The medium of film is a true chameleon. It can be used to entertain, share information, raise awareness or provoke discussion. The film screen is a blank canvas on which a filmmaker can paint whatever he wants, and it is up to the viewer to decide whether what is shown is moving you or whether it is good / bad. Director Adam McKay, who previously made The Big Short (but also Step Brothers, Ant-Man and The Other Guys) uses that canvas here for something that is anything but standard.
Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) is the focus here. A bureaucrat who worked through the years as vice president under George W. Bush (played here by an almost unrecognisable Sam Rockwell) and had a clear idea of what he aspired to: ultimate power. The film opens on September 11, 2001, the moment the first plane hit the WTC and he takes decisions in peace, while everyone around him panics. McKay then shows how he got there and what his impact has been on the world. The warning that is shown at the start of the picture, however, makes it clear that Cheney was very closed and the filmmaker has tried to do it as well as possible.
Vice is a strange film because of its structure and way of storytelling. It uses a narrator (played by Jesse Plemons), and during the majority of the film you have no idea of who he is and also halfway through the playing time McKay chooses for a moment (assisted by several texts) that only can be labeled as bizarre. These are the kind of moments that also occurred in The Big Short and it makes this a striking title. Christian Bale shows here again that he is willing to do anything for a film role and he gained a huge amount of weight and did research on the symptoms of a heart attack to ensure that this was realistic. Method acting at its best.
McKay clearly depicts Cheney as a monster who is almost single-handedly responsible for a number of major events in the past. That message is very clear and by mixing dramatized moments with historical images you run the risk that viewers might take this as absolute truth. And I have my doubts about that. Vice provokes and will not bore you for a moment. The canvas is constantly interesting, but the only thing is that at the credits you wonder what you should do with the information you just saw.
[score7]
I really liked Vice and I found the way he chose to tell the story very interesting. I laughed pretty hard at the fake credits that run in the middle of the film.
Yeah, those credits were very funny 🙂 For a minute I was having doubts if time really had flown by so quickly 🙂
You definitely liked it more than I did. I utterly detested this film and couldn’t wait to get out of the theater. I saw McKay as completely consumed by his personal politics that he smothers out any meaningful drama. I felt his humor landed with a thud and the whole Jesse Plemons angle was ludicrous. I just found it to be an exhausting movie.
I can understand your point of view completely Keith. And like I said, when it ended I did wonder what the point of it all was.