Chopper (2000)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Andrew Dominik

Writers:

Mark Brandon Read (books)
Andrew Dominik (written by)

Release Date:

3 August 2000 (Australia)

Genre:

Biography | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn.

Plot:

Chopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Criminal | Murder | Jail | Paranoia

Awards:

12 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Eric Bana	...	Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read
Simon Lyndon	...	Jimmy Loughnan
David Field	...	Keithy George
Daniel Wyllie	...	Bluey (as Dan Wyllie)
Bill Young	...	Detective Downie
Vince Colosimo	...	Neville Bartos
Kenny Graham	...	Keith Read
Kate Beahan	...	Tanya
Serge Liistro	...	Sammy the Turk
Pam Western	...	Tanya's Mother
Garry Waddell	...	Kevin Darcy
Brian Mannix	...	Ian James
Skye Wansey	...	Mandy
Annalise Emtsis	...	Shazzy
Johnnie Targhan	...	Paul the Bouncer (as Johnnie Targan)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Cinevex)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Mexico:C | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Singapore:R21 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R (video rating) (cut) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC)

Trivia:

Eric Bana admitted to eating junk food for four weeks to put on the extra weight needed to play the 1986 Chopper.

Goofs:

Continuity: At Tanya's house you see the car lights are on as Chopper goes to her front door. When he comes back and beats the car in frustration - they are off.

Quotes:

Chopper: You don't much like me, do you Keithy?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "20 to 1: Adults Only 20 to 01: World's Most Daring Movies (#8.1)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Love

Bravura Film Making - With Aussies!!!!!

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!