| The Life of Chuck is told in three acts, in reverse. A movie about the magic of life and the art of living it. Act III, the beginning, is the end of the world. A dystopic view of the collapse of society. California is engulfed by an earthquake, the internet is down for good, and those are who are still going to work can’t get there because a massive sinkhole has opened up and swallowed a highway. | | 2024
Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Screenplay by: Mike Flanagan
Based on the short story by Stephen King
Starring: Tom Hiddleston
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Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a school teacher, or at least he was a school teacher, he’s still trying to be a school teacher, but when the world is literally collapsing all around you it’s hard to tell what you should be doing in the moment. The movie is based on the short story by Stephen King and directed by horror aficionado Mike Flanagan. That makes sense in act three, but it does not prepare you for the life-affirming, dance-themed masterpiece this movie is about to become. 2025 seems to be the year of Stephen King adaptations, and the one that looks the least like a King story should be the one that stands out.
Back in the present, most kids aren’t going to school anymore, and those that are, are currently flunking but their parents don’t care. Marty is still trying to care. He needs structure and purpose. When he keeps seeing a billboard that says “Thanks Chuck, for 39 great years,” with a picture of a man who barely looks 40, Marty then wanders through a sci-fi hellscape that is present day Earth trying to figure out who Chuck is, and why his face is everywhere being thanked.
Before Marty can get an answer, we’re in act II – it’s finally time to meet the lead character and the title of the movie. Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) is just an every-day man, an accountant who is married with one son, but then learns he’s dying. He wants to spend his final days living in the moment, celebrating the beauty and magic of life. And that’s exactly what this movie becomes. A movie about how weird, and wonderful, and unexpected life can be.
Chuck’s life is told in reverse. We see all moments – big or small, sad or happy – that end up forming who he is and how he has chosen to live his life. In the moment, the movie is this one big celebration of life, and that’s including the very dystopic first act. The second act includes a mesmerizing dance sequence, out-of-the-blue, that features Tom Hiddleston and Karen Gillam, in what has become the defining moment of the movie.
As the rest of the film - and the beginning of Chuck’s life - unfolds, that dance sequence isn’t as out-of-the-blue as it seems. After all, what is life, other than a combination of the all the thoughts, experiences, decisions and consequences that one makes while growing older. And that in summation is what The Life of Chuck is about. It is an ingenious way to take some mundane moments from an every-man and turn it into a captivating, genre-bending story about life. Tom Hiddleston as the titular Chuck is exquisite. He’s really only in a third of it but his presence in act II is so significant, that everything that happens to him as a kid in act I, you’re still picturing adult Chuck. That’s just what this movie does, it stays with you. Thanks for everything, Chuck.
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