The Life of Chuck
Tom Hiddleston takes the title role in a seductive mystery fable based on a novella by Stephen King.
A life less ordinary: Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston
Image courtesy of Studio Canal.
What you don’t expect from the multiplex is the unexpected. Sequels, remakes, carbon copy horror films and more sequels, but seldom the unexpected. The life of Chuck is no ordinary life, any more than yours is, and when it’s told back-to-front, it may seem even more extraordinary. After all, most of us begin the same way, more or less, while our final passing tends to be more distinctive. But who is Chuck Krantz? And why is his name suddenly all over town? After all, nobody seems to know who Chuck Krantz is.
Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck is relayed in three chapters, the last one, ‘Thanks, Chuck,’ unspooling first. This is the story of the day that the Internet stopped working, which will, of course, happen one day as the world cannot sustain it forever, particularly at the cost to the environment. And that is another thing. Climate change is taking its toll. There’s been a tragedy in Yorkshire, a volcano in Germany, there are terrible fires in the Midwest and a big chunk of California has gone. And there’s no World Wide Web.
The Life of Chuck, adapted from a novella by Stephen King, is neither sci-fi nor any kind of supernatural hokum, but a film about dance, math and the statistics of probability. Carl Sagan is a big influence, as is his summary of the cosmic calendar. If you can imagine that the history of the universe is contained within a human calendar year, the Milky Way didn’t come about until May. Then, on December 31, at ten seconds to midnight, the human species came along and in a micro-second put paid to the planet on which it flourished. For a film that is so life-affirming, this sounds rather grim viewing, but we, mankind, have still left behind a remarkable legacy: our art, music, literature, philosophy, science, and dance. And that’s something to be proud of.
“We got on fine before the Internet and we can get on fine without it,” says one character – but that was before we had entrusted the whole infrastructure of our global function on it. Carl Sagan enthusiast and middle school teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) listens sympathetically as a colleague (David Dastmalchian) laments the unavailability of Pornhub, before going in search of his ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan). Meanwhile, all around them, billboards praising Chuck Krantz and his “39 years” pop up, along with sky writing and the only available TV channel, all issuing the same acclaim. Make of it what you will.
Tom Hiddleston is Chuck Krantz and his story evolves backwards through time, as in the mode of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. The Life of Chuck unfolds like a good novel, densely cross-referenced with inter-linking characters and themes, luring us seductively to the finishing line, or, rather, the beginning. It’s an entrancing, challenging, beguiling and thought-provoking ride, impeccably mounted by the writer-director-producer Mike Flanagan (this is his third Stephen King adaptation), with committed, charismatic performances from a top-notch cast. If the end doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the start, or the magic of the second act, it's still a journey worth taking. It really is an original that will be hard to erase from the memory.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill, David Dastmalchian, Harvey Guillen, Michael Trucco, Q'orianka Kilcher, Matthew Lillard, Rahul Kohli, Violet McGraw, Saidah Ekulona, Annalise Basso, Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Heather Langenkamp, Molly C. Quinn, and the voices of Carla Gugino and Nick Offerman (as narrator).
Dir Mike Flanagan, Pro Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy, Ex Pro Stephen King, Molly C. Quinn and Tom Quinn, Screenplay Mike Flanagan, Ph Eben Bolter, Pro Des Steve Arnold, Ed Mike Flanagan, Music The Newton Brothers, Costumes Terry Anderson, Sound Trevor Gates.
Intrepid Pictures/Red Room Pictures/QWGmire/FilmNation Entertainment-Studio Canal.
110 mins. USA. 2025. US Rel: 13 June 2025. UK Rel: 20 August 2025. Cert. 15.
