Chopper

Thursday, May 29, 2008

After The Assassination of Jesse James by the I'm Tired of Writing This Title, I pretty much had to see Andrew Dominik's other movie, Chopper, which I had heard for years was a good one. The two movies make for interesting comparison, because while they share some similar subject matter (celebrity status of vicious criminals), their style and attitudes couldn't be more different.

Chopper is a bombastic, disturbing dark comedy about a very bizarre individual; a criminal and vicious killer who's such a nice fellow that at one point he actually drives one victim to the hospital to save him. He's funny and kinda smart, and even a little charming, and mostly wants to get along with everybody, except sometimes he just kinda loses it and beats or kills someone. I mentioned that Dominik's take on Jesse James was that Jesse was your friend one minute, and your murderer the next. Here, Chopper is your friend one minute, your assailant the next, and then... well, hell, why can't you just go back to being friends? Why let a little attempted murder get in the way of a good friendship?

The movie is fast paced and at times visually flashy. In a few scenes, Dominik pulls a trick I'm a big sucker for, where the background is bathed in one stark color, and the foreground is bathed in another. There's a part where Chopper is sitting in a living room talking with a "friend," and the room around them is green, but the smoke coming off their cigarettes is blue. I'm not sure if this is just style for style's sake, or if maybe it's an illustration of Chopper's bi-polar nature, but it looks awesome.

Eric Bana is an actor I've consistently enjoyed, even when he shows up it horseshit like Troy. And he owns this movie. I usually think of him playing likable guys. Here, he plays a guy who might be likable if he weren't such a lunatic. I can see why Ang Lee cast him in Hulk, although he didn't really take advantage of the rage and propensity for violence that Bana displays here.

Another great movie. Dominik's only done the 2 so far, and they were 7 years apart, but count me as a new fan. I hope we don't have to wait another 7 years for the next one.