Chopper

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.

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!

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 have to disagree with those that say this is for Aussie's only. Chopper is an amazing piece of filmmaking in nearly every regard and goes beyond the limitations of vernaculars. I had to laugh at the review that dismissed it as sophomoric tripe and attempts supporting his argument citing the film's lack of realism in violence. Although based on a real man this is storytelling cinema not documentary. There is an obvious element of gross exaggeration in most of the scenes of violence in Chopper, which serve a purpose (or, more specifically, several purposes). Chopper is obviously incapable of telling the truth – or even hearing the truth.

It is, at first, difficult to figure out why so many are drawn to Chopper (and not at all difficult to see why so many wish him dead). Within the first few moments Eric Bana establishes Chopper's character in a way that reveals the off kilter charisma that some simply cannot resist. Those Chopper seems to get along with best are those on the periphery, those who don't invest too much whom he seems intent on impressing. Those too involved with him are locked into his doom because simply no one is able to keep up with the mythological figure Chopper has created himself (or tries create himself) into.

Darkly humorous, brutal, yet not without pathos the film rightly focuses on its central character and lives up to the unlikely hero's motto: never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn. "Chopper" is a fascinating film filled several amazing performances even in smaller roles (e.g., Jimmy's chain smoking, junkie, white trash, pregnant "fiancée" stumbling to the floor to pick up a sawed off shot gun in the hallway).

Not for everyone, but those who get this sort of thing will be richly rewarded.

Chopper is the nickname of Mark Brandon Read, a notorious real life criminal whose crimes were chronicled in a best selling book by him. Eric Bana plays Read to perfection. An early scene brings to mind the Michael Madsen ear slicing portion of Reservoir Dogs. The camera stays on Bana for 90 percent of the hour and a half running time; and not a minute is wasted. The style is similar to the equally vicious Bronson, which also deals with an infamous Australian criminal. Both are must see movies for anyone who is a fan a the crime genre. The sardonic humor is the sort typically associated with films from Down Under. Just to watch Bana chew up the screen with the look of an actual sociopath, is worth the price of the DVD rental. The New York Times of April 13, 2013 has a profile of Mark Brandon Read which is an excellent companion to this adaptation. Do not miss Chopper.