Chopper (B) #157

My buddy liked this piece.  And for about a year and a half, perhaps longer, he asked me to check it out.  I stumbled upon the flick this week and texted him a picture of Mark Chopper Read to give him a heads up I was finally watching it....and once I told him, he under-whelmingly said it was just okay and could have been better.  I repeat, he recommended it to me for about a year and a half!!  What the hell?  I assumed that meant it was going to be straight awesome, at least per him.  If I could guess, I would say he wanted more action and craziness in the movie and that is why this was dubbed "it could have been better".   Come to think of it, I think it's been like 3 years.

Well guess what?  I thought it was superb.  It's not some crazy CGI adventure and was lacking super quality as a whole (read, it was grittily filmed and for a seemingly low budget).  Rather I feel they actually did a great job portraying Mark Read and his "way", slowly developing his character throughout the entire film.  I especially liked the ending and the way they wrapped it up clean and nice.  They showed him sitting with the prison guards and watching his 5 minutes of fame (although they allude to the fact that he might actually be famous, I need to look that up for confirmation.  Is he even a real guy?), and then the guards start to leave and say, "eh yo Chop, we're going to have to lock this door...okay?"  To which Chop acknowledges....and then they close and lock the cell door.  At that time the camera shot fades back....while Mark just sits by himself, in his glory, yet all alone and in an empty cell with little to no allies left.

Throughout the entire film, both in and out of prison and when he was free in the real world, everyone "seemed" to love him.  Well sort of.  It was like he was loved to his face, but hated behind his back.  Perhaps because people were scared of him.  Who could blame them, he was a total bad ass and could probably kill a predator in a 1:1 battle.  It was a strange mix though, because he was also constantly a really nice guy.  For instance, after each time he killed someone or drastically injured someone, he would start apologizing and offering comfort in the form of a cigarette or a trip to the hospital.  Definitely some sort of bipolar craziness going down with Chop.  But to me, it was portrayed perfectly which made this gritty movie well worth watching.  The scenes with his ex-prison buddy Jimmy were hilarious as well.

What else is Eric Bana famous for?  I need to see these other items of his resume.  He was superb.  150% awesome.  Great casting by the guy who casted the movie and great character representing by Bana.  Honestly, if the budget was bigger and the filming was a better quality, this could have been a huge hit.  The initial scenes in the prison yard when his buddies were turning on him to get the handsome ransom were totally epic.  This scene specifically is why I kept watching.  Mark Chopper Read is just so gentle and nice, offering hugs to his backstabbing buddy while nearly bleeding to death.  What a great scene.  Haha, I'm laughing just thinking about it.  Hell, even the way Bana just made this character act in normal everyday scenes - like when talking to the cops in the bar or talking to his Dad - was straight awesome. With those metal teeth and the way he explained what his brain was thinking - or rather what his brain was flip-flopping - was just hella good time.  The scene with the interviewer was really fun to watch as well.  I'm curious what the rest of the world thought of this, so I'm going to go check out some reviews by others.  Good day homey.