Vice (2018)

Title: Vice

Year: 2018

Genre: Biography | Drama | Comedy |

Runtime: 132 min

Director: Adam McKay

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell

7,1/10                  

The story of Dick Cheney, an unassuming bureaucratic Washington insider, who quietly wielded immense power as Vice President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.

A DECENT COMEDY WITH A SUPSRING LOOK INTO THE MAN YOU DIDN’T NOTICE

When I think it comes to political movie its hard to do a funny one, because it’s very easy to stamp on somebody’s toes but this film did a decent job. Even though watching the behind the scenes interviews, the filmmakers and actors may have a different motive, I think the execution of the film was mostly neutral in its approach to telling Cheney’s story. In that I don’t know to much about Dick Cheney’s life story, but like the random fourth wall breaking characters says at the end credit, they most have gone through a lot of lawyers to make this movie possible and that they haven’t been sued to ages, I will take them by their word…

And when you go deep down in google, you’ll find that Cheney was a broken man with the help of his wife to build himself into the most powerful and calculating mind in the American political scenery. A man who pulls the strings from the shadows during both the Nixon and Bush Jr. administration, becoming more powerful through each movie even do the sacrifices also become greater. I fully enjoyed the story and understood the characters but got annoyed at some “funny scenes”. The film tells us in the beginning through text that it was very hard to do a biopic on one of the most secretive persons in the world. Basically, they don’t know how every key event in Dick’s life went so they improvise, sometimes with funny scenes like Dick and some politicians in a restaurant area ordering military operation from the waiter like they are ordering food. And not so funny scenes like Dick and his wife discussion if he going to run as Bush Jrs vice president in Shakespearean dialogue (because the filmmakers didn’t know they really said to turn him in favor for the vice presidency). Some wins and losses for the movie there, but overall, it’s an okay story.

The actors and actresses did an amazing job especially from Christian Bale taking over the persona of Dick Cheney, everything from his speech, movement and large body. He walked the line masterfully between Cheney’s dark world dominating side and corky food eating side. So, freaking enjoyable from start to end. The other actors gave Bale a good support and made the really funny scenes hilarious. I must give Sam Rockwell credit for his portrait of George Jr. That goddamn accent is so loveable.  The production overall felt very similar to The Big Short (2015) (a another of director Adam McKay’s movies) which is awesome. Mostly realistic in its approach with cameras, lighting and so forth. Breaking that realistic feel when it fits for funny forth-wall-breaking, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I feel like Mckay did better job with The Big Short (2015) but this is still an enjoyable biopic to watch if you have the feels for a cinema visit.