Vice Dvd

Vice is a 2018 American biographical film written and directed by Adam McKay. The film stars Christian Bale as former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, with Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Justin Kirk, Tyler Perry, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe, and Jesse Plemons in supporting roles. The film follows Cheney on his path to become the most powerful Vice President in American history. It is the second theatrical film to depict the presidency of George W. Bush, following Oliver Stone’s W. (2008).

Vice was released in the United States on December 25, 2018, by Annapurna Pictures, and grossed $76 million worldwide. Despite the performance of the cast (particularly Bale, Adams, Perry, Carell and Rockwell) and generally positive reviews, the film polarized critics; some considered it to be one of the best films of the year while others thought it to be one of the worst, with McKay’s screenplay and direction receiving both “scathing critiques and celebratory praise”.

The film received numerous awards and nominations, with eight nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, including a Best Picture nomination and a win for Best Make-Up and Hairstyling. It also had a leading six nominations at the 76th Golden Globe Awards (including a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy), and six nominations at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards. For their performances, Bale, Adams, and Rockwell were nominated at all three shows, with Bale winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Plot

Vice is narrated by Kurt, a fictitious veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. The film opens with Dick Cheney and other White House officials and staff responding to the September 11, 2001, attacks. The film then flashes back to Wyoming in 1963, where Cheney finds work as a lineman after his alcoholism led him to drop out of Yale University. After Cheney is stopped by a traffic cop for driving while intoxicated, his wife Lynne Cheney convinces him to clean up his life.

The film flashes forward to 1969 when Cheney finds work as a White House intern during the Nixon Administration. Working under Nixon’s economic adviser, Donald Rumsfeld, Cheney becomes a savvy political operative as he juggles commitments to his wife and their daughters, Liz and Mary. Cheney overhears Henry Kissinger discussing the secret bombing of Cambodia with President Richard Nixon, revealing the true power of the executive branch to Cheney. Rumsfeld’s abrasive attitude leads to him and Cheney being distanced from Nixon, which works in both men’s favor; after Nixon’s resignation, Cheney rises to the position of White House Chief of Staff for President Gerald Ford while Rumsfeld becomes Secretary of Defense. The media later dubs the sudden shake-up in the cabinet as the Halloween Massacre. During his tenure, a young Antonin Scalia introduces Cheney to the unitary executive theory.

After Ford is voted out of office, Cheney runs to be representative for Wyoming. After giving an awkward and uncharismatic campaign speech, Cheney suffers his first heart attack. While he recovers, Lynne campaigns on her husband’s behalf, helping him to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. During the Reagan Administration, Cheney supported a raft of conservative, pro-business policies favoring the fossil fuel industries. He also supported the abolishment of the FCC fairness doctrine which led to the rise of Fox News, conservative talk radio, and the increasing level of party polarization in the United States. Cheney next serves as Secretary of Defense under President George H. W. Bush during the Gulf War. Outside of politics, Cheney and Lynne come to terms with their younger daughter, Mary, coming out as lesbian. Though Cheney develops ambitions to run for president, he decides to retire from public life to spare Mary from media scrutiny.

During the presidency of Bill Clinton, Cheney becomes the CEO of Halliburton while his wife raises golden retrievers and writes books. A false epilogue claims that Cheney lived the rest of his life healthy and happy in the private sector and credits begin rolling, only for them to abruptly end as the film continues.

Cheney is invited to become running mate to George W. Bush during the 2000 United States presidential election. Cheney seems to feel that the younger Bush is more interested in pleasing his father than attaining power for himself; Cheney agrees on the condition that Bush delegates “mundane” executive responsibilities, such as energy, the military, and foreign policy, to him. As Vice President, Cheney works with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, legal counsel David Addington, Mary Matalin, and the Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, to exercise control of key foreign policy and defense decisions throughout Washington.

The film returns to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, as Cheney and Rumsfeld maneuver to initiate and then preside over the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. As the War on Terror mounts, Cheney continues to struggle with persistent heart attacks. The film also covers various events from his vice presidency, including his endorsement of the unitary executive theory, the Plame affair, the accidental shooting of Harry Whittington, and tensions between the Cheney sisters over same-sex marriage. Cheney’s actions are shown to lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths and the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq, resulting in him receiving record-low approval ratings by the end of the Bush administration.

While narrating Cheney’s tearful deathbed goodbye to his family after another hospitalization, Kurt is killed in a motor accident while jogging. In March 2012, his healthy heart is transplanted into Cheney. A few months later, Cheney acquiesces to his daughter Liz’s saying she is opposed to same-sex marriage when she runs for a Senate seat in Wyoming, leaving Mary angry and upset. Liz later wins the election to her father’s former Congressional position. At the end of the film, an irate Cheney breaks the fourth wall and delivers a monologue to the audience, stating that he has no regrets about anything he has done in his career, and even thanks them for letting him protect them.

A mid-credits scene depicts a focus group descending into chaos when a conservative panelist slams the film itself as biased and attacks a liberal panelist who defends the movie and insults him, while another younger panelist expresses her anticipation for the next Fast & Furious movie.

Cast

Main characters
Christian Bale as Dick Cheney
Alex MacNicoll and Aidan Gail as young Dick Cheney
Amy Adams as Lynne Vincent Cheney
Cailee Spaeny as young Lynne
Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld
Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush
Tyler Perry as Colin Powell
Alison Pill as Mary Cheney
Colyse Harger as young Mary Cheney
Lily Rabe as Liz Cheney
Violet Hicks as young Liz Cheney
Jesse Plemons as Kurt, the narrator

Supporting characters
Justin Kirk as Scooter Libby
LisaGay Hamilton as Condoleezza Rice
Eddie Marsan as Paul Wolfowitz
Bill Camp as Gerald Ford
Don McManus as David Addington
Shea Whigham as Wayne Vincent
Stephen Adly Guirgis as George Tenet
Josh Latzer as Secret Service Agent
Vishesh Chachra as Secret Service Agent Robert
Jeff Bosley as Secret Service Agent
Camille Harman as Mary Matalin
Jillian Armenante as Karen Hughes
Matthew Jacobs as Antonin Scalia
Sam Massaro as young Scalia
Robert Hughes as Warren E. Burger
Paul Perri as Trent Lott
Brandon Sklenar as Bobby Prentace
Fay Masterson as Edna Vincent
Kyle More as Roger Ailes
Kirk Bovill as Henry Kissinger
Melissa K. Marks as Heather Poe
Chris Dougherty as Philip Perry
John Hillner as George H. W. Bush
Michael Reilly Burke as David Gribbin
William Goldman as Dennis Hastert
Tony Forsmark as Grover Norquist
Adam Bartley as Frank Luntz
Kevin J. Flood as Richard A. Clarke
Paul Yoo as John Yoo
Brandon Firla as Jay Bybee
Matt Champagne as Douglas J. Feith
Joseph Beck as Karl Rove
Tony Graham as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Alex Kingi as Osama bin Laden
David Fabrizio as Lawrence Wilkerson
Mark Bramhall as Harry Whittington
James Hornbeck as Patrick Leahy
Bob Stephenson as Rush Limbaugh
Alfred Molina as Waiter (uncredited)
Naomi Watts as News Anchor (uncredited)