Vice Shines the Light on America's Darkness

Vice (2018)

Vice was one of the saddest movies that I have seen in a while. It was reminiscent of McKay’s The Big Short, which explained a problem from the early 2000s and then laughed at the audience because we are just making the same mistakes. Vice is the story of Dick Cheney’s rise to power. Much of it is well known, but it also included other verified insights and what felt like some liberties. The movie had a clear message and purpose and did not paint Cheney or the Republican Party in a good light, but it did not lie about what they did. The portrayals of the main players were excellent, particularly Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld and Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney. Christian Bale also deserves all of the accolades he receives for playing a very serious Dick Cheney in a very believable fat suit. Vice chronicled Cheney from his DUIs all the way until his daughter’s Wyoming Congressional run. Surprisingly, it barely touched on the time he shot someone in the face and then they apologized for it. While it spent most of the time vilifying Cheney, Vice did give Cheney a fourth wall break where he defended his actions as necessary evil to protect America. This moment almost made Cheney seem like an antihero, but then he betrayed his youngest daughter for the sake of power. I had always respected that he accepted his lesbian daughter, but now it seems that he, his wife, and his other daughter turned their back on her to win a Wyoming Congressional seat. While the messaging was obvious, painting Cheney as the dark puppet-master of the last several decades, the movie itself was structural masterpiece. It had wonderful flow and pacing, using a nice blend of era-appropriate cinematography and a multitude of storytelling devices. It used everything from title cards, to background narration, to Shakespearian soliloquys. Vice was most fun version of this dark story as possible. I really enjoyed Vice and give it 4 out of Cheney’s 5 heart attacks, which were important plot points in the movie.