the morally ambiguous anti-hero, the seedy criminal underworld and the themes of revenge and death. Richard, argueably the film's protagonist, starts his hunt for his less-than-innocent victims with guerrilla tactics, evoking the classic thriller themes of mystery, fear and pursuit before wreaking bloody violence on them one by one, creating a sense of doom and tension. however, the film is also highly atypical example of the genre in several ways, for example the soundtrack, by renowned electronic artist Aphex Twin, features heavily folk music and IDM in contrast to the standard orchestral/high octane soundtrack of a thriller film, this links to the mise en scene of the run-down British midlands, where the film is set, as it adds to the intimacy of the film. The small town setting is also an unconventional element of the film as it is a much more intimate setting than the usual cold, urban locations seen in a usual thriller. The theme of family is another uncommon, intimate theme within the film, as motivation for revenge and for virtuous mercy. As a result of these combinations of thriller and non-thriller elements we are presented with the idea of danger and violence close to home, in the decay and boredom of England's many working class towns, something i feel has not been represented as well in a mainstream British film since Meadow's other masterpiece "This Is England" .

The revenge thriller Genre in particular is one strongly linked to this film, with the anti-hero's journey of justice and vengeance ultimately leading to the destruction of himself (think Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver). Richard is a classic example of the anti-hero archetype, whose moral ambiguity and determined motivation is the driver from his transformation from honourable member of society into violent killer, as he puts it "". This transformation is a common theme within thrillers and other drama's, such as the classic The Godfather and the more recent Breaking Bad, the protagonists of these pieces of media, (Micheal Corleone and Walter White respectively) who change from innocent, relatable everymen to violent and ruthless psychopaths. As Richard himself says, "You, you were supposed to be a monster - now I'm the fucking beast. There's blood on my hands, from what you made me do." 

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who despite praising its realistic acting, disliked its formulaic story and massively bleak tone. Guardian Critic, Philip French, said of it "Dead Man's Shoes is his most accomplished, though it retains the harsh feeling and rough surface of its predecessors." referring to its lack of polish and others criticised it as merely a repackaged pulp slasher flick without the fun. Despite this it has gained a massive cult following in the general public who gave the film a much more generous reception and it has been referred to by many as a cult classic and a master-class in unbiased narrative. Part of the genius is the films ability to make the audiences sympathy shift from the vengeful Richard to the dopey gang members and then back, it presents the story from both sides of the coin rather than going lazily for one. Using a creative and clever exploitation of the medium, the third act of the film absolutely destroys your perception of the narrative, and believe me, you will want to stick around for it. Even if many critics do not agree with me, i reckon Dead Man's Shoes to be a masterpiece of bleak realism and narrative structure, even if its execution arguably leaves something to be desired, its staggeringly realised performances and overwhelming British-ness stand to be one of the finest British films of the 00's.