VICE is a biographical drama about former US Vice President Dick Cheney and his rise to power under George W Bush.
An acting masterclass that neither pulls its punches nor sacrifices detail to pander to a mass audience, this is smart filmmaking from a director who gets better with every film — and a near career-best from Bale, which is saying something.
Bale brilliantly captures the former vice-president’s bland magnificence in Adam McKay’s entertainingly nihilist biopic.
The film illustrates what can be achieved by one man through ambition, guile and timing, but also charts the growing influence of a whole class of super-rich in the US, who sought power merely to protect their financial interests.
Bale’s a riot, but it’s The Big Short 2.
Less biopic than a howl of frustration, Vice is political satire at its keenest. Move over, Michael Moore.
What follows is a fast-moving jumble of grim farce, satirical stunts, fourth-wall-breaking absurdity (including an audacious choice of narrator that becomes the film’s darkest joke), countless mixed metaphors and plenty of indignation.
A skilled piece of comic acting by Bale has the unlikely effect of making the former vice president buffoonish as well as sinister in a brilliant piece of storytelling.
If you’re not interested in politics, this film will persuade you otherwise.
Adam Curtis and Vice director Adam McKay on how Dick Cheney masterminded a rightwing revolution
Vice doesn't get it right--Dick Cheney was a much scarier vice president than that
General release. Check local listings for show times.