Back in 2019, filmmaker Mike Flanagan brought an adaptation of Stephen King’s Shining sequel Doctor Sleep to the big screen. With 2025’s The Life of Chuck, Flanagan again covers another King tale, albeit one far away from the novelist’s usual horror stories.

Various events seem to signal the end of the world. In the midst of these, mysterious messages appear that thank someone named Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) “for 39 great years”.

Flashbacks explore Chuck’s childhood and younger adulthood. Eventually the story explores how Chuck connects to the strange beginnings at the tale’s start.

When Life hit multiplexes in June 2025, it got excellent reviews and I thought I’d see it. However, the movie flopped so hard at the box office that it vanished from my local multiplex before I really got a chance.

That said, I didn’t view my inability to watch Life on the big screen as a major missed opportunity, mainly because my interest in Life never became more than lukewarm. Despite all the praise, I found it tough to get excited about a movie whose plot and premise seemed unclear.

Not that I need every movie to spell out everything in clear detail, but the ads for Life left no real impression what to expect. This happens for a good reason, as Life delivers a story that becomes difficult to summarize neatly.

Indeed, the synopsis I wrote doesn’t do a great job, mainly because a more accurate overview would take forever and require spoilers. Indeed, any discussion of Life becomes tough because the movie’s unconventional structure means a full evaluation requires too many plot revelations.

As noted, Life starts at one point and then works backward from there. The credits state we launch with “Act Three” before we go to “Act Two” and finally “Act One”.

Each section shows Chuck at a younger age, a fact that means Hiddleston spends surprisingly little time on screen. He exists as a phantom in Act Three and barely at all in Act One, which leaves the 18-minute Act Two as his only real showcase.

Nearly a full hour of Life’s 111 minutes focuses on younger iterations of Chuck, played by Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak and Jacob Tremblay at various ages. I don’t really fault the ads for their focus on Hiddleston, but these do feel a little baity/switchy.

In any case, I mind less the absence of the movie’s nominal lead than I do the film’s lack of real ability to convey the story at hand. Life intends to offer a warm and inspirational tale about how the small moments stick with us and how much even incidental events can impact us.

Unfortunately, the narrative structure doesn’t allow this message to come through terribly well. Face it: film offers a literal medium.

The written page can toy with chronology and flights of fantasy more easily. Movie viewers simply largely find themselves trained to believe what they see.

Of course, the weirdness of Act Three means that we understand something strange is at work. It also doesn’t become terribly tough to figure out the perspective that will eventually seem obvious.

Again, this leans toward spoiler territory so I won’t tell more. Suffice it to say that later revelations about the end of the world turn apparent pretty early.

I won’t knock Life too much for the ham-fisted manner in which it paints the movie-opening Act Three, as I realize the movie’s not really about what the characters in that sequence experience. Still, this sequence tips its hand so much that it becomes a distraction and makes the rest of the tale less compelling.

I do find Life intriguing, and the nature of the reverse chronology means the movie keeps us engaged. However, I still suspect the structure fares better on the printed page, as it seems gimmicky when placed on the film screen.

Flanagan seems so desperate to make Life “magical” that he simply tries too hard. He can’t hold together the three acts in a positive manner and the emotional impact he desires never arrives.

Again, this doesn’t make Life a bad film and it remains watchable. It just doesn’t deliver the warmth and affirmational value it needs.

The Life of Chuck appears in a mix of aspect ratios. Depending on which “act” we witness, it goes with 1.85:1, 2.00:1 and 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc.

All looked good, with largely solid sharpness. A few wider shots leaned a little tentative, but the majority of the flick delivered accurate visuals.

Neither jaggeies nor shimmering impacted the proceedings, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws remained absent.

As with the aspect ratios, the movie’s palette tended to vary dependent on which “act” we saw, so expect a range of colors. The Blu-ray reproduced all as intended.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while low-light shots boasted solid accuracy. This turned into a quality presentation.

Though not consistently dynamic, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack suited the material. This meant a soundscape that largely appeared semi-restrained but one that also kicked to life at times.

Most of the “action” came during the movie’s early moments, as those dealt with the potential end of the world. Otherwise, music boasted nice stereo presence and other effects filled out the room in a positive manner.

Audio quality worked fine, with music that seemed full and rich. Effects brought accurate tones as well as nice low-end punch when appropriate.

Dialogue came across as concise and natural. While not a demo-worthy mix, the movie’s soundtrack worked fine for the tale at hand.

As we head to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from writer/director Mike Flanagan. He offers a running, screen-specific look at the project's origins and development, the source and its adaptation, story/characters, sets and locations, visual effects, cast and performances, music, budgetary challenges, photography and varying aspects ratios, and other choices.

From start to finish, Flanagan offers a truly terrific talk about his movie. He touches on all the relevant domains and does so in a lively, engaging manner that makes the track a delight at all times.

The Making of The Life of Chuck runs 17 minutes, 31 seconds. It involves Flanagan, producer Trevor Macy, choreographer Mandy Moore, and actors Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamill, Karen Gillan, and Jacob Tremblay.

The program discusses the source and its push to the screen, story/characters, cast and performances, choreography and dancing, and Flanagan’s work on the set. “Making” mixes useful material with a fair amount of happy talk.

The disc delivers three On-Set Interviews. We hear from Hiddleston (14:19), Ejiofor (10:09) and Hamill (8:45).

The actors tell us how they got their roles along with their characters and performances as well as other aspects of their experiences. While not especially revealing, the comments add some value.

The disc opens with an ad for Together. We also find two trailers and two TV ads for Life.

As an adaptation of a challenging novella, The Life of Chuck can’t quite hit the mark. It involves a lot of talent and comes with potential to succeed but it just never gets where it needs to go. The Blu-ray offers solid picture and audio as well as a selection of supplements highlighted by an excellent commentary. I wanted to embrace Life but the end product didn’t really work for me.