10 Greatest Movies About American Politics

10. Vice

Director Adam McKay has turned his back on brash comedies, but he still has a knack for gross out fun. Witness Christian Bale, unrecognisable in the jowly form of former Vice President Dick Cheney. He epitomises lust for power, a complete disconnect from humanity. It’s a two and a bit hour character study that might as well be a character assassination.

Cheney’s greatest hits are the stuff of White House lore - the time he shot his pal on a hunting trip, the sheer naked ambition inherent in his steering of malleable president George W Bush. Vice dips deep into his equally fascinating, less widely reported backstory - his youth as a tearaway, his sometimes fractious relationship with his daughter.

Like with The Big Short, McKay excels at taking a sprawling story and blasting through it at pace. Vice packs a ton in, with great performances from Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney and Sam Rockwell as a charmingly observed George W.

Bale has rarely been better. His weight fluctuations are often celebrated, but his Cheney goes beyond that. He’s hulking, frightening, seriously imposing.