Vice

VICE (15)

D: Adam McKay

Annapurna/Plan B/Gary Sanchez Productions (Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Brad Pitt, Kevin J. Messick, Will Ferrell & Adam McKay)

USA 🇺🇸 2018

132 mins

Biopic/Comedy/Drama

W: Adam McKay

DP: Greig Fraser

Ed: Hank Corwin

Mus: Nicholas Britell

Christian Bale (Dick Cheney), Amy Adams (Lynne Cheney), Steve Carell (Donald Rumsfeld), Sam Rockwell (George W. Bush), Tyler Perry (Colin Powell)

A biopic of former American Vice President Dick Cheney which could also be complete bollocks, as the film candidly admits with its opening captions.

From director Adam McKay, who also made the Anchorman movies and The Big Short, both of which had very different styles, Vice falls in-between these two films stylistically, not quite knowing if it's a political satire or an agitprop against a presidential administration. In the end, it's neither.

Despite its messiness, Christian Bale is excellent in the lead, aided by brilliant makeup which aids his transformation, as the film follows his journey from working class beginnings to his ambitious career in politics, where it's insinuated that he was the one who pulled all the strings during George W. Bush's presidency, and he is to be accountable for the War On Terror following the 9/11 attacks and the rise of political factions in the wake of the war.

The best way to describe Vice would be to say that the glass is both half-full and half-empty. The acting from the entire ensemble is great, the script is well-written in parts and the editing of some scenes borders on visual genius. Enjoyment may well come down to the simplicity of where the viewer finds themselves politically. As a Brit, I've never immersed myself in American politics, so I'm abstaining from voting on this one. 

7/10