Bloody and brilliant, "Dead Man's Shoes" is an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end. The 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is both a crying shame and a sacrilege, because this is Shane Meadows' masterpiece -- a film that transcends the revenge genre, delivering a heart-pounding, intense story that lets events unfold in a way that is anything but simple.
Richard (Paddy Considine) returns home from military service with no intention of living a nice quiet life and settling down. The target of his rage: a low-rent drug gang that did some terrible things to his borderline simple brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) some time before.
After Richard threatens a drug dealer and later gives him an unsettlingly twitchy apology, the gang of thugs suspect that ol' Anthony's brother might be a few screws short of a tool box, but don't know how to react. Sonny (Gary Stretch), the most sadistic and smartest (and in a group like this, that's not saying much), takes charge as best as he is able, but they are no match for Richard's cool-headed brutality and military training.
It's 1983, and unsupervised, beleaguered Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is missing his soldier dad, who died in the Falklands war an unspecified amount of time ago. So when an older boy at school makes a crack about his father, Shaun takes it upon himself to fight the kid, getting both of them into trouble and inciting the events that make up This Is England, Shane Meadows' semi-autobiographical account of the nuances and temptations of skinhead culture.
Shaun is twelve, high-spirited and foul-mouthed, traits that exasperate his single mother Cynthia (Jo Hartley). He is damaged and distrustful when he meets Woody (Joseph Gilgun), a tattooed teenager who runs his own little gang in their coastal town. Contrary to what you might infer, Woody is not the antagonist of the story.
He is a member of a unique subculture of skinheads, who are neither violent nor inherently racist. Leave the violence and racism to Combo (virtual unknown Stephen Graham, giving a performance that rivals Edward Norton's in American History X), an old colleague of the weak-willed Woody who leaves prison as volatile as ever.
Shaun sees a father figure in Combo, who manipulates Shaun's future allegiance. When the group breaks up, Shaun and Woody go their separate ways, and Shaun is drawn into a fanatical group of fascists who allegedly want to prevent England's rape at the hands of foreigners. But when Combo goes too far, Shaun his unsure where his best interests lie.
Shane Meadows, who found cult success with the fantastic Brit revenge thriller Dead Man's Shoes, infuses elements of his own life into this drama, which avoids making the situation black and white or relying on sentimentality.
Stephen Graham gives a standout performance as the skinhead Combo, whose very being seethes with rage and desperation. First-time actor Thomas Turgoose also turns in a good performance as the vulnerable and wayward Shaun. The movie has its violent and icky moments (Perry Benson crouched with his bare a*s on the floor of an ethnic store trying to take a dump, anybody?) but the film never becomes as exploitative or sadistic as Geoffrey Wright's Australian skinhead drama Romper Stomper.
Shane Meadows is one of Britain's most intriguing directorial names today, but I would say you need to watch Dead Man's Shoes first and foremost, for a chance to see the filmmaker at the height of his powers. Regardless, This is England is intelligent, unflinching, and savvy, and gives a fresh look into a well-known sub genre.
Bloody and brilliant, "Dead Man's Shoes" is an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end. The 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is both a crying shame and a sacrilege, because this is Shane Meadows' masterpiece -- a film that transcends the revenge genre, delivering a heart-pounding, intense story that lets events unfold in a way that is anything but simple.
