IMDb user comments for
Chopper (2000) More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 14:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

137 comments in total

---

39 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :-
Say Goodnight To Uncle Chop, 22 November 2000

Author: daveisit from Melbourne, Australia

This movie was not intended to be solely funny, but with Eric Bana in the lead it was always going to make you laugh. His denial of pain and causing injury while at times hard to watch is also hilarious. Chopper's laugh often steals the show, coming at what appear to be inappropriate times.

It's a brilliant movie with great direction and performances. I'll go an 8 out of 10.

---

27 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Amazing Performance By Eric Bana!, 26 July 2005

Author: hokeybutt from Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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.

---

25 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
Chopper; rough title, intense movie, 16 March 2002
Author: ~PL~

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.

---

20 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
A well directed and written film with a balanced view and a great performance from Bana, 16 May 2004
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Mark Brandon Read, aka Chopper, is a small-time criminal who is violent and unpredictable. During one of his many stays in prison he is betrayed by his friend Jimmy – who stabs him repeatedly in an effort to kill him for a bounty. When Jimmy fails, he claims Chopper attacked him and Chopper does the time while Jimmy gets free. Released years later Chopper leaves prison still his jovial, friendly, brutal, violent and unpredictable self.

In this review I will not even bother getting into a debate over whether or not it is right or not to make a bigger celebrity of Chopper than he already is – the book is out, the film is made and it's a moot point. The film does a good job of being reasonably balanced – it shows Chopper's action in such a light that it is hard not to be disgusted by him and his sheer disregard for human life. There is of course an element of the film liking him, but in fairness that may be the truth – he may have been the nice bloke at heart that the film presents him as; most of us will know people from clubs and pubs who are salt of the earth and will call you 'mate' all the time until they take offence at any little thing then they'll be fighting before you know it. The film is amusing and shocking in equal turns and manages to be engaging even if the plot is more of a character study than a plot.

In this regard it really works, because the film captures a great deal of his character and not just his actions – he must be a horror to know and it is this that stops it really glamorising him. The script is really well done and it allows us to feel a strong fear and dislike for this man without ever being turned off him to the point that we stop watching or stop being interesting. Bana is a big part of this and he is really good in one of his earliest roles on film. He manages to make this man both a monster and charming in a blokey sort of way, but he also brings out the inner fear and loneliness that Chopper has – and the sheer basic immaturity that drives him.

This is not glamorisation, this is a fair look at a man who few of us would want to ever meet. The support cast are also good but it is Bana's film and he shows why Hollywood picked him up in the first place.

Director Dominik may be a little taken by his subject, but he makes it balanced and actually presents a character rather than just a hyperkenitic comedy killer that Chopper could have become in someone else's hands. Certainly if this had been a Hollywood film it would have made Chopper much more of an anti-hero and would have dropped the character a bit in favour of stuff that targets the Tarantino teenage 'killer-cool' audience. He does add a great deal of style as well and there are plenty of scenes here that are fun and stylishly directed – however his biggest contribution is bringing out the bad side of Chopper rather than just making him a killer who is funny.

Overall I wasn't sure what to expect from this – I'm not generally morbid or interested in people who are just thugs, even well known thugs, but I did enjoy this film. The direction is cool and stylish but the script brings out a Chopper who is unpredictable, childish, lonely, insecure and brutally violent – if you met him in a pub you would run if you had any sense. Bana takes this and gives a great performance to keep him charming but never hide the fact that he is a dangerous and thoroughly unpleasant man.

---

17 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Difficult, Fascinating and Fun, 6 January 2004
Author: gpadillo from Portland, Maine

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.

---

24 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Chop, chop, chop, little Chopper chops, 19 May 2005

Author: tomimt from Finland

Thruth and fiction blend in a fun and in some places gross story about the most known criminal of Australia, Mark "Chopper" Reed. Now, I am not Australian, nor have I read Choppers books, so I really can't say how accurate this movie is to towards it's sources but what I can say it does work quite well as a movie.

And as it is stated in the film, the story isn't a salute towards crime, so it doesn't try to be truthful to the max

Chopper (Eric Bana) is a man with a dream: to become most notorious man of Australia. This he tries to achieve by doing crimes, looting and murders but not drugs. He also exaggerates his stories, so no-one actually knows what he has done and in what extent. This give possibilities to tell same stuff from the point of view of other occupants.

Good film, mostly because of brilliant acting by Bana. Defintly his best movie (as an actor) to date.

---

13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Fact or Fiction? The film is still great!, 6 April 2006

Author: José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) from Mexico

Mark Brandon Read, nicknamed "Chopper", was a notorious criminal in Australia who after spending most of his life in prison, went on publishing books with anecdotes of those years becoming a successful writer of Best-Sellers. While he has been accused of exaggerating things about his life in his books, the stories presented still are realistic and shocking, and give insight about the mind of this complex and often-troubled man, regardless if if they are real or fiction. "Chopper", the movie, is not based exactly on Read's life, but in the series of anecdotes he wrote in his first books.

Eric Bana plays Chopper and gives one of his best performances to date, capturing the very essence of the living legend Chopper has become now. It is not a surprise that this film gave him recognition out of Australia and turned him into an international star. but even when the movie is centered around Chopper, Simon Lyndon and Kate Beahan's performances shine in their roles as Chopper's cell mate Jimmy and Chopper's girlfriend Tanya respectively.

Like Read's books, the movie is not exactly a biography, but a collection of tales surrounding the now-mythical figure of "Chopper", presented in a way that perfectly mixes strange surrealism with harsh realism. The gritty semi-documentary look the film has enhances this feeling as well as the cold way the violence is presented. Like the real Chopper, the film walks the fine line between fact and fiction, and that's what makes it very appealing and interesting.

It could be said that Director Andrew Dominik painted an accurate portrait of "Chopper" the legend, not of the real person; and that's probably what the real Chopper may prefer. Domink plays with the moods, going from serious drama to awkwardly funny scenes in this character study that presents us a charming yet dangerous man, who probably has been through more than what we would like to do, yet less than what he would likes us to believe.

The film is very intense and "tough", and very good at it; Bana is perfect as Chopper and shows great promise as an actor. His characterization makes very difficult to don't like this common man with a very uncommon life. Director Dominik makes a straight-to-the-face film that stays true to Chopper's persona (fictional or not), and does it without being pretentious or manipulative. It basically lets Chopper's charisma speak for itself playing with the audience's fascination with crime and violence.

If as flaw was to be found, it would be that it never tries to go beyond its goal or push too much the envelope. It is not much of a flaw, as the results are still brilliant, but leaves one wondering at how far could it had gone considering the talent of those involved. Anyways, Eric Bana and Andrew Dominik are set to a bright future and this film is a brilliant start for these two new talents. 7/10

---

13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Bravura Film Making - With Aussies!!!!!, 11 November 2002
Author: Shaun Hennessy (henfish) from Chatham, Kent

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!

---

8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Great acting by Eric Bana lifts this above your average gangster flick, 7 February 2006
Author: to_kill_better from United Kingdom

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.

---

7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Best portrayal of a psychopath since Taxi Driver, 10 July 2006

Author: psib0rg from UK

Not for the faint of heart this movie gives a grim insight into the mind and life of a career psychopath. Many of you will know or know of people like 'Chopper' and most of you probably cross the road when you see them coming. Based 'on fact' some portions are a bit too over the top to be fully believed but the movie makes apology for this from the outset. Eric Bana's performance is simply awe inspiring and the supporting characters and performances throughout are believable, convincing and multi-layered. Despite 'Chopper's obvious mental problems, his manipulative charm, animal cunning and the intelligence behind the insanity all shine through Bana's eyes. Direction is tight and non-intrusive, almost documentary style and i must say it works really well. Its one of those films you very quickly forget your watching a movie. While i do enjoy flashy and creative camera usage some films don't need it, this is one of them. The story is funny, sad and shocking in almost equal measure and this is one 'little' movie i'm very glad i stumbled across, thoroughly recommended viewing, i give it a 9/10. Congratulations to all on worked on this, you made a rough diamond.

---

---

Page 1 of 14:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com summary	Ratings
Awards	Newsgroup reviews	External reviews
Parents Guide	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user comments	Your vote history