Review of Vice (2018) by Andrewburge — 22 Mar 2019

Adam McKay's unpretentious, in-your-face bashful presentation style is not for anyone. It was visible in "The Big Short" but its even more obvious in "Vice", his latest film about the controversial VP to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, portrayed methodically by Christian Bale. He always does that. Gained a few pounds yet again and plays the man by mimicking his grunted voice. It's a good performance, albeit more of a good imitation, but its something that Bale used us to.

From the start, McKay tells us he did his best at this biopic given Cheney's secretive nature. The film then proceeds with the director's trademark technique of chopping pop-culture moments straight from TV like they were at the time and throwing them in our face. Its a bit of a cheeky way of throwing his knowledge around but I like it. Like its protagonist, this is a clever, observant, cold, ironic and ruthless film. Its insight view that is promised to us might get lost in translation among McKay's constant random interruptions, but after the first half, it starts to unleash its true colors.

Throughout these more or less relevant flashes, in the end, "Vice" managed to navigate me through the political maze and I feel that the lack of insight into Cheney's mind was simply as a result of his secrecy. Yet despite that, I was intrigued by his decisions, his thought process and his sheer evolution. There is a particular scene, in which a greenhorn Cheney under the guise of Donald Rumsfeld, Nixon's economic advisor, asks, when he is told that Nixon is discussing the bombing of Cambodia, "What do we believe?" Rumsfeld has a hysterical laugh at his moral question. No such principle was ever discussed again in the film, morality being one of its greatest enemies.

Despite surrounded by mystery, "Vice" manages to pull off, if not a bio, at least an image of what Cheney and his inner circle were all about. Adam McKay overcame this challenge for better or for worse and I think that making a biopic which has blank spots in its source material its pretty damn hard if you ask me.