Tom Hiddleston Shines Briefly in The Life of Chuck, a Melancholic Stephen King Tale

TIFF-Winning The Life of Chuck is Flanagan’s softest King adaptation yet.

Mike Flanagan’s name has become synonymous with Stephen King adaptations, clearly showing that he just “gets” King in a way that many other auteurs don’t. Flanagan’s King adaptations include directorial duties on ‘Gerald’s Game’ and ‘Doctor Sleep,’ with a ‘Carrie’ streaming series on the way. But Flanagan’s most recent film, based on a King novella, ‘The Life of Chuck,’ shifts away from the scare-focused adaptations and instead looks at life through a sci-fi fantasy lens.

‘The Life of Chuck’ earns a wide release in theaters this summer with some weight on its shoulders. It won the coveted People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which has become a bit of a precursor for the awards circuit. Fifteen of the past 16 TIFF People’s Choice Award winners have earned Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards, six of which won the Oscar. While it’s much too early to tell if ‘The Life of Chuck’ has any Oscar gold in its future, the film itself is an interesting King adaptation that aims to stand among some of King’s other dramatic works, like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Stand by Me.’

Tom Hiddleston stars as the titular Chuck in a story that starts in Act 3 and goes backward through his life.

Act 3 actually focuses on Marty and Felicia (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan) as they observe the end of the world as we know it from a series of apocalyptic occurrences: California actually breaks off from the United States, the internet goes out for good, giant sinkholes begin to open up and stars disappear from the sky. While all of this could be told in a whirl of panicked horror, it’s instead calm and albeit peaceful as everyone begins to accept their fate. Through it all we see ads for the assumed retirement of Charles “Chuck” Krantz, thanking him for 39 years of, well, something.

Act 2 actually focuses on Chuck, as he breaks out into an impromptu dance alongside a drumming busker in an absolutely magnetic scene. Hiddleston is a wonderful performer with the dance moves to back it up. The act doesn’t last long before we move forward (backward?) to Act 1, where we see a younger Chuck in various stages (Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak and Jacob Tremblay) as he comes to live with his grandparents and discovers his love for dance.

The deep ensemble cast is wonderful, and seeing so many familiar faces pop up is great. Mark Hamill, a Flanagan regular, is very good as Chuck’s alcoholic grandfather, and actors like David Dastmalchian, Matthew Lillard, and Carl Lumbly show up in memorable roles. Maybe I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get more of Tom Hiddleston in Chuck’s prime. We don’t actually see Hiddleston on screen until about the 36-minute mark (not including the ads/memes where he is shown around town). Hiddleston is fantastic in the bits where we get him, but the story is more focused on what came during the early and late years of Chuck’s life.

The overall premise of “The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Man” may be overselling a bit.

The first third of the movie contains some inspired storytelling and fantasy elements that hooked me, and then it really peaked with the musical number at the midpoint. The latter half takes its time and is the most overly sentimental, focusing on the ‘multitudes’ we encounter in life. It’s sweet, but the overall flow and pacing make it difficult to truly emotionally invest.

Verdict

‘The Life of Chuck’ is an enjoyable King adaptation that didn’t feel quite as extraordinary as the movie tries to bill itself. Still, Flanagan continues to prove that he is best suited to bringing King to the big screen, even if the story doesn’t emotionally resonate in the same way some of the other dramatic works do. The ensemble cast is notable and amusing, but it comes at the expense of a great Hiddleston performance that left me wanting more.

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