Film: The life of Chuck
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, Matthew Lillard, Heather Langenkamp, Mia Sara
Director: Mike Flanagan
Ratng: 3/5
Runtime: 110 min.

Mike Flanagan’s first film in five years, is an elaborate drama about mortality. In this he’s adapting a non-horror quirky novella from Stephen King’s 2020 collection ‘If It Bleeds’ which came out just after the onset of the COVID lockdown.

Unfolding in reverse chronological order, as in the  novella, this is a deeply moving end-of-days take with an underlying message that tells us to value what you have instead of worrying about what will come. The mixed-genre film starts with the end of Chuck Krantz’s life, and moves back in time to show us how he lived that life.

We find the world in a dystopian nightmare plagued by natural and man-made catastrophes —  a devastating 9.1 magnitude California earthquake, wildfires in Ohio, widespread flooding in Europe, a volcanic eruption in Germany, and the near crashing of the Internet, TV signals and cell service. Climate change has ravaged nearly every country, suicide rates have also skyrocketed.  A couple, schoolteacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his ex-wife, an exhausted nurse (Karen Gillan) are coping as best as they can while also trying to make sense of all the mysterious “Thanks Chuck!” signs across the media, popping up, congratulating Charles Krantz (Hiddleston), on 39 great years. Marty also tries to convince parents to keep educating their kids amidst all this catastrophe.