I thought he did a good job portraying Cheney’s demeanor and mannerisms. He certainly did look and talk like Cheney. You do come away from the movie with the sense that Cheney is a super-intelligent puppet-master. I did not think it was entirely a negative portrayal.
I didn’t want to see the movie, but my husband did. I went along out of curiosity and afterwards, all I could say was ‘wow, I didn’t realize that Dick Cheney was the source of everything bad and negative that has ever happened in the USA’. Yes, that is how he was portrayed. I really couldn’t stand Bale or Sam Rockwell (one of my fave actors these days) as GWB. If anyone thinks this movie is even remotely akin to what happened during GWB’s tenure in the WH, I feel sorry for them as they are delusional.
You had to put Cheney and Rumsfeld together. In the movie, Rumsfeld was Cheney's Cheney, the kind of bad influence on Cheney that Cheney was on Bush. Then the filmmakers could show less unattractive aspects of Cheney - the befuddled young man, for example, or the supportive father of his gay daughter - and still paint a very negative picture of him.
The film showed Cheney to be less ideological than many critics thought he was. Did that make him more sympathetic or less sympathetic? Maybe a mixture of both. In the film he wasn't trying to do evil, but not trying to do good either. He was in it for himself. But was he really trying to get power or just trying to survive in a highly competitive environment?
I wasn't a great fan of any of those guys, but the bias was obvious. You're right in thinking that it wasn't entirely negative. Certainly not positive either. I think the style of the movie - in your face and stupid - cut against any nuance in the script or performances, though. Same thing with The Big Short and everything else the director has done. "Subtle" doesn't really work with him.