Bana's gift -- and his triumph -- is that he makes us somehow care about this magnetic monster, without ever letting us feel as if we've figured him out.
Chopper (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:45
Rotten:19
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Eric Bana's performance as the charming but twisted Chopper is the highlight of this disturbing portrait about Australia's notorious author/criminal.
Theatrical Release:Apr 11, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: Australian comedian Eric Bana is Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his best-selling autobiography, FROM THE INSIDE, while serving a murder sentence in prison. Beginning in the... Australian comedian Eric Bana is Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his best-selling autobiography, FROM THE INSIDE, while serving a murder sentence in prison. Beginning in the blue-washed light of a maximum security Melbourne prison, Chopper establishes his dominance with the impulsive knifing of a fellow prisoner. Vaccillating between violence and regret, Chopper apologizes to his victim, but his good mate Jimmy (Simon Lyndon) later retaliates against Chopper in an excruciating contract stabbing, rife with sexual tension. Finally released from prison, the heavily-tattooed Chopper has lost the better part of both of his ears, as well as the ability to make any distinction between his own made-up stories and reality. At a nightclub with his prostitute girlfriend, Tanya (Kate Beahan), he runs into Neville (Vince Colosimo), an old victim who limps from the attack but glitters in drug-funded gold. In his paranoia, Chopper connects rumors of a new contract on his life to Neville, Tanya, and his old mate Jimmy, to whom he pays a visit and discovers a man rotting from drug abuse. Alternately wickedly funny and grotesque, CHOPPER gives no easy answer to the question of Chopper Read's motives, but his method is clear, "Ya bash people for no reason, just to get a name for yourself." [More]
Starring: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, Dan Wyllie, David Field
Starring: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, Dan Wyllie, David Field, Bill Young, Vince Colosmo, Kenny Graham, Kate Beahan
Director: Andrew Dominik
Director: Andrew Dominik
Screenwriter: Andrew Dominik
Producer: Michele Bennett
Studio: First Look
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Release:
Nov 13, 2001
Reviews for Chopper
there is an unexpected melancholy that raises this film . . . into the ranks of a classic tragedy
The excitement and tension comes from never knowing when Chopper is really going to lose it.
fatally unforgettable tale of a man who makes you ashamed to be human.
[Bana] makes Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs look like a lightweight.
The charismatic and explosive performance of Eric Bana holds together the conventionally plotted film.
It's Eric Bana ... who justifies our interest with a dazzling performance of blunt humor, unpredictability and an edge of menace.
Worth seeing simply as a flamboyant cinematic exercise that explores the possibilities of the medium in ways you won't have experienced before.
The fact that Chopper is so engrossing and effective stems from the powerful performance of Eric Bana.
Eric Bana ... plays him as an engaging villain with a deft talent for grotesque behaviour and caustic one-liners.
With his metal teeth and deformed satyr-like ears, Chopper is a spectacular lowlife clown.
Dominik's direction is fresh and lively, and the camerawork is exceptional.
Like a lot of video-game violence, much of Chopper is meant to be perversely funny. But it's a different kind of perversely funny.
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