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!
