Vice(2018)
Synopsis
George W. Bush picks Dick Cheney, the CEO of Halliburton Co., to be his Republican running mate in the 2000 presidential election. No stranger to politics, Cheney's impressive résumé includes stints as White House chief of staff, House Minority Whip and Defense Secretary. When Bush wins by a narrow margin, Cheney begins to use his newfound power to help reshape the country and the world.
Cast
Script Structure and Narrative Analysis
Scene Intensity Over Runtime
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Scene-by-scene intensity, act structure, pacing score, and narrative insights.
Pacing Verdict
The screenplay's pacing is generally strong, with effective momentum in the 9/11 sequence and the rapid-fire montages of policy-making. However, the first act drags with an over-reliance on narrator exposition and slow domestic scenes, while the final act becomes rushed and disjointed, particularly with the abrupt narrator death and the meta-focus group ending. The 5-act structure is unevenly weighted, with Act 4 feeling overstuffed and Act 5 losing narrative cohesion.
Narrative Archetype
A story where the pursuit is real and sustained, but reversal keeps reshaping its direction. The protagonist does not endure a single catastrophe but is continuously thrown and continuously recovers. Resolution arrives after a journey marked by disruption as much as drive.
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