Vice provides us with a look into one of the most secretive, cynical, and barbaric politicians in history, and that man is Dick Cheney. The movie is able to depict situations where we didn’t know what was going on, and we feel that throughout the movie we are still only seeing one layer of Cheney.
The performances in the movie are outstanding and some of the best I have seen this year.
Christian Bale really evolves into Dick Cheney, Amy Adams does a wonderful job detailing Lynne Cheney’s willingness to do anything to make sure her family stays in power. She also shows how Lynne is a woman who was heavy handed and could lay down the hammer if need be, and really straightened Dick out.
Sam Rockwell basically is George W. Bush and displays how he was a newcomer in politics and was a pupped to Cheney’s wants and needs.
Vice really surprised me in its artistry. There are so many scenes that shock you in the way they are done and really makes you look at things differently. It does a great job of using this to foreshadow or to tie in Dick’s personal life to his politics.
I had one problem with the film and it’s Director McKay’s inability to see Dick and Lynne as a story and instead saw them as targets.
McKay could have told the story and still be able to depict the nastiness of Cheney’s politics and personal life, but instead he takes some creative liberty to make him seem even worse.
Now don’t get me wrong I despise this family as much as the next person, but his inability to let his biases take a back seat can hinder the story and the script. This is when we really see Bale and Adams transform these roles into transcendent pieces of work.
There are a couple scenes that try to be artistic/creative and really just don’t work, even with the help of Adams and Bale.
Dynamics between Cheney and his colleagues become so interesting and there is a quote from Lynne Cheney during the movie that reigns so true to Dicks persona and it is “Everyone sees the power you have and they either are jealous and want to be you, or want to take it away from you”.
I think that what the movie does so well is explain what was going on in the white house during 9/11 and how that moment came to be.
It was interesting to see Dick and Bush communicate and start to pull strings to invade Iraq and seeing these events unfold is the highlight of the movie.
There was something strange about Dick Cheney having his hands in every government org. and basically all access to classified information that only the president could see and the movie does a great job of detailing how that came to be.
Vice doesn’t come without its problems, but it’s the amazing cast and stunning performances from Bale, Adams, and Rockwell that produce a stunning look into a ruthless family, and their search for power.
I give Vice a B+
