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Written by: Mike Flanagan (written for the screen by), Stephen King (short story)
Directed by:Mike Flanagan
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak, Mark Hamill, David Dastmalchian, Harvey Guillén, Matthew Lillard
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A life-affirming, genre-bending story about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
Verdict
It has some great moments, mostly the dancing and what that represents, but I was surprised not by how this ended but that it ended. I was expecting a scene that fit all the pieces together or flipped them. In the end, this is exactly what the title states, obscured by the reverse order of the acts. That seems to be a crutch to add mystery and intrigue. I like what this wants to do more than what it accomplishes.
It depends.
Review
Flanagan is better known for directing horror series; The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This isn't the first Stephen King adaptation for Flanagan. He directed Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep.
This starts with Act 3, providing a title card to ensure we understand. The world is ending as earthquakes, fires, and internet outages ravage the nation. Surreal signs and radio ads mention Chuck Krantz and a great thirty-nine years. The end times are here, but who is Chuck?
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| Tom Hiddleston plays Chuck Krantz |
In Act 2 we discover that Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddlestone) is an accountant at some convention. He hears a busker drumming and inextricably begins dancing, even joined by a woman that just happens to be present and broke up with her boyfriend. It's an electric moment for Chuck and the drummer. A crowd forms and begins cheering them on. This moment of dancing contrasts with the narrator informing us of Chuck's future debilitating illness that will make many activities, including dancing, impossible.
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| Tom Hiddleston plays Chuck Krantz |
Act 1, which is the final act, provides the origins of Chuck. We see where he learned to dance and why his dance in Act 2 was such an important character moment. Act 3 was a combination of memories, ideas, and people he's met occurring in Chuck's mind. The world is ending because it's Chuck's world he's imagined. A favorite quote of the movie is that Chuck contains multitudes. Act 3 is an example of that. It's something he heard as a child that's stuck with him.
Chuck loved dancing, but he was discouraged from pursuing it. Math leads to a steady job. That's what he needed to pursue. Before he gives it up, we see him rocking on the dance floor in middle school. That's part of why he danced in the street during Act 2. He's an accountant that missed out on a dream, and for that brief moment he could capture that feeling one more time.
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| Mark Hamill, Benjamin Pajak play Albie Krantz, 11-year-old Chuck |
I was surprised when it ended. Not how it ended, but that there wasn't more to this. I suppose we got the essence of Chuck's life in the story, but I was expecting a clever reveal that ordered or reordered all of the pieces. With what we get, or don't get, it seems the reverse chronology is used to add mystery as a crutch. The crux of the story is a man that gave up on his dream and died young. That's a lot of run time for the one idea. The movie ends up being several moments forcefully tied together where the whole is not greater than its parts.
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