Cursed disgusting Firestarter review is spoiler free.
That Stephen King the renaissance continues with a modern adaptation of his 1980 novel, Firestarter. Given the lackluster response to the 1984 adaptation, it is likely to be long overdue. But the real question is whether there is any thematic depth or storytelling to pick up in the midst of the superhero cinema’s current supersaturation and popularity. While Awake Manager Keith Thomas sheep Firestarter embarking on an energetic and engaging start, this reimaging ultimately fails to turn on.
The exhibition of how the couple Andy (Zac efron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) achieved supernatural abilities, thanks to an experiment, is passed on over the opening texts. A nightmare sequence later, Firestarter jumps a decade forward where Andy and Vicky try to raise their gifted daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and avoid being detected by the federal agency that would claim them back. As if it’s not exhausting enough to be constantly on the run, Charlie loses his battle to suppress his growing powers. Watch a fire incident that puts the family back on the agency’s radar and puts them all in danger.
(from left) Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) and Andy (Zac Efron) enter Firestarterdirected by Keith Thomas.
Written by Halloween kills writes Scott Teems, Firestarter divided into two vastly different halves. The first half builds character dynamics and establishes the emotional efforts. Andy and Vicky love parenting, but with two distinctly different approaches to becoming parents to a young child with tremendous combustible power. The conflicting ideals complicate the conflicting but consistent ways in which their weakened abilities are ill-equipped to support and control Charlie’s thin restraint with her emotions, often resulting in disaster. Zac Efron brings a lot to his role and makes many heavy lifts in the front half.
Once Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) comes right into the equation, giving rise to a more action-heavy shift with the family on the run, the script derails. Early explorations of morality and consequences are dropped in favor of pyrotechnics, choppy and bland action sequences, and sparsely rendered archetypal villains in Captain Hollister (Gloria Ruben).
The whole thing is significantly underdeveloped. There is a clear arc intended for Rainbird, a significant deviation from the source material, but Greyeyes is sadly underutilized. While Firestarter wants to make Rainbird an impressive central antagonist, his screen time is too limited and creepy dialogue too cryptic to fully understand motivation and identity.
Michael Greyeyes as Rainbird in Firestarterdirected by Keith Thomas.
The entire rear half is being rushed. It avoids the source material in favor of a streamlined narrative that takes place in an indefinable concrete facility. A central internal match is cleaned up with a simple assembly. Dead balls, big confrontations, emotional gains and climax come out so randomly that none of it lands. The benevolence built up in the front half is spoiled by the strange narratives and stylistic choices.
This results in an incoherent adaptation involving two very different functions at divergent levels of vessels. It feels like bits and pieces of the story were cut out, leaving remnants that suggest something more interesting. Its main characters perform much stronger, everyone gets a little more to work with and time to develop them. The antagonists are so bland and vaguely written that Firestarter collapses quickly as the narrative attempts to expand the reach beyond the family’s cozy bubble. Despite a strong performance by Zac Efron, a couple of fun charred corpses, John Carpenterhis superior score and fast pace, Firestarter ends up mirroring Charlie’s story a little too closely. A promising beginning is unraveled by the desire to burn it all down.
Firestarter releases in theaters and at Peacock on May 13, 2022.
