Film Review: Chopper

Chopper (18)
Dir. Andrew Dominik

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Before Hulk, Troy and Munich Eric Bana was busy delivering perhaps his best performance to date as Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read – the Australian celeb crim and all round Oz underworld folk hero / hardman.

Chopper is a brutal, paranoid film that mixes truth and fiction to create a riveting and violent tale about a fascinating character. Read is a born again psychopath unhindered by moral conscience and always a hairs breath away from unleashing severe damage on those around him. As he says “I'm just a bloody normal bloke. A normal bloke who likes a bit of torture.” Can’t really argue with that…

He’s quite self effacing though – at one point he goes on to say “You've probably read all the newspaper stories about me, and you've heard the word on the street about me, and you've probably got a picture in your head of what Chopper Read's like and we're sitting here at this bar all very nice and cosy and I'm a bit of a let down to you.”

The film though is no let down. It’s a bit rough and ready, obviously low budget but it does the job well and director Andrew Dominik has a lot of fun with the material to hand. For example, Chopper by name and… there’s one scene where Read gets his large manhood out in a bar and leaves it on view of his ex girlfriend whilst she tries to have a drink with her new man, but then I guess we’ve all done that from time to time!?

Bana plays Chopper as an engaging villain and has a deft talent for the grotesque behaviour and the dead pan one-liners required. This is as light hearted a glimpse into the seedy underworld of Melbourne as is ever likely to come your way… seek it out on DVD before I come round and blow your friggin brains out for a laugh!!

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (The truth, the half-truth, and nothing like the truth)


"the many faces of Chopper"

Darkmatters: H O ME