Day 360 of the challenge! Oh boy, I do love me a good biopic, and Vice does not disappoint!
Vice has a lot going for it, but let’s just start with the obvious: Christian Bale is a living acting legend. Like Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour, Bale completely disappears under the makeup as Dick Cheney (if you already couldn’t tell by the trailers). Bale manages to find the humanity in Cheney, playing the man with an intimacy I don’t think even the biggest Cheney admirers would have expected. So much so, Vice tricked me into appreciating some aspects of Cheney’s life and career… before the plot reminded me that’s he’s basically a war criminal. But my point is, any actor that humanizes someone like Dick Cheney is worthy of winning Best Actor this Oscar season, right? That’s a given?
Bale was also given plenty to work with in McKay’s awesome and self-aware script. Perfectly balancing some hilarious comedic jabs with the heavier real world material, McKay does an excellent job breaking down the details of Cheney’s prosperous political career and how it affects us as a county to this day. Utilizing some wonderful visual metaphors (fly fishing, a “Monopoly-esque" board-game, stock footage of wild animals, and others I rather not spoil), McKay makes Cheney’s legacy easy to understand for even the most detached or under a rock people in the audience. Throw in some other killer performances from Amy Adams and Sam Rockwell (who I adored as George W. Bush), and I say you have one of the year’s best biopics.
Sorry Bohemian Rhapsody.