Film: Vice

GENRE: Biography, Drama

RATING: R for language and some violent images
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 12 minutes

STARRING: Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, The Big Short, The Fighter)

Amy Adams (American Hustle), Steve Carell (The Big Short, The Office)

DIRECTOR: Adam McKay (The Big Short, Anchorman, The Other Guys)

WRITER: Adam McKay (The Big Short, Ant-Man, The Campaign)

PLOT: The story of Dick Cheney’s rise from Washington intern to a vice president with way too much power.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Christian Bale’s makeup was enough to pull me in.

STORY STUFF: What an interesting story. I am always intrigued with which moments a writer will focus on when it comes to a person’s life story. What are those events that drive them and in this case change the course of history? As is stated during the end credits, this film is extremely liberal and a lot of things are just guessing, but it’s still an entertaining ride.

ACTING STUFF: Bale is awesome. He not only captures all the mannerisms and voice but he’s not just a caricature; you can see the wheels turning and the emotion being buried deep inside all the make-up and method actor weight. Adams does a wonderful job playing the Lady Macbeth. Carell looks like he’s having a lot of fun stepping into the shoes of Donald Rumsfeld. I wish we could have seen a bit more of Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards) as George W Bush.. In fact, the whole film is wonderfully cast.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Just like The Big Short, I find some of the edits a little jarring and off-putting at times. There are some fun juxtapositions but it seems forced. I really enjoyed the fake-out ending half way through the film, it was masterfully set-up. I was laughing pretty hard.  

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You want to see a bias but darkly humourous look at politics.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Top 10 of 2018, 2019 Previews