Chopper is a 2000 Australian crime drama film written and directed by Andrew Dominik, in his feature directorial debut, based on the autobiographical books by the criminal turned author Mark "Chopper" Read. The film stars Eric Bana as the title character and co-stars Vince Colosimo, Simon Lyndon, Kate Beahan and David Field. The film follows Read's life and time in prison. The film grossed $6.8 million worldwide and received positive reviews. The first part, filmed at the H Division of Pentridge Prison, one of the actual prisons that Chopper frequented, was as plain and sterile as could be and all the scenes in the second part, taking place in 1986, were overly coloured to achieve a paranoid and agoraphobic atmosphere called "visual overload" by the director Andrew Dominik. This was attained by lighting, choice of film stock used, and colours chosen for set decoration. Part one of the production ran from 3 May until 26 May with part two continuing from 28 June until 21 July 2000. The month-long break enabled Bana to put on the extra weight necessary to play the older Read.

Reception

Chopper was received with positive reviews. Review-based rating site Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 76% "fresh" rating from 80 critics, with its critical consensus stating "Eric Bana's performance as the charming but twisted Chopper is the highlight of this disturbing portrait of Australia's notorious author/criminal." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4, praising Bana for his performance, saying, "He has a quality no acting school can teach and few actors can match." Margaret Pomeranz for SBS gave the film four-and-a-half stars out of five, commenting that what Dominik "achieved is extraordinary." David Stratton, in the same review, remarked "There's no doubting the intelligence of Andrew Dominik's direction" and declared Bana's performance as "astonishing."

Read later praised Bana's performance on the 20 to 1 episode Great Aussie Films, where Chopper came 17th.

Box office

Chopper was given a wide release in Australia on 3 August 2000 appearing on 132 screens, despite its R (over 18) rating. It grossed A$300,000 in previews before becoming the number one film in Australia, knocking Mel Gibson helmer, The Patriot, from the top spot, with a gross of A$1.8 million in its opening week. It went on to gross A$5,912,119 in Australia It grossed US$0.2 million in the United States and Canada and US$0.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of A$6.8 million.

It was released on 8 September 2000 in Canada, appearing in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival 2000.

Chopper received a limited re-release in Australian cinemas on 21 August 2025 for its 25th Anniversary. This featured some additional behind the scenes footage.

Home video

In Australia, the film was released on DVD and VHS in 2001 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment South Pacific. For the United States, it received a VHS release in 2001 through First Look Pictures. In 2020, a 20th anniversary edition Blu-Ray was released in Australia by Madman Entertainment.

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Award

! Category

! Subject

! Result

|-

|rowspan=10|AACTA Awards<br><small>(2000 AFI Awards)</small>

|Best Film

|Michele Bennett

|

|-

|Best Direction

|rowspan=2|Andrew Dominik

|

|-

|Best Adapted Screenplay

|

|-

|Best Actor

|Eric Bana

|

|-

|Best Supporting Actor

|Simon Lyndon

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Best Cinematography

|Geoffrey Hall

|

|-

|Kevin Hayward

|

|-

|Best Editing

|Ken Sallows

|

|-

|Best Original Music Score

|Mick Harvey

|

|-

|Best Production Design

|Paddy Reardon

|

|-

|British Independent Film Awards

|Best Foreign Independent Film

|rowspan=3|Andrew Dominik

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Cognac Police Film Festival

|Critics Award

|

|-

|Grand Prix Award

|

|-

|rowspan=10|FCCA Awards

|Best Film

|Michele Bennett

|

|-

|Best Director

|rowspan=2|Andrew Dominik

|

|-

|Best Screenplay

|

|-

|Best Male Actor

|Eric Bana

|

|-

|Best Male Supporting Actor

|Simon Lyndon

|

|-

|Best Female Supporting Actor

|Kate Beahan

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Best Cinematography

|Geoffrey Hall

|

|-

|Kevin Hayward

|

|-

|Best Editing

|Ken Sallows

|

|-

|Best Music Score

|Mick Harvey

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Inside Film Awards

|Best Independent New Filmmaker

|Andrew Dominik

|

|-

|Best Actor

|Eric Bana

|

|-

|rowspan=2|Stockholm International Film Festival

|Bronze Horse Award

|Andrew Dominik

|

|-

|Best Actor

|Eric Bana

|

|}

Music

  • "Don't Fence Me In" – Frankie Laine
  • "Black and Blue" – Chain
  • "Sweet Love" – Renee Geyer
  • "Bad Boy for Love" and "Stuck on You" – Rose Tattoo
  • "Forever Now" – Cold Chisel
  • "Release the Bats" – The Birthday Party
  • "Senile Dementia" – The Saints
  • "Ever Lovin' Man" – The Loved Ones

See also

  • Cinema of Australia

References

  • BBC interview with Eric Bana on his role in Chopper.