Chopper

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.

Release Year: 2000

Rating: 7.2/10 (16,524 voted)

Critic's Score: 65/100

Director:
Andrew Dominik

Stars: Eric Bana, Simon Lyndon, David Field

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

Writers: Mark Brandon Read, Andrew Dominik

Cast:

Eric Bana
–

Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read

Simon Lyndon
–

Jimmy Loughnan

David Field
–

Keithy George

Dan Wyllie
–

Bluey

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

Gary Waddell
–

Kevin Darcy

Brian Mannix
–

Ian James

Skye Wansey
–

Mandy

Annalise Emtsis
–

Shazzy

Johnnie Targhan
–

Paul the Bouncer

(as Johnnie Targan)

Taglines:
The truth, the half-truth, and nothing like the truth.

Release Date: 3 August 2000

Filming Locations: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Gross: $234,259
(USA)
(22 July 2001)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Mark Brandon Read suggested that Eric Bana play Chopper, after seeing him in the sketch comedy series
Full Frontal.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers):
Despite having his right ear cut off in prison, Chopper's right ear remains visibly intact throughout the movie.

Quotes:

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

User Review

Amazing Performance By Eric Bana!

Rating: 7/10


CHOPPER (3+ outta 5 stars) Nifty little character study of a notorious
Australian criminal… well, notorious in his own mind, at least. The
jury is still out on how much of the autobiographical details of the
life of "Chopper" read are real and how much is fake… but it does
make a compelling story either way. Eric Bana gives a great performance
in the lead… nothing else I've ever seen him in prepared me for how
good he really is. The character he plays is nasty, repellent, scary,
ill-tempered… and still full of charisma. After a violent stint in
prison (his motto appears to be "do unto others before they do it unto
you") Chopper is sent back out into society. With no other skills
besides his knowledge of crime, Chopper offers himself to the local
police as a special undercover agent. They, of course, want nothing to
do with his boneheaded scheme but he pretends that they do anyway.
Inflicting pain (on himself *and* others) seems to be what he is best
at and he gets plenty of opportunities to show his stuff. Amusing
though it may be at times, the movie is not a glorification of
violence… the ferocity and suddenness of it keeps the audience
constantly on edge.