Throughout the two hours and 12 minutes that the movie Vice takes place, director Adam McKay will convince you that George Bush was a frontman, Dick Cheney created ISIS, the war in Iraq was over oil, and that the system of checks and balances is a myth. Or at least it might.
The movie jumps back in forth in the timeline of Cheney’s life, showing how he got to where he was, what he did once on top, and how it all fell apart.
Dick Cheney was Vice President under George W. Bush from 2001-2009.
While the movie seeks to prove Cheney’s monstrousness, the movie also sets out to make you feel some sympathy for the main character. McKay, knowing this, makes him seem – at various points – shy, confused, and loving toward his family. Between scenes of him bombing Iraq, or making plans to torture people, you see him quietly fishing, telling his wife he loves her, and telling his gay daughter that he still loves her, despite the rest of the family’s unease, or disapproval about the situation. Christian Bale, who acted in McKay’s earlier film, the Big Short, is briefly able to trick you into falling for this monster. You begin to feel empathy for him when he is excited about his new intern job, or when he becomes chief of staff for President Ford. While the movie still leaves you hating him with a burning passion, Bale’s excellent portrayal of Cheney keeps you hooked on a man you hate. McKay said in an interview with Bill Simmons, “My feeling is that if you don’t humanize him its a waste of time.”
If you’re a high school student, most likely you have heard of Cheney in passing. Like “he’s a bad guy,” “he did something in Iraq,” or something along those lines. If you have heard the Cheney story, this movie may not be as much of a revelation. But it will show you not just what Cheney did, but also being them all together, and show the extent to which they affected the world. You also learn about how a vice president can essentially run the country.
Vice is not perfect. In a movie that makes large claims, it’s important to stay believable. While I agree with McKay’s portrayal of Cheney, and the horror of his actions, the portrayal of other characters is flawed. For example, George Bush’s stupidity is blown far of proportion. Bush is stupid. However, Bush can also form a grammatical sentence, he knows enough about politics, and he was smart enough to become President, (even though we have recently learned, that it doesn’t take much). However, in Vice, you first see Bush drunk at a party, then later eating food like a pig with Cheney, and being tricked by Cheney into giving him almost all of his power, making it feel like a fabrication. I don’t agree with this portrayal. Its blatantly misrepresents him, and forfeits some credibility that the movie had gained.
Rating : 7.7/10
