We know Eric Bana now as a Hollywood leading man from films like Hulk, Troy, Black Hawk Down and Munich, so it's hard to really get into the mindset of the Australian audience in 2000 when one of their best loved TV stand up comedians signed on to play one of Australia's most notorious contemporary criminals - and a psychotic one at that. It's an exceptional performance; frightening, funny and charismatic in equal measure, Bana really gets into the mind of an intelligent and dangerous sociopath and delivers flawlessly. The film more than lives up to his performance as well; this was Andrew Dominik's debut as writer/director, but it's deftly controlled, cleverly constructed and constantly fascinating, although definitely not for the squeamish - there's a lot of graphic blood-letting and some moments that are quite jaw dropping. Chopper Read may or may not have done the things we see in the film - he's a liar and showman amongst other things - but it's a great story nevertheless.
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dombrewer
We know Eric Bana now as a Hollywood leading man from films like Hulk, Troy, Black Hawk Down and Munich, so it's hard to really get into the mindset of the Australian audience in 2000 when one of their best loved TV stand up comedians signed on to play one of Australia's most notorious contemporary criminals - and a psychotic one at that. It's an exceptional performance; frightening, funny and charismatic in equal measure, Bana really gets into the mind of an intelligent and dangerous sociopath and delivers flawlessly. The film more than lives up to his performance as well; this was Andrew Dominik's debut as writer/director, but it's deftly controlled, cleverly constructed and constantly fascinating, although definitely not for the squeamish - there's a lot of graphic blood-letting and some moments that are quite jaw dropping. Chopper Read may or may not have done the things we see in the film - he's a liar and showman amongst other things - but it's a great story nevertheless.Captain Awesome
Hands down best Aussie film of all time.