VICE is a 2018 blockbuster biopic that follows the life of the controversial former vice president and white house advisor Dick Cheney (played by Christian Bale).  The movie looked to expose the notoriously private life of Cheney and provide an in depth look into his work style, which many consider unethical.

  The film begins by showing Cheney in his lesser known years before public life, as a deadbeat, alcoholic husband working as a telephone line repairman who had just received his second DWI within a year. Disgusted by his behavior, Cheney’s wife, played by Amy Adams, makes him an ultimatum that if he can’t get life together and support his family soon, she will divorce him. With this in mind, Cheney takes a job as an intern to long time congressman Donald Rumsfeld ( played by Steve Carrell) where he immediately demonstrates his vast political knowledge and ability to get things done. Rumsfeld quickly takes notice of Cheney’s potential and gets him a job as one of the youngest white house advisor in history, where he stays throughout multiple administrations.  VICE did a great job of showing Cheney’s rise to becoming such an influential conservative policy maker and his tendency of bypassing the rules due to his various inside connections. After ten years as a congressman from Wyoming and a failed run for presidency, Cheney briefly retires from politics before joining George W. Bush’s ticket and becoming the 46th vice president of the United States. The movie did an excellent job of showing how much power and influence Cheney had quietly acquired and how he was the driving force behind multiple scandalous affairs including his shady involvement in the Iraq war and his surprising influence on the Bush vs. Gore Supreme Court decision. Since Cheney had been a long time friend with Justice Anthony Scalia, it was widely believed that he was given favorable decisions, including Bush vs. Gore, which made him the Vice President.

  Although  VICE was truly brilliant, it definitely had a few flaws.The movie advertised  itself as trying to honestly recreate the life of Dick Cheney to expose the under the radar atrocities he was responsible for, but it failed to take itself seriously enough. Throughout the film there were several odd jokes sprinkled in that felt out of place in such a serious movie and really killed the mood of some very telling and dramatic scenes. This included various comedic Family Guy-esque cut-aways during a scene that attempted to delve into deeper motivations of the invasion of Iraq. It felt like the movie was counter intuitive in its goal of exposing Dick Cheney by almost softening his overall image.

  Despite this, VICE did a great job of telling the true story behind one of the most secretive and polarizing figures of recent history. If you have any interest in politics, do yourself a favor and go see the movie.

4/5  Viking Heads