Vice
***Warning, contains spoilers***
I was massively looking forward to seeing this movie. When I heard it was directed by Adam McKay, the genius who directed The Big Short, and had involvement in the Holmes and Watson which I genuinely didn't expect, I couldn't wait to see this movie. I was also surprised to discover that Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell are producers in this movie, but when you figure in the fact that Pitt starred in The Big Short and Ferrell starred in Holmes and Watson it makes sense. I didn't realise that Ferrell had turned his hand to producing, and not a comedy either. There you go!
The Big Short was a brilliant movie, and by all accounts this movie was a similar style and it also stars Steve Carell and Christian Bale, who also starred in that movie. Based on this and the trailer, I was so excited to see this film.
Sadly, although it was a good movie, that's all it was. It wasn't in the 'excellent' category you would put The Big Short. Not even close to being a five star movie, although better than a three star so that's something. I think you can see where I'm going with this review!
I'm going to get the negatives out of the way first. It looked like a very cheap way to make a movie. There were a huge amount of tv news clips from the time the movie is set in to serve no other purpose then to either bulk out the movie or, to save having to film acting scenes depicting these events. Very annoying. If you're going to show news clips, film them. If you're going to show bombings, film them.
The second negative is that this is not a movie, it's a documentary. That's the only way I can describe it. The movie skips many many years regularly throughout the film to get to the next scene. One minute it's the 60s, the next minute it's the 80s, what happens in between? We really don't know.
The final negative is it's very pro liberal and portrays Cheney in a terrible light. This maybe true and justified, but how much research did the film makers do before making this movie? Dick Cheney may well have been the monster described in this movie, but was he? I've just done a quick Google and discovered that they didn't interview Cheney or his family for this film to get their side and that is simply unforgivable. That means you aren't presenting an equal view of what happened.
Don't get me wrong, I am a liberal person, but in any documentary you have to get both sides of the story, otherwise it becomes a hatchet job. However, in fairness to the film maker they do address this point in the middle of the ending credits (So don't leave the cinema until you've seen this scene), where two of the focus group have an arguement over the movie and they explain the movie was based on facts. At the start of this movie writing comes up on the screen explaining that Cheney was a very secretive person and 'they did their f*cking best'. So I understand that but I do think it's wrong that Cheney and his family weren't interviewed for this film so they could say their side of the story.
However (and now we are onto the positives), IF what the movie shows did happen then Cheney is a horrible man. They all do an excellent job in this movie. I want to say a special well done to the narrator of this movie, Jesse Plemons, who does a brilliant job. The scene where he gets killed (spoiler alert), and Cheney gets his heart is truly horrific and hard to watch. The fact that Cheney gets an extra 10 measly years of life when hundreds of thousands of people died because of his orders is truly horrendous and upsetting. That heart could have gone to someone much younger with their whole life ahead of them.
Carell also does a good job in this movie, although, compared to The Big Short he plays a minor role. In fact, the roles between Bale and Carell are reversed from that movie in the fact that this time Bale is the leading actor. Amy Adams also does a good job as his wife. And in fairness, the director does a decent job with the material that he has even though the movie is one sided and far too documentary style for my tastes. Don't get me wrong, The Big Short was a bit documentary style, but not like this.
However, all the plaudits, and the reason this is a four star movie and not less, have to go to Bale. His performance is simply epic, even under all that make up. Massive credit has to go to the make up artists as well for making him look like that.
Bale portrays Cheney amazingly. I learned so much I didn't know about the man. Firstly, I had no idea that he reached a pact with Bush junior to basically be the president in all but name, to make all the decisions whilst Bush put his feet up. I had no idea that that actually happened. Awful and if he wasn't capable of doing the job, and clearly based on this movie he wasn't, he shouldn't have run for President.
The fact that he lets one of his daughters denounce gay marriage even though his other daughter is a lesbian is disgusting but that isn't the worst part.
It's the fact that thousands of people died in Iraq when there was no real evidence the 9/11 terrorists were actually there. The fact that he saw 9/11 as a good thing because he could make thousands of dollars profit for his company with war in Iraq. Did he not care that thousands of innocent people would die so he could make money? Clearly not.
Cheney didn't care who he stepped on too get what he wanted, like when he got Carells character the sack, or when he made Powell do that speech even though he didn't in anyway agree with it. Awful.
Nice to see a British actor appearing for a small part too in Eddie Marsan.
So, really Bale rescues this movie. His portrayal of Cheney and the incredibly disturbing scene with the heart save this film. It's worth a watch if you are into politics, otherwise wait till it comes out on Netflix or Amazon or similar.
Democratic American voters will love this movie, as from their side, it shows how nasty Republicans really are and it's more ammunition in their battle to get rid of the current Trump administration via the next election. However as I say I can't say it's a balanced view if the main subject of the movie and his family weren't interviewed.
I also think that for British people like myself, this movie will just wash over a lot of people's heads and won't do well in the UK as it's not our politics although the grubiness that exists in this movie does remind of Brexit lol.
In conclusion it's a decent movie and worth a watch if you're really into politics, otherwise wait for it to come out on Amazon prime or Netflix. I don't think the director deserves to win the best director Oscar he's nominated for, especially as he admits himself, he didn't interview Cheney or his family but Bale massively deserves to win the best actor Oscar. Sometimes you can have an average movie lit up by one incredible acting performance and this is it. For one actor to take a film from a 3 star rating to a 4 star rating via a performance like that is simply astonishing.
So, good movie, great performance by the lead actor, worth a watch if you like politics, 4 stars awarded. :)
*This review is all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission but please visit my advertisers pages as they help keep the blog going thankyou :)
I was massively looking forward to seeing this movie. When I heard it was directed by Adam McKay, the genius who directed The Big Short, and had involvement in the Holmes and Watson which I genuinely didn't expect, I couldn't wait to see this movie. I was also surprised to discover that Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell are producers in this movie, but when you figure in the fact that Pitt starred in The Big Short and Ferrell starred in Holmes and Watson it makes sense. I didn't realise that Ferrell had turned his hand to producing, and not a comedy either. There you go!
The Big Short was a brilliant movie, and by all accounts this movie was a similar style and it also stars Steve Carell and Christian Bale, who also starred in that movie. Based on this and the trailer, I was so excited to see this film.
Sadly, although it was a good movie, that's all it was. It wasn't in the 'excellent' category you would put The Big Short. Not even close to being a five star movie, although better than a three star so that's something. I think you can see where I'm going with this review!
I'm going to get the negatives out of the way first. It looked like a very cheap way to make a movie. There were a huge amount of tv news clips from the time the movie is set in to serve no other purpose then to either bulk out the movie or, to save having to film acting scenes depicting these events. Very annoying. If you're going to show news clips, film them. If you're going to show bombings, film them.
The second negative is that this is not a movie, it's a documentary. That's the only way I can describe it. The movie skips many many years regularly throughout the film to get to the next scene. One minute it's the 60s, the next minute it's the 80s, what happens in between? We really don't know.
The final negative is it's very pro liberal and portrays Cheney in a terrible light. This maybe true and justified, but how much research did the film makers do before making this movie? Dick Cheney may well have been the monster described in this movie, but was he? I've just done a quick Google and discovered that they didn't interview Cheney or his family for this film to get their side and that is simply unforgivable. That means you aren't presenting an equal view of what happened.
Don't get me wrong, I am a liberal person, but in any documentary you have to get both sides of the story, otherwise it becomes a hatchet job. However, in fairness to the film maker they do address this point in the middle of the ending credits (So don't leave the cinema until you've seen this scene), where two of the focus group have an arguement over the movie and they explain the movie was based on facts. At the start of this movie writing comes up on the screen explaining that Cheney was a very secretive person and 'they did their f*cking best'. So I understand that but I do think it's wrong that Cheney and his family weren't interviewed for this film so they could say their side of the story.
However (and now we are onto the positives), IF what the movie shows did happen then Cheney is a horrible man. They all do an excellent job in this movie. I want to say a special well done to the narrator of this movie, Jesse Plemons, who does a brilliant job. The scene where he gets killed (spoiler alert), and Cheney gets his heart is truly horrific and hard to watch. The fact that Cheney gets an extra 10 measly years of life when hundreds of thousands of people died because of his orders is truly horrendous and upsetting. That heart could have gone to someone much younger with their whole life ahead of them.
Carell also does a good job in this movie, although, compared to The Big Short he plays a minor role. In fact, the roles between Bale and Carell are reversed from that movie in the fact that this time Bale is the leading actor. Amy Adams also does a good job as his wife. And in fairness, the director does a decent job with the material that he has even though the movie is one sided and far too documentary style for my tastes. Don't get me wrong, The Big Short was a bit documentary style, but not like this.
However, all the plaudits, and the reason this is a four star movie and not less, have to go to Bale. His performance is simply epic, even under all that make up. Massive credit has to go to the make up artists as well for making him look like that.
Bale portrays Cheney amazingly. I learned so much I didn't know about the man. Firstly, I had no idea that he reached a pact with Bush junior to basically be the president in all but name, to make all the decisions whilst Bush put his feet up. I had no idea that that actually happened. Awful and if he wasn't capable of doing the job, and clearly based on this movie he wasn't, he shouldn't have run for President.
The fact that he lets one of his daughters denounce gay marriage even though his other daughter is a lesbian is disgusting but that isn't the worst part.
It's the fact that thousands of people died in Iraq when there was no real evidence the 9/11 terrorists were actually there. The fact that he saw 9/11 as a good thing because he could make thousands of dollars profit for his company with war in Iraq. Did he not care that thousands of innocent people would die so he could make money? Clearly not.
Cheney didn't care who he stepped on too get what he wanted, like when he got Carells character the sack, or when he made Powell do that speech even though he didn't in anyway agree with it. Awful.
Nice to see a British actor appearing for a small part too in Eddie Marsan.
So, really Bale rescues this movie. His portrayal of Cheney and the incredibly disturbing scene with the heart save this film. It's worth a watch if you are into politics, otherwise wait till it comes out on Netflix or Amazon or similar.
Democratic American voters will love this movie, as from their side, it shows how nasty Republicans really are and it's more ammunition in their battle to get rid of the current Trump administration via the next election. However as I say I can't say it's a balanced view if the main subject of the movie and his family weren't interviewed.
I also think that for British people like myself, this movie will just wash over a lot of people's heads and won't do well in the UK as it's not our politics although the grubiness that exists in this movie does remind of Brexit lol.
In conclusion it's a decent movie and worth a watch if you're really into politics, otherwise wait for it to come out on Amazon prime or Netflix. I don't think the director deserves to win the best director Oscar he's nominated for, especially as he admits himself, he didn't interview Cheney or his family but Bale massively deserves to win the best actor Oscar. Sometimes you can have an average movie lit up by one incredible acting performance and this is it. For one actor to take a film from a 3 star rating to a 4 star rating via a performance like that is simply astonishing.
So, good movie, great performance by the lead actor, worth a watch if you like politics, 4 stars awarded. :)
*This review is all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission but please visit my advertisers pages as they help keep the blog going thankyou :)
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