Details from IMDB:
The Life of Chuck
A life-affirming, genre-bending story about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
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- Stars
Initial Thoughts:
I have enjoyed Stephen King’s books (and short stories) for a long time, I can’t say for sure but I’d estimate over 35 years. That said he has written so much that there is lots he’s done I haven’t read, I did not read “The Life of Chuck” before seeing the movie but I wish I had. This movie was recommended multiple times by Rebecca (from Geekshow and TV Show in Space), as recently as yesterday, so I watched it today while my wife was out seeing the new Downton Abbey movie.
Main Points:
I think the best Stephen King movies are those which are adapted from his less horror/gory tales. “Shawshank Redemption” was a wonderful movie that barely showed any violence or blood, it didn’t need to, the important part was the characters and the story, the same is the case here. Oh I should add that the movie is narrated by Nick Offerman and he does a wonderful job, a prefect choice for this movie. I’m not sure how to talk about this without spoilers, so the rest of this will discuss some plot points. The movie starts off really dark, it’s the end of the world and we learn that essentially everything went downhill very quickly in 14 months. As Chiwetel Ejiofor‘s character Marty realizes just in time that he wants to be with who he loves, his ex-wife, we see he makes it to her just in time to see all of the stars wink out of existence and the world (or at least one person’s world) come to an end. It was a depressing start for sure but we are left with the mystery of Charles Kratz and why he was “the last meme” appearing everywhere by the end of Part 3.
Part 2 is Chuck as an adult and you get the wonderful dance number of him and Janice, a random person who he invites to dance in front of a crowd of people and he does something that I try to do, he makes her life a little bit better. Janice was just dumped by her boyfriend, she’s mad and is having a bad day and Chuck makes it a little better. I think that’s one of the points of the movie, thank people in your life who spread happiness, who try to make the world a better place, who believe in optimism and that life is what you make it, choose to make it wonderful.
Part 1 we get to see Chuck as a kid and see how he dealt with the sad things that happened in his life (including both his parents dying in a car crash when he was 8). I really enjoyed his attitude to life, despite all of the sadness (his grandparents are also both gone by the time he is 17) he sees the beauty of life and finds courage to do what he enjoys, take chances and understands that life is short, you can’t put off doing something you want to do. Part 1 brings it all full circle and you get the only supernatural part of the film, in Chuck’s family home is a locked room and as I knew we do finally get to see inside it towards the end of the film. It turns out that the room reveals a death that hasn’t happened yet and for both Chuck, and his grandfather who is played wonderfully by Mark Hamill, it is the most tragic thing of all, they see their own death. Chuck sees it when he is only a teenager and while I think for 99% of people knowing that you would die soon, he must have figured early to mid-40s, he doesn’t let it stop him from enjoying life. He recites his mantra that he learned from a teacher, who in turn got ideas from a Walt Whitman poem “Song of Myself, 51”, “I am wonderful, I deserve to be wonderful and I contain multitudes.” There is so much to this movie, it’s very deep and I could do go an on but I think it’s best you watch it for yourself, ultimately I took away from it that life is all about memories, live a good life and you get to experience it multiple times, be good to others and yourself and remember that life is what you make it, life can be wonderful if you have the right attitude and keep focused on what matters.
Final Thoughts:
I loved this movie. it made me tear up a couple of times and it really made me think. There is a great, and I’ll admit depressing, take on the modern world and what could happen if we don’t change our ways. There is also a wonderful idea of time and how small and insignificant all of human history is, what matters is the universe, our place in it and ultimately the universe we create for ourselves. I wished that the movie went on longer but it was a perfect ending and there was no reason to stretch it out. 9 out of 10 from me, wonderful performances by everyone, a great story, amazing music, quotes from poetry, wisdom from Carl Sagan, the movie really does have it all. My only tiny complaint is that I found the first part hard to watch as it seems very depressing and I think possibly telling the story from a more linear perspective could have been better. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to think about life and what it means, there is some coarse language and adult themes so I would say ages 17+. Do yourself a favor and watch this, it will pull on your heart strings but it will be well worth it.