Chopper

Mark Brandon Read (Bana) gains a fierce reputation as a hard man [and the sobriquet: Chopper] as a consequence of 'hitting people just to get himself a name'. A very accurate observation even if 'Chopper' himself maintains his only victims are 'low-life drug dealers' and their ilk.

Excellent example of film as story telling. I saw this 'indie' film on the same weekend as A Beautiful Mind and, my God, the lessons that shambles could have taken from this. Chopper is economically and crisply written with the sweetest doses of irony; marvellously directed with a plethora of techniques that only ever serve the film and it's grossly engrossing story and acted by an ensemble high on talent and clearly working for one another. Bana is a stand-out as the bright, troubled and dangerous hard man making a pathetic journey to emotional as well as physical incarceration; walking a dramatic tight-rope of comedian/homicidal-maniac as he does so with admirable skill and thoroughly believable integrity. Worth viewing by anyone who thinks they like all the ingredients of film and art to come together in the same project. Not worth viewing by anybody who thought the same things came together in A Beautiful Mind!

CHOPPER (3+ outta 5 stars) Nifty little character study of a notorious Australian criminal... well, notorious in his own mind, at least. The jury is still out on how much of the autobiographical details of the life of "Chopper" read are real and how much is fake... but it does make a compelling story either way. Eric Bana gives a great performance in the lead... nothing else I've ever seen him in prepared me for how good he really is. The character he plays is nasty, repellent, scary, ill-tempered... and still full of charisma. After a violent stint in prison (his motto appears to be "do unto others before they do it unto you") Chopper is sent back out into society. With no other skills besides his knowledge of crime, Chopper offers himself to the local police as a special undercover agent. They, of course, want nothing to do with his boneheaded scheme but he pretends that they do anyway. Inflicting pain (on himself *and* others) seems to be what he is best at and he gets plenty of opportunities to show his stuff. Amusing though it may be at times, the movie is not a glorification of violence... the ferocity and suddenness of it keeps the audience constantly on edge.

This film is very well done. I can see why a lot of people compare it to Refn's Bronson. Both revolve around psychopaths who spend the majority of the film inside of a cell block.

As expected with Andrew Dominik, the dialogue and cinematography are extremely well done. His transition shots are damn near flawless and the tongue and cheek dialogue is fun while keeping the audience interested. He also does some neat little things to allow the audience to see the film through Choppers perspective.

Eric Bana gives a stellar performance (better than Munich in my opinion). With all the weigh he put on, he seems larger than life on the screen (with credit also going to Dominik for the "Larger then life" personality of Chopper). Fair warning though, Their are some parts that are not for the light stomached, but definitely a movie I would suggest to watch.

I want to start by saying that I hate gangster movies. I thoroughly dislike being asked to identify with murderers and criminals and to treat organised criminals as "anti-heroes". With this in mind I was quite surprised to find that I really enjoyed "Chopper".

As previous reviewers have said, this is essentially a character study rather than a story. The reason it works so well is that Mark Brandon Read is a compelling character beautifully impersonated by Eric Bana. Anyone who's ever seen an interview with Read himself can appreciate what a close impersonation Bana achieves; his sudden guffawing laugh and light-hearted way of talking about his really unpleasant deeds being perfectly copied. The movie manages to do what I'm sure Read himself has achieved in real life - it tricks you into liking him before revealing that his hair-trigger temper and propensity for paranoia and violence make him a dangerous person to be around. The thing that keeps you watching is Chopper's jovial nature but also his unpredictability. In circumstances where other gangsters would have gone on a killing spree, Chopper just shrugs and takes it in his stride. But likewise, in throughly innocuous circumstances, his paranoia can kick in at any moment and send him on a violent outburst.

Chopper is a great film. Andrew Dominik, the director, did a splendid job. The film seems so realistic, the brutality, the dialogues, the places, the characters, it's all so well adapted to the kind of movie that Chopper is. The acting is really amazing, especially from Eric Bana, who plays Chopper. This man has the talent to make every single feeling of his character visible, and realistic. The violence, while being pretty graphic and brutal, isn't gratuitous or exaggerated (except for some scenes with too much blood letting). The violence "hits" the viewer, just like he was feeling the pain, it's very well reproduced. The character of Chopper is interesting, as a man who's trying to be a real tough criminal, but still has some feelings...it's Natural Born Killers with nuances...With funny moments, great acting, nicely-written scenario and one very interesting character, Chopper delivers that: Dark humor, attaching characters, great scenario, violence (for the people who like it), and it's a very nice movie. Eric Bana has a lot of future in acting...and Andrew Dominik is a great director that should definitely continue in this business. Chopper is very enjoyable. I give it 8/10.