Vice

Dazzling.

It is a head-spinning shock-and-awe satire that comes in hot then cranks up the thermostat to infernal – a Molotov cocktail of biopic, documentary and black comedy, with a thrillingly short fuse.

As McKay acknowledges in the introduction, Dick Cheney remains an enigma after all these years. I’m not sure Vice sheds any new light on the Cheney story. It places him in a spotlight that continually changes colors and tones but is almost never flattering.

Vice feels like a documentary-wannabe that never achieves whatever it’s trying to do. It rehashes events and information that have long been part of the public record and, despite the abundance of acting talent at director Adam McKay’s disposal, none of the characters achieve escape velocity.

Vice, written and directed by Adam McKay, plays straight to the cable-news generation of political enthusiasts. It’s depthless, has the attention span of a gopher, and is more concerned with appearances than getting to the root of anything.

The words that keep ringing in my head regarding Adam McKay’s Vice are courtesy of the bard: “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Where is the joke here, aside from Bale acting as though he’s in a serious, dramatic movie in which he goes Method by adding on pounds and grunting his way through a half-baked performance? This is neither funny nor insightful.

This was the best film of 2018. Christian Bale was robbed at the Oscars. The ensemble was robbed at SAG. Brilliant, necessary, and important film. It does have way more depth than the majority of the films that were nominated

A career retrospective, Vice covers Dick Cheney’s apprenticeship during Nixon, Ford and Reagan, private sector exodus during Carter and Clinton and ascent to nearly unlimited power as Bush Jr’s running mate / handler. It’s hopeless to argue that this film doesn’t have an agenda - the trailers alone should have made that abundantly clear - and it makes no effort to hide or balance that essential bias. Cheney is played as a man who values nothing beyond personal gain, even going so far as to ponder "what should I believe in" aloud during an informal chat early in his career. He’s less transparent later on, as his understanding of political gamesmanship improves, and by the time he’s asked to join the GOP ticket in 2000, he can ask for the moon. Basically, we’re watching the birth of a hardened super-villain without the inconvenience of actually breaking any laws. Or, I suppose, of being caught for doing so. That’s serious subject matter, but the tone varies unexpectedly from grim and straight to playful and silly. Often several times in one scene, which makes for a somewhat confusing viewing experience. It can’t decide between hammering an important point and nailing a ripe punchline, valiantly tries to accomplish both and rarely succeeds at either. A gimmicky narrative style and ambitious use of jump cuts further muddy those waters. The acting follows suit. Some scenes are rich and effective, Christian Bale becoming the lead role in more than just a physical sense, while others just... don’t work? Steve Carrell’s casting as Donald Rumsfeld is a good example; a take that could have really come together, but plays instead like a weird mix of his better-known parts in The Office and Anchorman. Vice is an entertaining film and an important story, with a few hooks that almost sink in, but struggles with tonal inconsistency and an inner conflict that’s never completely resolved.

While entertaining, it doesn't really shine a light on what motivated Dick Cheney's actions. Why was he (or Bush) so keen to attack Iraq? What motivated his drive to power? Unfortunately the movie fails to explore any of these questions in any depth an instead focuses on a superficial series of events that lead nowhere. Just like the wars...

Median acting and plot, most of the movie when isn't funny, it's deadly boring. Not even Christian Bale (about acting and the amazing makeup) could save this movie. One moment or another movie has interesting moments, which doesn't makes compensate two and a half hour lost in pure boredom.

The visual conversion of Bale to Chaney was certainly a masterpiece. But the resultant character had zero screen personality. A boring emptiness. If that is what Cheney is really like, I would have preferred that the central character be George W. or Rumsfeld, both of whom had substantial personalities. Even Lynne Chaney would have been a better choice. I'm a big fan of Bale, and to see him mummified by the Cheney persona was a disappointment. The role could have be played with less bother by any chubby actor who could monotone grunt very short sentences.