Oscars 2019: Review - Vice
Nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture.
Vice is the much anticipated follow-up to The Big Short which, I can confirm, still holds up brilliantly. This time though, director Adam McKay is aiming his satirical gaze at ex-Vice President and all around dick head Dick Cheney. He's not a familiar figure to many here in the UK (or at least, not many my age) but fortunately, that's what the film is all about, no prior knowledge of him needed. It careens wildly through his life, flash forward and backward with little abandon, from the time when he was a college dropout getting drunk all the time, to when he was first working in the White House, all the way to when he was Vice President of the United States of America. One of the most interesting things about the film for me was that I didn't know the story, so getting to hear it (from an admittedly anti-Cheney standpoint) was interesting. What I didn't like was that the story is told in a very chopped up fashion. Calling it non-linear would be an insult to non-linearity as it seems to offer no purpose other than to confuse the audience. I'll get into that a little more later because it ties into some other stuff but essentially, interesting story, not told very well.
Performance wise, I found a little more to like in Vice because quite frankly, with actors like these involved, it would be embarrassing if they weren't that good. Christian Bale plays the titular Vice and is predictably good. I am not familiar with Cheney, his mannerisms or even what he looks like so I can't comment on whether it's accurate or not. What I can say is that Bale portrays the character well, he does a bunch of stuff and wears a fat suit so he's a (slightly undeserved) shoe in for an Oscar. The wonderful Amy Adams is also in this film although honestly, she's a little wasted. Her accent feels kind of like a parody of her Sharp Objects one but is otherwise fine. Again though, not sure if she earns the nomination for it, especially considering that she was snubbed for Arrival and Nocturnal Animals. There's a couple of other talented actors here, doing assorted fairly talented stuff. Jesse Plemons is a narrator-esque character whose only real purpose is to deliver one twist at the end, Tyler Perry is not as good as he is in Gone Girl but not as bad as he is in everything else and Sam Rockwell plays George W Bush in a role that feels quite Sam Rockwell, if little else. Basically, largely solid stuff but little that's remarkable.
And then here is when I start getting into why I started to get pissed off with Vice. As I said earlier, I'm a fan of The Big Short and I think the way that it turns facts into fiction-like film through an editing style that, while not wholly original, is highly entertaining, is genius. McKay has brought the same editor from that film back here and honestly, it doesn't show. That energetic pace from before is seemingly parodied here, to the point where I'd refer to it as shotgun editing. The creative team close their eyes, blast a shotgun at the film and just try and put everything back where the pieces are now missing with blu-tack, except instead of blu-tack, it's a shot of Christian Bale fishing (METAPHOR). I touched on it earlier but there's a non-linear narrative, in place for seemingly no purpose. A film like Mulholland Drive (which I know is a high bar but still, let's go with it) tells a story whose chronology is fractured because it adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of the world, allowing for the comedy, drama and terror to be heightened. With Vice, I think it just wants to seem smarter than it is and at no point is that clearer than the mid-credits scene, which seems to take joy in actively insulting the audience, specifically anyone who can find enjoyment in stupid films. Adam McKay, just because I thought your film was shoving its head so far up its arse that it could wear its heart as a hat, doesn't mean I'm a stupid consumer who likes Fast and Furious. I do like Fast and Furious but that's not the point, because there is joy to be had in films that know what they are and embrace it. Vice does not know what it is, because it thinks it's a smart film where the tone seems more aimed at idiots, leaving neither demographic happy. Unless of course you're the Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts, in which case you will be delighted with it and give it eight nominations.
In the end, I don't think I out and out hated Vice, it was just such a disappointment. It wasn't even a month ago that I named it my third most anticipated film of the year and my heart has already been ripped out. Much of the film is competent, including the acting and the cinematography, the editing and tone just seemed designed to piss me right off. With all that in mind, I think Vice has to get a
Vice is the much anticipated follow-up to The Big Short which, I can confirm, still holds up brilliantly. This time though, director Adam McKay is aiming his satirical gaze at ex-Vice President and all around dick head Dick Cheney. He's not a familiar figure to many here in the UK (or at least, not many my age) but fortunately, that's what the film is all about, no prior knowledge of him needed. It careens wildly through his life, flash forward and backward with little abandon, from the time when he was a college dropout getting drunk all the time, to when he was first working in the White House, all the way to when he was Vice President of the United States of America. One of the most interesting things about the film for me was that I didn't know the story, so getting to hear it (from an admittedly anti-Cheney standpoint) was interesting. What I didn't like was that the story is told in a very chopped up fashion. Calling it non-linear would be an insult to non-linearity as it seems to offer no purpose other than to confuse the audience. I'll get into that a little more later because it ties into some other stuff but essentially, interesting story, not told very well.
Performance wise, I found a little more to like in Vice because quite frankly, with actors like these involved, it would be embarrassing if they weren't that good. Christian Bale plays the titular Vice and is predictably good. I am not familiar with Cheney, his mannerisms or even what he looks like so I can't comment on whether it's accurate or not. What I can say is that Bale portrays the character well, he does a bunch of stuff and wears a fat suit so he's a (slightly undeserved) shoe in for an Oscar. The wonderful Amy Adams is also in this film although honestly, she's a little wasted. Her accent feels kind of like a parody of her Sharp Objects one but is otherwise fine. Again though, not sure if she earns the nomination for it, especially considering that she was snubbed for Arrival and Nocturnal Animals. There's a couple of other talented actors here, doing assorted fairly talented stuff. Jesse Plemons is a narrator-esque character whose only real purpose is to deliver one twist at the end, Tyler Perry is not as good as he is in Gone Girl but not as bad as he is in everything else and Sam Rockwell plays George W Bush in a role that feels quite Sam Rockwell, if little else. Basically, largely solid stuff but little that's remarkable.
And then here is when I start getting into why I started to get pissed off with Vice. As I said earlier, I'm a fan of The Big Short and I think the way that it turns facts into fiction-like film through an editing style that, while not wholly original, is highly entertaining, is genius. McKay has brought the same editor from that film back here and honestly, it doesn't show. That energetic pace from before is seemingly parodied here, to the point where I'd refer to it as shotgun editing. The creative team close their eyes, blast a shotgun at the film and just try and put everything back where the pieces are now missing with blu-tack, except instead of blu-tack, it's a shot of Christian Bale fishing (METAPHOR). I touched on it earlier but there's a non-linear narrative, in place for seemingly no purpose. A film like Mulholland Drive (which I know is a high bar but still, let's go with it) tells a story whose chronology is fractured because it adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of the world, allowing for the comedy, drama and terror to be heightened. With Vice, I think it just wants to seem smarter than it is and at no point is that clearer than the mid-credits scene, which seems to take joy in actively insulting the audience, specifically anyone who can find enjoyment in stupid films. Adam McKay, just because I thought your film was shoving its head so far up its arse that it could wear its heart as a hat, doesn't mean I'm a stupid consumer who likes Fast and Furious. I do like Fast and Furious but that's not the point, because there is joy to be had in films that know what they are and embrace it. Vice does not know what it is, because it thinks it's a smart film where the tone seems more aimed at idiots, leaving neither demographic happy. Unless of course you're the Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts, in which case you will be delighted with it and give it eight nominations.
In the end, I don't think I out and out hated Vice, it was just such a disappointment. It wasn't even a month ago that I named it my third most anticipated film of the year and my heart has already been ripped out. Much of the film is competent, including the acting and the cinematography, the editing and tone just seemed designed to piss me right off. With all that in mind, I think Vice has to get a
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