The movie is about Dick Cheney (duh), the 46th President of the United States... I mean Vice President. There's a lot of intrigue surrounding the man, his public persona, and the rumors that maybe secretly he was running the country for his 8 years in office. What kind of film is this? Well, in many regards this is a by-the-numbers biopic that charts Cheney's early years and rise to power. We've seen the structure a million times before. One moment he's in a drunken barfight in Wyoming, and the next he has a small office next to Nixon's in the White House. The film intercuts between the man as Vice President and the chronological timeline of his rise to power over the years. Christian Bale is utterly transformed. In the early scenes we can recognize the actor (albeit with a significant amount of extra pounds). By the end, I was all but convinced this was the man in the flesh.
Of course this is Adam McKay, and as dramatic as the film can be, there are moments of pure comic gold. If you've seen "The Big Short" then you remember the cutaways to Margot Robbie in a bathtub explaining what a subprime mortgage is, or Ryan Gosling breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the camera. VICE follows a similar idea, though McKay is clearly treading further into uncharted waters. There are scenes that serve as vignettes only, such as a scene in which Cheney and his wife transform into Shakespearean characters complete with rhyme, or one of the funniest fake-out endings I've ever seen. I nearly fell out of my chair as fake credits began to roll in the middle of the movie. Wait for it. The levity comes as a stark contrast to the actual actions of the Bush White House, complete with torture, bombings, and false imprisonment of various suspected terrorists over the years.
What's there not to like, then? As the film trudges along, I felt as though the story falls into a rutt, simply showing highlights of Cheney's time in office instead of continuing the plot and following these characters. The film has a beautiful introduction (pre-credits) that set up the stakes at hand. It shows Cheney and his wife (the astounding Amy Adams) and the bargain they make to rise up through the system. In many ways the film is about Lynne Cheney, who many could argue is the ultimate protagonist of the film and the one pulling all the strings. It's a great performance by Adams, worthy of Oscar love. I only wish the back half of the film remained as interested in her character as we do at the start.
By the climax, the intro of the film is all but forgotten, and you can quite literally feel the director (and editor) running out of steam. The film doesn't end, it runs off the tracks. I don't even understand Cheney's motivations once reaching the White House. The film hypothesizes that this man is only attempting to do right by his wife, but by the end he is a ruthless near-dictator that holds absolute power. Sure there are moments of humanity (especially with his daughter), but we lose focus of what Dick Cheney ultimately becomes.
Still, I enjoyed it for what it was. At it's best, Vice can be pure cinematic magic. At worst, it feels like a pandering attempt to recapture the vivid energy of McKay's earlier works. Bale is wonderful as the titular character, yet I feel like such a subtle performance might go over the heads of Academy voters who love fat suits but also love yelling and screaming and kicking and crying. Bale is the epitome of an opening quote: "beware of the man who says little." I think this is as good of a biopic as could be made about the man, but so much feels off. Sam Rockwell's awkward bit as George W Bush feels more like a skit than a living man, and many in the supporting cast feel squished into the movie if only to say "look it's that politician I remember!" Maybe the story could have worked if it focused on only the White House years, or the War in Irwaq, or something... What we are left with is a zany movie with almost too much to say. It's relentless, and not always in the best ways.
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