"Chopper" is a fairly engaging, sometimes humorous depiction of the exploits of Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read (Eric Bana), a notorious Australian criminal. Out to make a name for himself, he would never let the truth get in the way of a good story. He would write a best selling autobiography while doing time, and this movie serves as a fictionalization of various incidents in his life.Writer / director Andrew Dominik ("The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford") and his fellow filmmakers are right up front about the fact that their film isn't really a biography. Provided that prospective viewers can tolerate some very juicy moments of extreme violence, they'll find that this is a pretty stylish and offbeat experience. Bana, known at the time as a stand up comic in his native country, makes the yarn funnier than it might have been otherwise. It's particularly funny the way that he denies it when he's in pain. His charismatic yet also subtly creepy performance is the main reason to watch, yet he does receive strong support from Simon Lyndon, David Field, Dan Wyllie, Bill Young, Vince Colosimo, Kenny Graham, Kate Beahan, and Serge Liistro. Since Chopper is prone to spinning yarns, his credibility obviously can be taken with a grain of salt, and it allows Dominik and company to relate a particular event from different points of view.Clocking in at a fairly trim 91 minutes, "Chopper" isn't exactly epic in scope, but it delivers commanding entertainment for its duration.Seven out of 10.

If there's really anything to take away from the movie "Chopper", it's Eric Bana's extraordinarily gripping performance.Based on the late Australian prisoner Mark "Chopper" Reed, he had became a very prolific author through autobiographies and fictional crime novels throughout his lengthy sentence. But saying that, well that's just it. The movie simply follows Reed's inevitable descent back into the shady underworld, and his obviously well known prison sentence. The supporting cast do a terrific job, and the very dim lit area's help bleed atmosphere into the lens.Final Verdict: It's a hard sell, one which will ultimately grip you thanks to Mr. Bana's hard man mannerisms and sinful likability. But as far as movies based on prison life and criminals go, this is one you'll wont come back from entirely smarter or all too satisfied. 6/10.

Chopper is the nickname of Mark Brandon Read, a notorious real life criminal whose crimes were chronicled in a best selling book by him. Eric Bana plays Read to perfection. An early scene brings to mind the Michael Madsen ear slicing portion of Reservoir Dogs. The camera stays on Bana for 90 percent of the hour and a half running time; and not a minute is wasted. The style is similar to the equally vicious Bronson, which also deals with an infamous Australian criminal. Both are must see movies for anyone who is a fan a the crime genre. The sardonic humor is the sort typically associated with films from Down Under. Just to watch Bana chew up the screen with the look of an actual sociopath, is worth the price of the DVD rental. The New York Times of April 13, 2013 has a profile of Mark Brandon Read which is an excellent companion to this adaptation. Do not miss Chopper.

This is basically the movie that pretty much made Eric Bana, and while it has been suggested that it is not supposed to be a comedy, there are quite a number of parts where you just cannot help but burst out in laughter (such as the scene where he shows some woman him member in the bar), even after having seen the movie at least four or five times previously. In fact, it is one of those movies that even though you know what is coming up, the scene itself is still very amusing.I am sure everybody in Australia knows who Uncle Chop Chop, or Mark 'Chopper' Brandon Reid is, but for those international people who don't believe that there is anything of relevance outside of their borders, he was basically a Melbourne standoverman who pretty much made a packet (legitimately) by writing a series of books while he was in prison. As he says in the movie, he is a best selling author, and he can't spell, so there are probably a bunch of university graduated English majors who are fuming. My thoughts are more power to him, particularly since what he writes about (and shame on me for not actually having read any of his books) are things that people actually want to read.The question really is whether the events in this movie are true or not. Well, to be honest with you, as Chopper says himself, the movie is 100% true and 100% rubbish. The one thing that crims, especially those like Chopper Read, is to take a true story and embellish it so much that nobody can actually use the story itself to prove that what actually happened is true or false. Mind you, most of the scenes in Pentridge (with maybe the exception of the stabbing murder of one of the Painters and Dockers leader) are probably true, namely because there are corroborative sources, but then most of those scenes do not implicate him in anything anyway. Still, the murder probably did happen as described, but then again we will never know.However, there are parts of this film that are not true to form. Granted, Bana plays his role brilliantly, right down to the fact that you can actually believe that he is some paranoid, drug crazed, standoverman, however Chopper actually took offence at the suggestion that he actually beat up women. To be honest, there are aspects of the criminal world that would not stand for that type of behaviour. They say that there is no honour among thieves, but that saying is actually as flawed as some of the stories in this film.As is suggested, Chopper never went after or assaulted an innocent person, and this is very much the case among the professional underworld. They are not interested in innocent people. Those who commit muggings and break and enters of random houses then to be young street kids, those that the professional underworld considers expendable. The professionals actually don't care about these people, namely because there are more important fish to fry when dealing with the underbelly of society. Mind you, while the criminal underworld intrudes into every aspect of our lives (you can be assured that the local pub is probably paying protection money to somebody) those of us who are not involved in it, probably don't need to worry about having some professional killer come gunning after you.