I’m convinced Mike Flanagan is out here tricking horror fans into confronting their emotions. 'The Life of Chuck' is not what you expect from a Stephen King adaptation. It’s also exactly what you need if you enjoy feeling like your soul’s been hugged, slapped, and then gently tucked into bed.
The structure’s wild. We start at the end of the world with mysterious billboards thanking a man named Chuck, then rewind through his life in reverse. It’s confusing, then funny, then quietly devastating. I still can't believe Flanagan made a sci-fi doomsday dance drama that feels like a warm hug from the universe.
Tom Hiddleston plays Chuck with this beautiful sense of wonder and melancholy. There’s a scene where he joins a street busker mid-solo, and it’s so joyful I smiled like an idiot. The final act, with young Chuck and his magical realism childhood, broke me in the gentlest way possible.
Nick Offerman narrates with just the right dad-who-reads-poetry energy. And honestly, this is the only apocalypse movie that’s ever made me want to hug my childhood memories and then immediately go dance barefoot in the kitchen.
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