Chopper begins with a group of men huddled in a cramped prison cell watching a television that it would appear has been placed especially within. They're watching a programme about one of the three men; that man is Mark Brandon Read, an Australian made somewhat famous for his infamy and who goes by the nickname of "Chopper". Eric Bana's steely gaze as the convict dominates the sequence, the film lingering on his expression in close up format as he himself remains locked on a TV programme detailing his very exploits. Through lingering on Read's expression, a sense of glee at his actions as one of his victims explains how the very onlooker once harmed him, the audience are invited to realise a viewpoint, or perspective, of the man; one from the point of view of a victim whilst systematically cutting to the guy for what he is, sitting there in the flesh and watching on. The film is more interested in the figure of Chopper than the news report, essentially setting up what Andrew Dominik 's 2000 film is all about: the getting to know what made Chopper who he is away from all the television and the media opinions.
The film is mostly all of one long flashback, one that'll begin in 1978 therefore allowing us to observe ourselves mostly everything that made Chopper who he is up to that point in prison, circa 1991. In introducing Chopper as a jail-dwelling; steely eyed; tattooed individual whom watches accounts of men he's maimed in the past on TV informing everyone of how bad/evil/nasty he is, the film sets up a pretty stone-wall image of the man during the early exchanges. What follows is a film that doesn't' excuse what Chopper did or what he is, but rather explores how he came about obtaining both his physical and media-driven image and aura. When the film has come full circle and we end up in the prison cell again, there's a moment one of the guards appears sad that the time has come for the TV report to conclude; both guards to leave and for the door to be slammed shut and locked. The guard looked sad, but there was an additional degree of acceptance in his face - Chopper Read may well be a funny, charismatic and involving guy but he's done what he's done in the past and that time which arrives that'll see the jail house door slam shut is a sad realisation that he's there as a result of his flaws more-so his enthusiasm for what he does.
When the tale of who he is, why he is begins in Pentridge Prison in the late 1970s; the film waits for all of about five minutes to use this frightening and unhinged aura about the man it built up by way of all the talk in the opening. Chopper's a violent man and the film is accordingly so, with one of its more gruesome scenes playing out in the tough manner that it does because it's blood-letting and maiming which is self inflicted by way of a third party. Whilst not a direct action of one character on another, Chopper's drive to get out of the prison division he's in and get relocated sees him take measures that see him loose parts of both ears.
Chopper is the sort of film that'll see a person stab another, several times whilst in prison, before have the pair of them sit down some years later in an apartment and just talk. Chopper's like that, there's a really odd atmosphere about it; a brooding sense that there'll be an emoting of anger just around the corner all put across by way of an odd blue tint that drowns out most other colours and emphasises the grime and the dark most locations possess. The film presents Chopper as a distinctive figure, whereas most of his prison inmates in the early scenes sport long hair and huge moustaches; Chopper doesn't have any of anything. His shaven head and minimal facial hair aid in our association with him as this alienated figure from everyone else, to the point it appears his own friendships have run aground. Chopper's physical appearance in his hard, muscular and tattoo-clad body further pushes him away from his fellow inmates as this tale of how a society; a culture; a nation eventually bordered on a kind of infatuation with the man.
Just as Chopper's body is put through a wringer of stab wounds and ear mutilation, his mind goes through a similarly rough period of anguish. Once out of prison in the 1980s, and out with girlfriend Tanya (Beahan), he eyes a man named Neville (Colosimo) who he believes was seeing his partner during his time inside. The camera sticks with Chopper's face complete with stare, again in close up format, as a series of strobe lights flash across his face – a storm brewing on the inside, a series of explosions built on rage going off behind the steely face. The film will use the three primary colours of red, green and blue to blend together to create a spectrum of hate; threat and supposed forgiveness at various times; maintaining a blue tint throughout with, later on, a mini-bar at Neville's home being drowned out by some blood red lighting as further tempers fray and hatred reaches a peak. This, as Chopper's conversation with a former best friend-turned-betrayer and consequent enemy is covered in a green tint, suggesting calm or neutralness as they sit amidst drug infused squalor and talk uneasily. Chopper's an interesting film; a combining of smut and grot with some odd sequences of a post-modern sort channelling an aesthetic akin to something like 1996's Trainspotting. Dominik would later revisit this idea of studying a menace to society in his 2007 Jesse James film; but Chopper's detailing of a guy with a bizarrely attuned celebrity status plus violent streak is worth seeing by itself.
The film is mostly all of one long flashback, one that'll begin in 1978 therefore allowing us to observe ourselves mostly everything that made Chopper who he is up to that point in prison, circa 1991. In introducing Chopper as a jail-dwelling; steely eyed; tattooed individual whom watches accounts of men he's maimed in the past on TV informing everyone of how bad/evil/nasty he is, the film sets up a pretty stone-wall image of the man during the early exchanges. What follows is a film that doesn't' excuse what Chopper did or what he is, but rather explores how he came about obtaining both his physical and media-driven image and aura. When the film has come full circle and we end up in the prison cell again, there's a moment one of the guards appears sad that the time has come for the TV report to conclude; both guards to leave and for the door to be slammed shut and locked. The guard looked sad, but there was an additional degree of acceptance in his face - Chopper Read may well be a funny, charismatic and involving guy but he's done what he's done in the past and that time which arrives that'll see the jail house door slam shut is a sad realisation that he's there as a result of his flaws more-so his enthusiasm for what he does.
When the tale of who he is, why he is begins in Pentridge Prison in the late 1970s; the film waits for all of about five minutes to use this frightening and unhinged aura about the man it built up by way of all the talk in the opening. Chopper's a violent man and the film is accordingly so, with one of its more gruesome scenes playing out in the tough manner that it does because it's blood-letting and maiming which is self inflicted by way of a third party. Whilst not a direct action of one character on another, Chopper's drive to get out of the prison division he's in and get relocated sees him take measures that see him loose parts of both ears.
Chopper is the sort of film that'll see a person stab another, several times whilst in prison, before have the pair of them sit down some years later in an apartment and just talk. Chopper's like that, there's a really odd atmosphere about it; a brooding sense that there'll be an emoting of anger just around the corner all put across by way of an odd blue tint that drowns out most other colours and emphasises the grime and the dark most locations possess. The film presents Chopper as a distinctive figure, whereas most of his prison inmates in the early scenes sport long hair and huge moustaches; Chopper doesn't have any of anything. His shaven head and minimal facial hair aid in our association with him as this alienated figure from everyone else, to the point it appears his own friendships have run aground. Chopper's physical appearance in his hard, muscular and tattoo-clad body further pushes him away from his fellow inmates as this tale of how a society; a culture; a nation eventually bordered on a kind of infatuation with the man.
Just as Chopper's body is put through a wringer of stab wounds and ear mutilation, his mind goes through a similarly rough period of anguish. Once out of prison in the 1980s, and out with girlfriend Tanya (Beahan), he eyes a man named Neville (Colosimo) who he believes was seeing his partner during his time inside. The camera sticks with Chopper's face complete with stare, again in close up format, as a series of strobe lights flash across his face – a storm brewing on the inside, a series of explosions built on rage going off behind the steely face. The film will use the three primary colours of red, green and blue to blend together to create a spectrum of hate; threat and supposed forgiveness at various times; maintaining a blue tint throughout with, later on, a mini-bar at Neville's home being drowned out by some blood red lighting as further tempers fray and hatred reaches a peak. This, as Chopper's conversation with a former best friend-turned-betrayer and consequent enemy is covered in a green tint, suggesting calm or neutralness as they sit amidst drug infused squalor and talk uneasily. Chopper's an interesting film; a combining of smut and grot with some odd sequences of a post-modern sort channelling an aesthetic akin to something like 1996's Trainspotting. Dominik would later revisit this idea of studying a menace to society in his 2007 Jesse James film; but Chopper's detailing of a guy with a bizarrely attuned celebrity status plus violent streak is worth seeing by itself.