REVIEW: ‘The Life Of Chuck’ Is A Hauntingly Beautiful Celebration Of Life

This review contains major spoilers for The Life of Chuck.

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It’s no secret by now: anything Mike Flanagan touches becomes a haunting, beautiful tragedy and when you hand him Stephen King, you get pure magic. With The Life of Chuck, Flanagan adapts King’s novella into something truly wonderful.

At first glance, the title sounds straightforward. Maybe you expect a tidy, linear biography: the story of Chuck, told from start to finish. The film unfolds in reverse: Third Act, Second Act, First Act. And threading through it all is Nick Offerman’s unmistakable narration which provides an unexpected comfort, almost like a friend telling you a ghost story by the fire. We open with an ending as the world itself is unraveling. Civilization is crumbling at the seams. Skies darken, the continents collapse, lights flicker and die, and there’s this all-consuming sense that the universe is running out of time.

People respond in their own fractured ways to the catastrophe. At the heart of this apocalypse, Flanagan gives us two souls to anchor to: Felicia (Karen Gillan) and Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a divorced couple drawn together by the world’s unraveling. Their chemistry is subtle and aching; you feel their shared history in every glance. Through their eyes, the end feels intimate. We sense their confusion, their fear, their quiet hope as they search for meaning in chaos. We know as little as they do. The rules of this world, and the reasons for its collapse, are left unexplained.

David Dastmalchian and Matthew Lillard, though only on screen for brief moments, also leave a lasting impact with their performances. However, Chuck himself is a mystery as he is absent from the action, but present everywhere in the form of billboards, news flashes, and cryptic advertisements: “39 Great Years, Thanks Chuck.” The city is plastered with his name, yet nobody knows who he is. He’s like a ghost haunting the end times.

Then the lights in the world go out completely. Chuck’s face appears, ghostlike, in windows and screens across the city. But he’s not beaming; he looks haunted, anxious, and tired. You are left feeling unsettled as the act ends.

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Only then do we finally meet Charles “Chuck” Krantz, the man himself, played by Tom Hiddleston in a charming performance that’s equal parts warmth and sorrow. Here, the film breathes in and lets you see the light Chuck brought to those around him: moments of joy, flashes of kindness, a radiant dance sequence that feels like a celebration and a farewell all at once. We witness the little ways he lights up the world, and we start to understand why the world might be grateful for “39 great years” of Chuck. Yet just as quickly, the story pivots and reveals Chuck’s battle with cancer. It’s here that the emotional weight settles in. On his deathbed, Chuck’s wife sits by his side and whispers, “39 great years. Thanks Chuck.” It lands with a quiet finality, heavy with love and loss. The lights go out again and the act ends.

And then, the story folds further back into Chuck’s childhood. He’s an orphan, raised by his grandparents, Albie (Mark Hamill, gentle and wise) and Sarah (Mia Sara, nurturing and warm). These scenes feel tender and luminous, showing how love and small joys shaped Chuck into the person we’ve glimpsed. Sarah teaches him how to dance; Albie fills his world with curiosity and wonder while also making him face the reality of life. In these quieter moments, the puzzle pieces start connecting. Characters from earlier acts reappear: Felicia and Marty, first seen in the chaos of the end times, are revealed as figures from Chuck’s youth. Albie and Chuck watch Carl Sagan together, with Sagan saying the exact words that were quoted by Marty in the third act. There’s a beautiful sense of interconnectedness in how every person and memory is woven into the fabric of Chuck’s life.

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Everything the film is building toward quietly clicks into place in a classroom scene. A teacher (Kate Siegel) is reading Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself, 51,” and young Chuck is the only one really listening. After class, Chuck asks her about what Whitman meant with “i contain multitudes.” She tells him that his mind is a universe all its own — that every face, every object, every moment he experiences lives within him, shaped by his memories and imagination. It’s a simple idea, but it echoes through the entire film.

Time passes and now Chuck is all alone in the world. Chuck finally opens a terrace door he’s always been forbidden from entering. For a moment, there’s only emptiness. But then, as he turns to leave, he hears the same beeps Felicia heard in the film’s first act (which is actually the third act), and sees himself — older, fragile, dying. In this confrontation with his future, Chuck makes a silent promise to live as fully as he can.

And with that, the entire film comes full circle. We realize that the apocalypse of the first act is the collapse of Chuck’s own universe as he dies. The strange, disjointed world, the faces and memories drifting through it... They’re fragments of a life, a consciousness in its final moments. The “Thanks, Chuck” messages aren’t random, they’re his wife’s final words to him, echoing through his mind. Even as the world fades, his life is being celebrated, his memories shining bright in the darkness.

The Life of Chuck is a meditation on mortality, memory, and the quiet power of human connection. It’s about the way our lives echo outward, touching others in ways we’ll never fully know. The end doesn’t erase the beauty of a life well-lived. If anything, it magnifies it by making every moment feel luminous and important.

This is a story that lingers after the credits roll, urging you to reflect on your own life, your own “multitudes.” It’s a celebration of existence, of love, of family and of the little things that make it all worthwhile. Heartbreaking, beautiful, and unforgettable — The Life of Chuck is exactly the kind of film that makes you grateful for your own fleeting, great years.

Rating: ★★★★★

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The Life of Chuck. © Neon

About The Life Of Chuck

Premiere Date: June 13, 2025

Executive Producer: Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy

Writer: Mike Flanagan

Adapted from: Stephen King

Director: Mike Flanagan

Production: Intrepid Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, QWGmire, Red Room Pictures

Distribution: Neon

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak, Matthew Lillard, Kate Siegel, Mia Sara, Annalise Basso, David Dastmalchian, and Mark Hamill.

Synopsis: Charles "Chuck" Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.