VICE (2018) - Review
Originally published June 2019Not to be confused with the pretentious millennial news media platform, Vice is a stylish "biopic" about former vice-president Dick Cheney. However, unlike most biopic films where the person whom the film is focused on is treated with a certain level of reverence or admiration, Vice doesn't do too much to paint Dick Cheney as a great person. I'm no fan of Cheney and there are plenty of truths to this film that don't do him any favors, but I also am not a huge fan of Vice.
There are a lot of redeeming qualities to Vice that are worth noting, however. It held my attention throughout the whole film and did some unique things that made it stand out against other biopic movies. There were certain liberties that filmmakers took with the structure and format that were somewhat entertaining and interesting. I was entertained overall and I respect some of the choices the filmmakers made about what they chose to focus on. I look forward to a film just like it to come out of Hollywood that will be just as critical and satirically brutal to Barack Obama and all the poor choices he made during his presidency, but I'm sure I'll have to wait a very, very long time for that.
Image: Annapurna Pictures
Pros
Acting is superb by all participants
Great casting choices
Bizarre moments like Shakespeare in bed or early credits sequences keep the movie somewhat weird and unpredictable
Some real quotes from important people are used in conversations about important things to bring some historical significance to the drama
Cons
A lot of jump cuts across decades to capture and juxtapose the drama of a moment ends up being more disorienting than enlightening
Some other disastrous and notably bad details about the Bush administration and Cheney's involvement are left out
Opening disclaimer says "Everything is true" comes across as a bit dishonest by the end with a few on-the-nose examples of the filmmakers' biases and some completely fabricated people
Some of the more stylish elements of the film like interspersing it with unrelated media clips or weird cinematography choices do little to improve the film or its "message"
Doesn't know whether to be serious or a comedy
Plot & Thoughts
Vice follows the life of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) and his rise to power from somewhat humble and embarrassing beginnings. After a second DUI and drunken assault charge causes his wife, Lynne (Amy Adams), to give him an ultimatum to fix his life and get on track, he does just that. He goes into politics under the tutelage of Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell). Eventually, Cheney ended up becoming vice president of the United States and worked to redefine the executive branch, while also making some political moves around the infamous attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. That's about as much information as you need when it comes to the plot of the film. Rather than focusing on the "plot" of Vice, since this is a biopic movie (for the most part), I'd rather just point out the things I liked and didn't like.
Image: Annapurna Pictures
The main reason to see this movie is for the performances. Everyone in this movie does a tremendous job with their roles. I've seen Christian Bale in plenty of movies worthy of recognition, but his impression of Cheney down to the mannerisms and facial expressions is just impressive. Steve Carell's Rumsfeld is also spot on, with some of the same attention to speech patterns and inflections. Sam Rockwell's Bush impression is not the best I've ever seen, but still worthy of note. And Amy Adams is good in everything she does, even if it's a lame part in a bad Superman movie. Even the actors chosen to play lesser roles in the film do their parts extremely well. If I were to name what Vice impressed me the most with, it would be the acting and the casting choices.
Vice's biggest problem is that it has a bit of an identity crisis. As I said earlier, biopics are usually dramatizations of facts for the purposes of educating audiences about a person's life, while entertaining us with some truths that have been retold or exaggerated. Since Vice is not very flattering to Cheney and other people around him, the entertainment comes less from funny stories surrounding the people involved and more from the stylistic choices of the filmmakers. And don't get me wrong: I think the movie is funny in some particular spots. I chuckled at the self-aware credit sequence that takes place in the middle of the film and the scene involving Dick and Lynne conversing in Shakespearean dialogue. Director Adam McKay and his various friends who helped produce Vice were known for their great comedic successes in the past (i.e. Anchorman), so there was definitely the potential to make this movie more of a satirical comedy.
Image: Annapurna Pictures
Instead, Vice comes across as a movie pining to be a dramatic documentary, with some jokes to lighten the mood every once in a while. The narration sprinkled throughout with definitions and opinions that are meant to paint Cheney and his compatriots as evil manipulators is all a bit much. It just seems like a 2-hour hit piece from Hollywood against the former vice-president that tries to lighten to mood with a few weird scenes here and there. The film would have been better served either going full Mel Brooks satire or just being a documentary with more details and facts than the small snippets Vice gives us. And when I say facts, I mean the term "loosely" because despite there being multiple instances in which the film claims this is all the truth, liberties are taken for the sake of the story. The more your movie claims to be "truth" the closer it needs to stick to it, or else it will receive a great deal more criticism and ire than it might have had it just been a comedy.
TL;DR (Conclusion)
Vice has some fantastic performances, stylish direction and editing, and a good amount of wasted potential. I really wanted to like it more, because I certainly didn't care much for the people the movie was focusing on, and I would have enjoyed a more comedic take on a serious individual who rarely showed much emotion in his public appearances. However, the film's intentions are less about having fun and more about painting a villain, which detracts from the comedy and makes the assertions of "truth" a bit tougher to swallow.
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