Chopper (2000)

70% of critics liked it
(64 reviews)
89% of users liked it
(30,208 ratings)

This Australian drama is based on the life and times of Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious Aussie criminal who went on to become a best-selling author, publishing nine books about his exploits outside the law. In 1978, Chopper (played by Eric Bana) is serving a 16-year sentence for abducting a judge… More This Australian drama is based on the life and times of Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious Aussie criminal who went on to become a best-selling author, publishing nine books about his exploits outside the law. In 1978, Chopper (played by Eric Bana) is serving a 16-year sentence for abducting a judge who was overseeing the trial of his best friend Jimmy (Simon Lyndon). Jimmy and Chopper end up sharing a cell, along with Keithy George (David Field), a crime boss; when a disagreement between Keithy and Chopper escalates into violence, Chopper kills Keithy, leading to retribution from the gangster's mates, who hire Jimmy to do their dirty work. To escape, Chopper forces a friend to cut off one of his ears so he'll be transferred to another prison. Eight years later, Chopper is out of prison and looking for Jimmy in hopes of getting revenge; in the meantime, he's looking to get even with another of his enemies, Neville (Vince Colosimo), and trying to keep his eye on his girlfriend, Tanya (Kate Beahan), who supports herself as a call girl. While the real "Chopper" Read was not directly involved in the production, comic Eric Bana was cast in the lead at Read's suggestion. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Andrew Dominik
Written By: Andrew Dominik
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Apr 11, 2001 Limited
On DVD: Nov 13, 2001
Studio: First Look Pictures

Critic Reviews

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News
The fact that Chopper is so engrossing and effective stems from the powerful performance of Eric Bana.
Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
Chopper plays like a nonfuturistic A Clockwork Orange.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
It's a great style, it's a fabulous performance, but it never quite finds what it's searching for.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Chopper is never less than fascinating.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
You cannot look away from him. The performance is so . . . strange.
Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
The ways Read twists and embellishes the truth become progressively less interesting.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Apesar de soar incompleto, o filme jamais deixa de fascinar graças à atuação magistral de Eric Bana - que, em vários momentos, me fez lembrar do jovem Robert De Niro.
Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews
there is an unexpected melancholy that raises this film . . . into the ranks of a classic tragedy
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A slickly done fictionalized biopic with an explosive character giving an entertaining performance, and it's nothing more than that.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Worth seeing simply as a flamboyant cinematic exercise that explores the possibilities of the medium in ways you won't have experienced before.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jeff "

Chopper is one of the most incredible crime films that I've seen. The film tells the story of career criminal Mark "Chopper" Read. With this film it's almost impossible to tell fact from fiction, as Chopper's exploits seem too good to be true. Reid is a man… More
Chopper is one of the most incredible crime films that I've seen. The film tells the story of career criminal Mark "Chopper" Read. With this film it's almost impossible to tell fact from fiction, as Chopper's exploits seem too good to be true. Reid is a man who always fused explosive made up facts to tell a good yarn, and you really do see it in the film. Brought to life with amazing skill by actor Eric Bana who portrays Read in such a way that you cannot easily dismiss his strong screen presence no matter what your stance on the film is. One thing is for sure, Bana has never been better in any other film. Chopper was his best performance and he has yet to top it. The film takes a look at the life of this interesting and notorious criminal. The film hard to watch as it's very violent, and it gives you an insight into the mind of this larger than life criminal. The film is superbly crafted by director Andrew Dominik. Chopper is an electrifying film and is by far the most original crime film in quite some time. This is a film that crime film fanatics shouldn't pass up on. A solid piece of raw, gritty cinema; Chopper is a brilliant film combining the facts (and often fiction) of Australia's very own Billy The Kid. One of the reasons this film is so exciting is that Chopper Read is such an interesting figure that one cannot tear away from the screen, you are almost forced to watch his acts of depravity and you cannot look away because you want to know what this charismatic career criminal will do next. Chopper is not a film for the faint of heart as it often rough and violent, but never boring.
xGary X

An almost unrecognisable Eric Bana plays notorious criminal Mark "Chopper" Read whose "memoirs" and musings on life made him one of Australia's best selling authors of all time. It's actually very difficult to tell how much of this film is true, and how… More
An almost unrecognisable Eric Bana plays notorious criminal Mark "Chopper" Read whose "memoirs" and musings on life made him one of Australia's best selling authors of all time. It's actually very difficult to tell how much of this film is true, and how much is Read's creative "embellishments"; fact and fiction merge to the point where the same events are shown two or three times to show Read's version, the witness' version and (maybe!) the truth. But what definitely comes through is Chopper's larger than life persona, and he is in turns funny, charismatic, frightening and above all, a stark raving lunatic. He makes Tommy from Goodfellas look like the picture of emotional stability. It is a very interesting character study of a man who has no concept whatsoever of playing by society's rules, and as such it makes for a funny and disturbing story as you never really know what he is going to do next; he was literally a ticking time bomb of paranoic violence and he was just as likely to give you a big, friendly bear hug and a fistful of cash as a knife blade in your eye socket. Bana is fantastic in the lead role in a performance he is yet to match since his relocation to Hollywood, but this is the kind of part that quite possibly comes along once in a lifetime. The one flaw is that the early scenes in prison are the most interesting, the rest of the story never quite measuring up to the opening but otherwise it's a bit of a must see for anyone interested in true (!) life crime.
First L

The Australian film Chopper is based on a series of novels written by Mark "Chopper" Read, chronicling his life of crime in a exaggerated and fictionalized manner. Chopper seems nigh invulnerable as he tromps his way through the world of organized crime, extorting money… More
The Australian film Chopper is based on a series of novels written by Mark "Chopper" Read, chronicling his life of crime in a exaggerated and fictionalized manner. Chopper seems nigh invulnerable as he tromps his way through the world of organized crime, extorting money from drug lords and bumping off hitmen (all the while, being heralded as a national folk hero). As an action film, it's not quite as entertaining as similar films (Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), but this is due mainly to it's not having a plot (at least not a conventional one). The film seems to count on us finding Chopper as fascinating as Chopper finds himself, which is a tall order to ask of anyone. Nevertheless, it's amusing to see how far someone will go to gloriify themselves. According to Goodfellas, Henry Hill never killed nobody or did anything too untoward, Mark Read takes the opposite approach, painting himself as the ultimate badass (even if he does apologize to his victims, even driving one of them to the hospital after shooting him in the stomach). If Chopper is the weaker film, it's only because it seems lackadaisical in execution. The first half of the film, which focused around Chopper's prison experiences, was definitely the strongest, and perhaps the film would've been better had it stayed with that scenario just a bit longer. It's a dark comedy that drags in places, glorifying a man who perhaps doesn't deserve glorification, but damned if I wasn't entertained. Possibly Eric Bana's finest performance.
Thomas B

Awesome. Full review later
Wahida K

The truth, the half-truth, and nothing like the truth.
Anthony L

Australian cinema is so underrated, Chopper is proof! Its hard to believe its Eric Bana when you see him now but for me this is still his best work and I like most of his films. 'Why are you stabbin' me Nev"? Brilliant!
Dan S

A disturbing, dirty story which isn't that much fun to watch, but serves as a fascinating character study of one of Australia's worst criminals. Bana, who I've been hard on in the past, is simply incredible in the lead here as a menacing, tough-as-nails villian who you… More
A disturbing, dirty story which isn't that much fun to watch, but serves as a fascinating character study of one of Australia's worst criminals. Bana, who I've been hard on in the past, is simply incredible in the lead here as a menacing, tough-as-nails villian who you legitimately fear from start to finish. If only Bana played characters this intense more often, he really would've won me over earlier.
El Hombre I

Years before he would have his turn as Bruce Banner in HULK, Eric Bana would put on weight to play the charismatic Mark "Chopper" Read, who is something of a celebrity in his native land because of his comfortable and charming approach , violent streak, and the distinct… More
Years before he would have his turn as Bruce Banner in HULK, Eric Bana would put on weight to play the charismatic Mark "Chopper" Read, who is something of a celebrity in his native land because of his comfortable and charming approach , violent streak, and the distinct possibility that he's completely mad. Here, he provides background with a very subjective point of memory and truth. Chopper wasn't made for mass appeal, but if you have a stomach for the violence - which is not frequent but certainly strong - then this offbeat character study with a darkly comic edge might be for you. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view¤t=Chopper.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/Chopper.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
jd c

"When I was in prison I got slashed in the face, my ears cut off, my eyebrows trimmed and a butcher's knife here, an ice pick here - Not fun at all, etc. If you drink and drive and you're unfortunate enough to hit somebody, you ought to pray to God that you don't… More
"When I was in prison I got slashed in the face, my ears cut off, my eyebrows trimmed and a butcher's knife here, an ice pick here - Not fun at all, etc. If you drink and drive and you're unfortunate enough to hit somebody, you ought to pray to God that you don't go to prison." - Chopper Read This is a sick, raw and violent movie based on the true story of the notorious Chopper Read. "Read was born to an ex-army father and a mother who was a devout Seventh-Day Adventist. He was placed in a children's home for the first 18 months of his life, as his mother was either unwilling or unable to care for him. Read grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Collingwood, Thomastown, Fitzroy and Preston. He suffered from bullying at school, claiming that by the age of 15 he had been on the "losing end of several hundred fights" and his father, usually on his mother's recommendation, beat him often as a child . Read was made a Ward of the State by the age of 14, and was placed in several mental institutions as a teenager, where he was apparently subjected to both Deep-Sleep and Electroconvulsive therapy. By his mid teens, Read was already an accomplished street fighter, and the leader of the Surrey Road gang, made up of himself, 'Dave the Jew', Cowboy Johnny Harris, Terry the Tank and various other affiliates. Cowboy Johnny was killed in a street fight, protecting Chopper, during this period. Read and Dave The Jew had him cremated and sprinkled his ashes in a local swimming baths after closing time, in accordance with his wishes. Dave the Jew is the only ally from this period of his life who Read does not go into personal detail about in his books, stating only that Dave is a slightly-built, upper-class Jewish man who suffers from several undiagnosed mental conditions, and despite being a ruthless toecutter and murderer, is completely unknown to the police. Chopper remains good friends with him to this day. Read's criminal career began with the robbing of drug dealers, based in massage parlours in the Prahran area. He later graduated to kidnapping and torturing members of the criminal underworld, often using a blowtorch or bolt cutters to remove the toes of his victims before killing them (Hence the slang term "Toecutter", used for Headhunters). While in Pentridge prison's H division in the late 70's, Read launched a prison war. His gang, dubbed 'The Overcoat Gang', because they wore long coats all year round to conceal their weapons, were involved in several hundred acts of violence against a larger opposing gang during this period. Around this time, Read had a fellow inmate cut both of his ears off in order to be able to leave H division temporarily. Whilst in his early biographies Read claimed this was to avoid an ambush by other inmates, his later works state that he did so to "Win a bet". Several other members of Read's gang also cut off their own ears in a similar fashion after this incident. Read was ambushed and stabbed by members of his own gang in a sneak attack, when they felt his plan to cripple every other inmate in the entire division and win the gang war in one fell swoop was going too far. Read lost several feet of bowel and intestine in the attack. Ironically, one of the attackers was James Loughlan, a longtime friend of Read's. Read was, at the time, serving a seventeen year sentence after attacking a Judge in an effort to get Loughlan released from prison. The nickname 'Chopper' was allegedly based on the protective Bulldog from the cartoon series Yakky Doodle, due to Read's habit of protecting the small and innocent from harm. Read once claimed to have served two years for GBH in 1978 after attacking a local pimp and drug pusher who was attempting to force a 13 year old school girl into prostitution, claiming "It was worth it". Described variously as witty, charismatic, sadistic, and frightening, Read admits to being involved in the killing of 19 people and a further 11 attempts. Many of his associates in the underworld claim that Read is prone to making up numbers to increase his own notoriety and the sales of his books. Read himself has stated on numerous occasions that he would "never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn."" Disturbing and ultra-violent, bloody crime flick...yet darkly funny at the same time. Very well acted and great direction, along with some good storytelling. Eric Bana plays an amazing psychopath in this movie. I can't believe this guy really did what he did, and he got away with most of the shit too. If I ever saw Read walking in the street I would definitely cross to the other side. lol An interesting dark and extremely gritty look at a true psychopath. Highly recommended! <a href="http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/?action=view¤t=Read1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/Read1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> Eric Bana as Chopper Read <a href="http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/?action=view¤t=Read2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/Read2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> The real Chopper Read
Film C

oh my god what aload of shit their is nothing worse then watching someone in prison but then doing stupid things majorly shit
Christopher M

Chopper is the story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious Australian criminal who spent part of his life torturing other criminals or in-and-out of prisons, and the other part as a best-selling writer. This is somewhat of a strange film, which I guess is what I've come… More
Chopper is the story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious Australian criminal who spent part of his life torturing other criminals or in-and-out of prisons, and the other part as a best-selling writer. This is somewhat of a strange film, which I guess is what I've come to expect from the Australians. It's grounded, though, by the brilliant portrayal of Chopper by Eric Bana - who is most definitely one of the best younger-generation actors working today, and a personal favourite of mine. The real Chopper is famous for being mentally off-kilt and sadistic at times but also charming and witty - all of which comes across fantastically in Bana's portrayal of him. It's because of this, and the well-written script, that the film is quite funny at times, and the character of Chopper cannot help but to make one grin. Although the film itself was a little inconsistent at times, it's still pretty solid and anyway is completely worth watching just to see Eric Bana in this role; it's extremely enjoyable.
Lafe F

Rough and bloody prison movie. Many ouch-times throughout! It wasn't easy to watch the blood flowing.
Tim S

Eric fucking Bana
Lady D

Mark Bana certainly did his research in this role, his interpretation of Mark 'Chopper' Reid ws outstanding. Chopper is most definitely a unique character, who tells a great story. For those intested, the special features on the dvd has a 'weekend with Chopper'… More
Mark Bana certainly did his research in this role, his interpretation of Mark 'Chopper' Reid ws outstanding. Chopper is most definitely a unique character, who tells a great story. For those intested, the special features on the dvd has a 'weekend with Chopper' (the real Chopper)
Emily A

This movie was so amazing! t's just delicious to have a movie driven by a character that is so joyfully out of his mind, and the filmmaking is equally brilliant. There is one scene where the characters are on coke and it's shot so spastically that it makes you do a double… More
This movie was so amazing! t's just delicious to have a movie driven by a character that is so joyfully out of his mind, and the filmmaking is equally brilliant. There is one scene where the characters are on coke and it's shot so spastically that it makes you do a double take. I love this flick.
Kalel J

This is a film that has the potential, and mostly delivers, to hit the audience through it's authenticity. What happens in this film comes across as very real and Bana does a great job depicting the criminal Chooper Reed.
Mike T

The intensity of this story and the shocking brilliance of Bana's performance aren't enough to make me look past the somewhat haphazard narrative and unclear aims of the script itself. It's a character study about a character I didn't find particularly unique or… More
The intensity of this story and the shocking brilliance of Bana's performance aren't enough to make me look past the somewhat haphazard narrative and unclear aims of the script itself. It's a character study about a character I didn't find particularly unique or tragic, so it's more a well-executed stream of violence and cruelty than anything.
Marcus W

Mark "Chopper" Read. A man with serious anger management issues, a short fuse and paranoia - not someone to leave your children with. Yet there's something about him that renders this film highly watchable (especially during the early scenes in prison) mainly due to a… More
Mark "Chopper" Read. A man with serious anger management issues, a short fuse and paranoia - not someone to leave your children with. Yet there's something about him that renders this film highly watchable (especially during the early scenes in prison) mainly due to a mesmerising performance from a near-unrecognisable Eric Bana. A should-see
Sean L

This movie is brilliant. I'm not sure what I was expecting based on Jesse James, but it wasn't this. There are some very obvious precursors to things in Jesse James, but this film is totally unique. The strength is that it all revolves around an amazingly interesting… More
This movie is brilliant. I'm not sure what I was expecting based on Jesse James, but it wasn't this. There are some very obvious precursors to things in Jesse James, but this film is totally unique. The strength is that it all revolves around an amazingly interesting character and Eric Bana's performance is one of the best I've ever seen. It's kind of similar to There Will Be Blood in that way, but the character has more levels in Chopper. I was disappointed that it was as short as it was. Everyone should see this.
Robert F

I always find it hilarious when people are pragmatic and relaxed about horrific occurences in life. Buffy did it with death and the apocalypse, and Chopper does it with crime and murder. Comedy gold in my books. As I watched this, I...also...kinda...wanted to be friends with Chopper.… More
I always find it hilarious when people are pragmatic and relaxed about horrific occurences in life. Buffy did it with death and the apocalypse, and Chopper does it with crime and murder. Comedy gold in my books. As I watched this, I...also...kinda...wanted to be friends with Chopper. Crazy, but true. He just seemed so nice when he wasn't killing people.