not really, this is a tragic and gory tale of a brother's love and the extent he's willing to go to show just that. the brutal and gut-wrenching scenes in this movie will leave you depressingly numb, just the way i like it!

As with any indy gem, it is imperative to have three elements in your formula: 1) Gritty realism, 2) a great soundtrack, and 3) a superlative lead. Then you have movies like "Boys Don't Cry" and "Dead Man's Shoes" which have budgets probably less than the cost of 20 minutes of CGI in a Peter Jackson movie but that impact you in a way you never forget. Considine delivers that lead in Shoes as Swank did in "Boys Don't Cry."

Yes, this is a revenge flick in the gritty 70's manner of "Rolling Thunder" but it is more artful. From the gorgeous opening cinematography to the strains of Smog's haunting "Vessel In Vain", and powerful performances by all it becomes something you can't take your eyes off of. Although there are elements of horror in it (I first came across the movie on a horror movie website) it is less splat and gore and more sinister meditation. Just YouTube the stare-down scene between Considine and the excellent Gary Stretch and you will get a flavor for this gritty indy gem.

A very well written movie.It will keep you memerized the whole way to the end. I guess revenge is a emotion easy to assicate with, no matter who you are. You just have to see this one for your self.It's sobbering.

This is another great work by Shane Meadows that anyone, who has an odd obsession with England the way I do, should check out. Keeps you guessing 'til the end. It is a little gruesome, and at times unsettling, but worth while. A+, will continue to watch again and again.

Great smallish budget British thriller set in beautiful but depressed post industrial Derbyshire, and this is for a reason - Director Meadows as a Midlander himself knew the setting was right for this hard story of drug abuse and revenge, and it becomes one of the key characters of the movie. This is a masterful setting for such a movie, as it really sends a message that this is what drugs can do to an area that on the surface looks idylic. It was the best feature of the movie for me, although other aspects are well worth a mention, such as the direct and no nonsense narrative of revenge with a capital R, the hard brutal language used, the dark humour in the screenplay, the depiction of low life scumbag drug dealers and druggie wasters, and the gritty, naturalistic acting.

Top of the acting bill with a ferociously direct performance is Paddy Considine, co-writer of the piece, and not far behind is the guy who plays his vulnerable brother. Worth a mention also is the very good performance of pro boxer turned actor Gary Stretch (a very good light middleweight with an excellent record who foolishly stepped up a division when in his prime to challenge for the world middleweight title in the 90s against the then unbeatable Chris Eubank, a move which ended his credibility as a top pro), showing what a good actor he's become, in a prominent role as the drug dealer who controls the area, the Mr. Big that revenger Richard wants to bag most of all. Great British stuff, way better than the London gangland thrillers of recent years, and the best example of raw and original British movie talent at the moment. It is already a classic and rightly so.