[.ca] Chopper

This is a review of the DVD not the movie.:
First off let me state that I absolutely loved this movie. Eric Bana was scarey as hell as "Chopper" Read! But, and this is the reason for the single star, a great movie deserves a great DVD. This is not a great presentation of this fine film. The Canadian release from Alliance Atlantis is a cropped 4:3 aspect ratio version of the film, it also only features Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 tracks in English and French. The extra features are non existant with bios, a filmography and a trailer passing for "extra". The American release, which can be found on Amazon.com, is the one to get. It features a beautiful 16:9 anamorphic widescreen presentation of the film with DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks to choose from. Also we get a director commentary track as well as a commentary track from the real life Mark "Chopper" Read. Other excellent extras include some deleted scenes and a Weekend with Chopper featurette. The film gets 5 stars this DVD release however only gets 1. Pass on this one and head over to Amazon.com for the American DVD version of this film.

Eric Bana shines.:
Great movie. Kinda gruesome but still great. For those of you who aren't convinced of Eric Bana's talent check this flick out. Defiently one of the best actors new to North American audiences. I had seen this after "Hulk" and was blown away by his performance. I can't wait till this guy gets past all of his latest roles in overproduced films and stars in some real down to earth films. This guy really needs to be yanked away from the grimey paws of Hollywood producers and take on some serious roles. Until then this film is the only evidence of what a great actor he is.

A buried 21st century art treasure:
A stylish, ultraviolent masterpiece that has his place between Henry:Portrait of a serial killer and C'est arrivé près de chez vous;i'm just wondering, if you put all these cold-blooded killers in one room, what's going to happen? They could make a good team, don't you think? However, Mark Chopper Read is a on-the-edge character, and its portrait gives us a love-it-or-hate-it look at him; how can you not love somebody that's not looking for revenge after his friend left multiple deadly scars all over his chess? He just want to talk face to face and have a good friendly time with him.And how can you be not repulse and visually impress by the way Andrew Dominik is showing repetetively the death of a man by a shotgun bullet in the eye; it's a funny scene that shows that the perfect way for Chopper to be close as much as possible to somebody,physically,mentally and emotionally, it's to make an act of extreme violence toward dirty people to turn his hate into love;the guy in jail, his girl and the rich guy are fascinating because it's an unpredictable ride of extreme and unstoppable desires.So, for me, it's a lovable, too intelligent anti-hero and an artist in his own way.The use of color, the non-chronological order and the non hollywood structure, the breathless, intact direction,(We must wait impatiently the next movie of Dominik, it could be another portrait of a particular killer) the Bana performance as colder and scary as the De Niro performance in Raging Bull. If you didn't see this movie, you're missing a chef-d'oeuvre from Australia.

Brilliant:
Everything about the movie was excellently executed and it's morbid humour holds great appeal. Just brilliant.