The Oscars are almost here, so guest reviewer L. Seymour gives us an Australian’s opinion of Vice.
Vice is a biographical drama/comedy written and directed by Adam McKay (The Big Short, Anchorman, Step Brothers, and Talladega Nights). Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, and Jesse Plemons, the film follows Dick Cheney on his path to become the most powerful Vice President in the history of America.
There have been some very mixed opinions on Vice, and for good reason. It had plenty of things going for it, but sometimes didn’t work as well as what was likely intended. I was never truly as enthralled as I wanted to be.
Christian Bale is fantastic as Cheney, making the physical transformation he is known for and also mastering Cheney’s subtle mannerisms; most noticeably what he does with his hands, his voice/mouth and the way he moves/walks. It’s good to see an actor so committed to his role. No doubt he is a major contender for best actor, and I wouldn’t be complaining if he won it either (it’s a long time coming), considering he carries this movie, buckling under its mediocrity.
If Bale wasn’t involved in this film, I certainly wouldn’t be interested at all. He is responsible for bringing the ill-designed pieces together and making the film as bearable as it is. Amy Adams does a fine job playing Dick Cheney’s wife, but doesn’t do nearly as well as Bale does. Besides delivering a few solid moments, I mostly ignored her character because she was generally unimportant. It’s difficult to understand why the Academy thinks she has delivered such a good performance. The rest of the cast was pretty ordinary too.
What I adored about this movie was that it had a distinct voice and identity. So many terrifically entertaining techniques are used to speed through Cheney’s life and his questionable actions whilst in power. Sometimes these techniques can be annoyingly over-the-top and not particularly necessary, but there are plenty that I loved e.g. one scene involving a restaurant menu except the dishes/meals are not food, assisting to make things more memorable.
However, the use of these techniques means that the film rushes through events, simply mentioning something important that happened and refusing to discuss its repercussions on the country, the political climate, and Cheney himself – surely, he would have felt something about taking such reckless actions that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.
The film just satirizes everything and fails to recognise the detrimental nature of politics on the world and the individual. It all just feels too brief and timid, straying away from the gritty side of Cheney’s Vice Presidency in favour for an overly-dramatized recount without a soul (its purpose is to entertain). Honestly, I didn’t care for the story at all. Cheney’s rise to political prominence wasn’t told in a very interesting way and all drama seems to have been removed. At no point was I concerned for Cheney, nor could I notice any change in his character throughout the film, remaining the same person he was when the film begins – left me wanting much more. Cheney didn’t have to make any huge compromise (or so the film depicts), unable to grasp any true sense of struggle besides the cliché essentials associated with these types of stories. Cheney just works his way up and doesn’t run into too many obstacles/dramas.
Moreover, many of the important/monumental/world-changing events were avoided or treated with superficiality using brief pieces of narration, which felt lazy. Because these events were basically ignored, the film made Cheney out to be a decent human being, which is not the case – it refused to show what I wanted to see, scraping the surface and leaving the rest alone.
The main reason this is getting critical attention is because it’s about America, more specifically, American politics – producing some psychotic feeling of patriotism or national pride. It isn’t as bad as The Post, but the two films do have things in common. Check it out and see what you think! Leave your thoughts below!
L. Seymour has a lot of friendly opinions to assist fellow movie-goers, find more reviews at seemorescreens.