First Reviews for Mike Flanagan's THE LIFE OF CHUCK Hit and It's "One of the All-Time Great Stephen King Adaptations"

The first reviews have hit the internet for director Mike Flanagan’s new film The Life of Chuck. This is his adaptation of Stephen King’s incredible story and critics are loving the film!

In fact, The Life of Chuck is said to be “one of the all-time great Stephen King adaptations.” This is one of my most anticipated films of the year because I love this story, and this film is going to deliver a very special experience for audiences.

The Life of Chuck is “three separate stories linked to tell the biography of Charles Krantz in reverse, beginning with his death from a brain tumor at 39 and ending with his childhood in a supposedly haunted house.”

The film is described as an apocalyptic version of It’s a Wonderful Life, and King, who has seen the film, says that it’s “a happiness machine.”

The film stars Tom Hiddleston in the lead role, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), a school teacher trying to apply logic to the planet’s troubles; Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy) is his ex, a hospital worker determined to save everyone she can; Matthew Lillard (Scream) is a construction worker neighbor who finds zen amid the chaos; and Carl Lumbly (Alias), plays a funeral director who has dedicated his life to easing people through death.

The cast also includes Mark Hamill, David Dastmalchian, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange), and Jacob Tremblay (Doctor Sleep), as well as Mia Sara, Trinity Bliss, Harvey Guillen, Rahul Kohli, and Heather Langenkamp.

I’m happy to see the movie is getting good reviews and you can read excerpts from some of them below.

Jason Gorber: "Mike Flanagan's The Life of Chuck is a stunner and one of the all-time great Stephen King adaptations."

The Playlist: The Life Of Chuck” is a bit of a departure for both King and Mike Flanagan as it is a straight drama for much of its runtime—veering closer in tone to “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile” than, say, “The Shining.”

JoBlo: A charming, bittersweet change of pace for Mike Flanagan.

The Daily Beast: A film that’s as sweet as it is scary, and whose frights are the sort that come from all-too-relatable fears about being alone, being apart, and being unable to hold onto the people and memories that matter most.

Awards Buzz: There’s creativity layered all throughout it to make it an experience that should linger long after act one concludes and audiences remain invited to decipher the many puzzle pieces it offers.

RogerEbert.com: "Much was made in the run-up to Chuck about it being a bit of a departure for the horror director, and there’s indeed no gore and only a bit of the supernatural here. But Flanagan’s work, especially the Haunting Netflix shows, has also been distinguished by deep emotional undercurrents, and that’s the tool from his kit that he leans into most of all with this moving study of how valuable every moment is that we’re on this floating ball of dust."

TheWrap: Flanagan’s best film yet. It’s Flanagan’s vibrant equivalent of Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Synecdoche, New York’ that finds hope and meaning in his own way just as it is one of the best modern Stephen King adaptations one could hope for."

IGN: "Erasing any doubt as to who’s the world’s most dedicated adapter of Stephen King stories, Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan returns with a faithful-down-to-the-reverse-chronology take on one of the author’s less scary stories: a hokey metaphysical fable about life, death, the end of the world, and dancing like nobody’s watching."

indieWire: As a filmmaker, Flanagan deals in raw, go-for-broke emotion; it’s just that this time around, he’s using that passion to affirm the audience, not disturb them."

Dread Central: Our Town’ by way of string theory, Mike Flanagan continues to showcase why he’s uniquely capable of staging Stephen King at his most unadaptable with this lovely and heartbreaking rendition of ‘The Life of Chuck.’

Collider: Flanagan’s latest is simply a stunner. His finest film is a deeply heartfelt, glorious thing.

Hammer to Nail: It’s the best kind of big commercial movie: sweeping in scale and universal in meaning. Chuck’s life could be our own.