Stephen King has an impressive track-record when it comes to storytelling. When it comes to adapting his work for the big screen though it can be very hit and miss. For every The Shining you get a Pet Sematary, and unfortunately Firestarter falls in the latter category. Firestarter was already been adapted for the big screen way back in 1984 and it was always seen as a more pyrotechnical version of Carrie, with a young child discovering an unusual power and harnessing that power for violence. The first adaption of King’s book wasn’t exactly revered as a classic and instead got lost to the sands of time. I believe it was the filmmaker’s intentions for this remake to not only modernise the story but also to create the definitive version but sadly it misses the mark.
Firestarter is based around a small family that revolves around 11 year old girl Charlie, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who as mentioned has the ability to create fire out of thin air. Parents Andy and Vicky, who are played by Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon, also have powers such as the ability to “push” ideas and thoughts into other peoples heads as well as telekinesis. The family are careful not to showcase their powers in public otherwise some shady government officials will find them and experiment on them. It’s not exactly an original concept as there are a lot of other similar films out there and most of which have had more success than this film.
Saying that the film starts off strong as young girl Charlie is having trouble controlling her powers, but as soon as the whole cat-and-mouse chase between a power-tracker and the family begins it starts to lose momentum. Even though the film is classified as a horror there are not many elements that up the fear or even show off any jump scares. The horror element is instead used for showing Charlie’s burnt victims, whether it is an accidental fire in her home or a burnt cat it is only these few moments where the film makes you wince, but these moments don’t exactly linger on the screen like other Stephen King adaptions so it doesn’t have much of an impact.
Despite having Zac Efron on the cast list, the actor himself appears to play the role of a father as a rather one-dimensional character which is unusual as he has been proving himself in a large range of roles in recent years. Sadly I don’t think the horror genre is for him. The saving grace of the film is Ryan Kiera Armstrong. She completely inhabits the character of Charlie, as someone who wants to do good with her powers but lacks the control or the emotions to hold her powers back. Charlie does get her “Carrie moment” later in the film where she unleashes the true extent of her powers, but sadly it happens too late into the film and by that point you don’t really care what happens to the other characters.
★★☆☆☆
2/5
There’s not a lot of strengths to Firestarter, as a horror film it takes very few risks, and as a family drama it feels too thin and flat. Efron and Lemmon bring the film down but whenever Armstrong is on the screen the film lifts itself back up albeit briefly. It’s a film that doesn’t exactly stand out amongst others and will probably be forgotten by the end of the year, but if you’re a Stephen King fan you might be interested to see how it plays out but I would rather recommend the book over this cinematic adaption.
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Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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