By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Daniel Wyllie | David Field | Eric Bana | Simon Lyndon
Country: australia
Year: 2001
Running time: 94
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221073/combined
Bruce says: “When Chopper (Eric Bana) received his 15 minutes of fame someone made a colossal decimal error. No one so repugnant should be so famous. This gruesome biopic tells the story of Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read a notorious thug and murderer from Down Under who boasts of killing at least 19 people. He has a swaggering, coy, comical and frightening presence. His manic demeanor instinctively tells you to run for cover. The film is based on his best selling books (Chopper boasts in the film that the first sold over 250,000 copies): Chopper; Chopper 2: How to Shoot Friends and Influence People; Chopper 3: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Mate Shot in the Arse; Chopper 4: Happiness is a Warm Gun; and Chopper from the Inside: The
Confessions of Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read.
“Filmed using various gels to set the mood of each scene, the technique makes the viewing experience eerie and foreboding. When we first meet Chopper he is in prison and bullies other inmates. Jimmy, (Simon Lyndon), one of his best friends, turns on
him to collect a bounty. Jimmy stabs him at least six times during a very long and bloody scene. Chopper, in his quest for the limelight, claims he started a fight. For this boasting he receives more prison time. Another horrifying, bloody scene has Chopper demanding that another friend cut off his ears.
“The amazing thing is that Chopper thinks of himself as a celebrity and expects celebrity treatment from those around him. When he kills a man in a nightclub parking lot he boasts about doing the killing and is incensed when detectives insinuate that
another man will be charged with the murder. During his interrogation, he badgers the police more than they badger him. The case goes to trial and, even with damning testimony from Jimmy’s girlfriend, Chopper is acquitted. He proclaims victory with bravura at his post-trial press conference.
“The film plays like an Andrew Dice Clay reality show gone out of control which, to some extent, is the point. I can’t say that it is refreshing to see that another country is as tasteless and misguided as ours in their quest for entertainment. Eric Bana delivers a stellar performance, for what it’s worth. 2.5 cats”
Peg says: “One of my students in Australian Cinema brought this in last semester for us to watch. I thought it was very compelling and well-done. As for it being gratuitous, well, as you point out, that would seem to be the point. The film indeed comments on Australia’s fascination with mindless entertainment, but I do not think the film is itself an example of this genre, but rather a fictionalized pseudo-documentary based on a hard-to-believe true story.”
Hilary says: “I saw this film a couple years back and really enjoyed it.
“In fact, it’s probably the reason I actually paid to see HULK in the theatre, to see Eric Bana again. Looks like his career is going nowhere since crossing over to Hollywood. Go back to Australia and take on another challenging role, Eric!”