In Dead Mans Shoes director Shane Meadows has gone back to working with Paddy Considine from A room for Romeo Brass, Considine's menace worked somewhat better playing a character bullying young boys rather than the ' hardman' in Dead Man's shoes, perhaps it's his slight build or somewhat innocent looking face. I wasn't 100% convinced he'd scare the characters he was seeking revenge on, but he did a reasonable job. I also guessed that the brother was already dead right from the start, it seemed obvious to me in the first pub scene as the bad guy had to think who 'Richard' was despite his brother 'Anthony' sitting next to him. This told me 'Anthony' wasn't actually there, kind of a rip-off from 'The Sixth Sense'. The villains also seemed kind of watered down and more like losers than actually threatening gangsters that you might see in the equivalent American movie. The part where they are driving around in the Citroen 2CV was almost comedic, perhaps Meadows was portraying what pathetic bullies the gang actually were, I wasn't sure about that. The exception in the gang was 'Sonny', played by ex-boxer Gary Stretch. He actually offered some menace both in looks and dimeanor. Which leads me back to my point that Considine's character didn't look that convincing. A role reversal for Gary Stretch as the vigilante and Considine ( per A room for Romeo Brass) as the bullying gang member might have been more convincing. It was still acceptable acting by both parties. One thing that stood out for me was the soundtrack. I had to look up the artists as I was not familiar with the music, but the folksy madrigal-like Vessel in Vain, Calexico electric tracks and French flavored Pluie Sans Nuages work really well with the movie. The ending almost baritone choral piece from the ending is not listed on the soundtrack which is a bit disapointting. The other one slightly annoying thing is that I watched the documentary on the making of that came with the DVD. Shane Meadows seems to feel the need to perpetuate that his movies are based on his tough working class background. In one part of the interview he describes a 20 minute beating where the victim then got up and ate chips or similar nonsense. I've witnessed a few fights, most are over in seconds and a 20 minute kicking usually leads to a trip to the hospital. I found this interview and the one on The South Bank Show a bit exaggerated.