Chopper (2001)

What an entertaining movie. Definitely worth a watch. It might be my twisted sense of humour but, even the tragic parts I found hilarious. Aside from that its a gritty fun (i guess true story) film with top performances all round. I don't want to give anything away so I suggest a few beers and this movie... don't forget the pizza too.

Chopper is one of the most iconic Australian films to have been made. With not only an amazing work of the Cast, but also the very dedicated job of the entire team behind it. From the writers to the extra's. Chopper delivers on every single category of great classical films.Eric Bana plays the role of Mark "Chopper" Read, one of Australia's most notorious criminals. Chopper is a man who, through circumstance and necessity, uses violence as a tool. He is a man of intense emotion - most of the time he is torn between fear, remorse, horror and despair.Film at its best makes think and makes you uncomfortable. It explores emotions and feelings which the viewer understands but wants to comprehend. This is such a film.Chopper is a man of morals and is angry at himself when he has to compromise in what he believes in. He wants to be loved and this is the reason why life has become infamous to him. There are many criminals out there, but few have captured the imagination quite like Chopper did.Some people criticize the film because it is obviously not an exact account of events, they obviously didn't read the films tag line: "The truth, the whole truth and nothing like the truth!" This film was intended to be a "dramatization" of events and was co-written by Mark "Chopper" Read himself. And he never tries to hide the fact that he makes up a story or two.

This is 94 minutes of watching Chopper wander about town and shooting people at random. It becomes clear about 15 minutes in to the movie that Mark Read is as deluded about his self- importance as the film is about it's ability to say anything interesting.Eric Bana does a nice job of delivering the BS that constantly flows from Read's mouth. He comes across and eloquent despite the shallow material.Cinematography is well done. Colors are wrong in almost every scene of the movie as if it was filmed in the wrong light or with expired film. It emphasizes the insanity of Read's world while also making it feel like personal snapshots of the world in which he lived.

"Chopper," is the story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious(so I am told) Australian outlaw. The movie is supposed to be based on a best selling book that he wrote while in prison.The Good: Eric Bana does an awesome job playing Chopper, and this movie shows why he came to Hollywood to make real movies ala Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson. Also the beginning 10-15 minutes sets this movie up to be outstanding, full of violence and even humor. Also the director goes back to making good scenes in the last 10 minutes. So watch, fast forward, and watch again.The Bad: If you subtract the first 10-15 minutes and the last 10 minutes, it is just another boring, low budget Australian movie. I read a bunch of good reviews about this movie, and some compared it to the movie, "Resevior Dogs." Well, I guess who ever said that must have been watching a different Resevior Dogs than the one I watched. I think everyone must have watched for 15 minutes, fell asleep, and woke up in the last 10. There really is no explanation other than that.Again, it starts off really promising and I thought," Wow, this is going to be a great movie." Wow, was I disappointed. Eric Bana was the only reason I continued to watch this one and he was truly great. I guess other than a few odd scenes I found almost no real good humor. There are a few mildly amusing moments but nothing worth raving about.I guess there is a small amount of action, but it is sandwiched within so much bad writing and directing that when it does happen you really could care less. All scenes except the prison ones were poorly lit and filmed. All the supporting actors were horrible, except for Kate Beahan, who played Choppers prostitute girlfriend, but she was gone after only a few scenes.I give it a 6 out of 10, and that is for Bana alone. All you people that are jumping up and down giving this movie high praise really need to get out and watch more movies. You all set me up for a giant letdown.