I’m totally on tap to watch anything featuring psychic powers or the supernatural in general.
It usually lends itself to a blend of action, science fiction, and occasionally a handful of horror genre elements.
And that’s what I hoped for when watching the new reboot of “Firestarter” that mirrors the 1984 original.
The basic premise is the same, but it lacks anything truly gripping.
What could have been an awesome story, just falls flat of its source materials.
Firestarter is a science fiction thriller film directed by Keith Thomas, from a screenplay by Scott Teems, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King and serving as a remake of the 1984 film adaptation.
The film stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben.
It is produced by Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman under their Blumhouse Productions and Weed Road Pictures banners, respectively, alongside BoulderLight Pictures and Angry Adam Pictures.
Firestarter was released in the United States on May 13, by Universal Pictures simultaneously theatrically and through streaming on Peacock.
The flick is rated R for violent content and clocks in at 94 minutes long.
It all begins with a flashback of baby Charlene “Charlie” McGee in her crib.
Charlie spontaneously sets the room on fire with her pyrokinesis powers, sending her father Andrew “Andy” McGee (Efron) into a panic.
The opening credits show a young Andy and Victoria “Vicky” (Lemmon) talking to a doctor in a clinical trial, who explains to them that they will be injected with an experimental chemical drug known as Lot-6, which unbeknownst to them will give them supernatural powers.
Andy gains telepathy, and Vicky obtains telekinesis.
In the present day, Charlie (Armstrong) is sitting at the kitchen table playing with a lighter after having a nightmare.
Her father finds her there following his own nightmare and her mother soon joins them.
Charlie explains that she has been repressing something bad, her powers becoming more unstable.
Her father comforts her and reminds her that she needs to repress her powers and manage her stressors.
Later, Charlie unintentionally causes a ruckus at her school after exploding a bathroom stall due to anger at being bullied.
Andy is shown using his power, “the push,” to influence a client to stop smoking, although using his power causes headaches and his eyes to bleed from the strain.
Meanwhile, in a secret facility, thermal signatures caused by Charlie’s outburst are being monitored by Captain Jane Hollister (Reuben), leader of the facility known as DSI.
She visits Doctor Joseph Wanless (Smith), creator of Lot-6 and the resulting superhumans, who implores Captain Hollister to terminate Charlie before her powers become too great.
Captain Hollister enlists fellow superhuman John Rainbird (Greyeyes) to help with this task.
Rainbird visits the McGee home, confronting Vicky who attempts to fight him off using her repressed telekinetic powers.
Rainbird overpowers and kills her, holding Charlie at knifepoint as she and Andy enter the home.
Charlie’s powers get the best of her and she sends a concussive burst of flames throughout the house.
Using Rainbird’s confusion to their advantage, Andy and Charlie escape into their truck and drive away.
But, as always, it’s pretty much impossible to run from the government in a situation like this.
Unfortunately, this remake runs parallel with the original and that means you’re better off not wasting your time or money to catch this on the big screen.
Every turn is predictable and there’s nothing outstanding in this rendition, so, you’re better off saving your money.
