Paddy Considine jumps from his cheesily sickly role in In America to an ex-marine with a big chip on his shoulder in Dead Man's Shoes.
He returns to his home town knowing that his (spastic) young brother has been tortured by the local drug gang and sets about to calmly wreak his revenge.
This director seems to have an addiction to tales of petty thuggery with lots of kitchen sink violence. I found A Room for Romeo Brass quite inspiring and watchable - it touched the basic goodness deep inside the apparent rottenness. Shane Meadows then delved deeper into the world of unwashed layabouts, overflowing ashtrays and generally kitchen sink drama dressed up as comedy in Once Upon a Time in the Midlands. Now he's got all the low-life elements in one nicely polished helping. Fans will love it - lots of gritty violence, no nice people, not a lot of point to it - not my kind of movie.
I have this off-the-cuff method of rating movies when I come out of the cinema - was I inspired, educated or entertained? Dead Man's Shoes is a well-made, well-acted movie and contains at least some originality. That, in itself, should ensure some critical applause. But for me if the sum is less than the parts then I don't go for it, hence this very personal but rather critical review!
He returns to his home town knowing that his (spastic) young brother has been tortured by the local drug gang and sets about to calmly wreak his revenge.
This director seems to have an addiction to tales of petty thuggery with lots of kitchen sink violence. I found A Room for Romeo Brass quite inspiring and watchable - it touched the basic goodness deep inside the apparent rottenness. Shane Meadows then delved deeper into the world of unwashed layabouts, overflowing ashtrays and generally kitchen sink drama dressed up as comedy in Once Upon a Time in the Midlands. Now he's got all the low-life elements in one nicely polished helping. Fans will love it - lots of gritty violence, no nice people, not a lot of point to it - not my kind of movie.
I have this off-the-cuff method of rating movies when I come out of the cinema - was I inspired, educated or entertained? Dead Man's Shoes is a well-made, well-acted movie and contains at least some originality. That, in itself, should ensure some critical applause. But for me if the sum is less than the parts then I don't go for it, hence this very personal but rather critical review!