Vice

[peter]

Adam McKay's Oscar nominated take on the career of Dick Cheney stars Christian Bale doing his 'total immersion' thing to great plaudits from across the board, but not knowing Cheney other than from limited coverage in UK newscasts I cannot tell myself how good or otherwise his portrayal is. All I can say is that in the early stages of the film Bale gives him a rather odd and awkward 'shuffling' movement that if drawn from reality must have had people in his (Cheney's) company rather bemused. Another point here is that Cheney's range of expression seems somewhat limited - to one in fact, a sort of gravely deliberateness from which he never departs neither one way or t'other.

Aside from these points how is the film. Well, while one could never accuse it of hiding it's position in respect of it's subject - biased would in fact be the word of choice - I nevertheless enjoyed it. I'm not especially sensitive to the feelings of politicians, taking an 'if you can't stand the heat.....' position, and Cheney does appear to been up to his neck in the darkest aspects of the dark arts - but he does not emerge smelling of roses here, not at all! There are a couple of places where he is allowed to 'fight back' - his undeniable sacrifice in respect of protection of his gay daughter and one point where he is allowed to break the fourth wall and throw himself back in our faces ("You elected me to do a job - you expected me to do a job and I did it no regrets so stop whining!), but by and large this is a hatchet job in the simplest of terms. He is cast in an almost unremittingly bad light from start to finish: where he does succeed it is put down to his wife's strength not his and where he falls it is his weakness of character that is to blame - but as with McKay's previous Oscar winner (iirc he directed The Big Short) the film has a quirky presentation that keeps it light and not overly depressing.

Sam Rockwell is great as the easily manipulated Dubya and is grist to Cheney's calculating mill, especially in one notable scene where a meeting, in which the role of the vice president is discussed, is interspersed with scenes of Cheney fishing and finally hooking his catch. Cheney may have done all he did for reasons of power and personal gain (that's how it is presented here) or he may have been an honourable public servant that this film savagely and unfairly maligns - the truth in all probability lies somewhere in between, but irrespective of this, the film makes for good viewing as we watch the man twisting and shifting his way from a nominal role to one of almost absolute power in the face of a weak and indecisive president.

Will the film win the coveted Best Film award! I have my doubts, but it is a fair contender (unlike Black Panther which I think is in there for all the wrong reasons - but I'll say no more on this) and will no doubt put up a strong fight against front runner Roma when the day finally arrives.