Evan Sarzin

Biopics often face the challenge that a life doesn’t follow a good dramatic arc. Cheney's life obliges, though. The biggest moments occur in the subject’s third act. Cheney will be remembered best for being the architect and contractor of the Iraq War, and the film makes sure you know it. You’ll alsi understand what a profound impact that injustified war continues to have all over the world. Cheney’s journey to power makes for fascinating viewing. Adam McKay’s script is terrific, from time to time lobbing Molotov cocktails at the crowd. The filmmaker of The Big Short employed many shocks to keep the audience engaged, unwilling to coast along on the usual tropes. Generally, the surprises make sense as milestones in the story; they aren’t gratuitous. Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, Steve Carell as Don Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell, spot-on as Bush 43, keep the film jumping. Christian Bale as Cheney is uncanny. He nails the VP’s tics and verbal mannerisms. I had to pause occasionally to remind myself that I was watching an actor. The film is no hagiography. Although Cheney is treated sympathetically at times, his opportunism and imperial leanings are never far offstage. He may not have been born a monster but as far as this film is concerned, monstrousness was thrust upon him, and he wore it like a second skin. PS: Some of the lay critics complain of the film’s liberal bias. The filmmaker took up this issue directly in a hilarious digression. Facts are facts, he argues. Cheney did drink himself out of Yale, taking a job as a power company lineman until his wife threatened to walk if he did not sober up and ho back to college. This incident may not have been Cheney’s Rosebud, but his boosters don’t help him any by drawing comparison to Mark Zuckrrberg and Bill Gates, two other “ne’er-do-wells” who left college at Harvard.