Vice
The Killers’ “The Man” was honestly the perfect song to accompany the story of one of the most notorious vice president’s of our country, Dick Cheney. Adam McKay is a solid bringer of comedy films and then he brought something unique with The Big Short in 2015. I actually did not like that film and felt like the style and cuts in the conventional story telling was annoying for an already complicated subject matter. The similar type of story telling works with Vice. I actually am surprised at how much I liked this film.
The film is a biopic of Dick Cheney. It shows the story of the former White House Chief of Staff and his eventual turn as the Vice President of the United States. Cheney was an extremely controversial figure and undoubtedly had a great amount of power for a Vice. The film portrays his launch of the war on Iraq after the events of September 11th. The film stars a fairly unrecognizable Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell as W.
First and foremost, Christian Bale is excellent in this. Almost unrecognizable and disappearing into the role of the soft speaking but demanding Cheney, he is as usual committed to the role. The makeup is great in this as Rockwell started to look more and more like George W. Bush as the film went on. It may not be completely accurate but I found it to be an entertaining look at Cheney. The narrative breaks and comedic elements work in this film because it adds brevity to a serious story.
It will outrage you and you will draw parallels to the presidency of today, undoubtedly. I know a lot of people won’t like this effort, but I truly feel like this is the strongest and most convincing thing I’ve seen from Adam McKay who is showing a real shine as a filmmaker who can come out of his element. I’m quite surprised at how much I liked this but I’m glad I saw it when I did, a nice Christmas surprise.
8/10
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