Directed By Keith Thomas

Starring – Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Gloria Reuben

The Plot – After being experimented on by a secret government entity called The Shop, Andy McGee (Efron) develops psychic powers and meets the love of his life. Together they have a daughter (Armstrong) with a power of her own and The Shop will stop at nothing to get them back, while channeling her powers in ways that are most convenient for them.

Rated R for violent content

Firestarter – Official Trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

Thirty-Eight years have passed since the original “Firestarter”, transcending this as a generational affair of sorts, with that same notion crossing over to the movie’s musical components, shared here by father and son duo, John and Cody Carpenter. This is the single best aspect of the film for me because John’s usual 80’s-heavy presence is earmarked entirely throughout this original score, bearing a synth-spinning serenity in personality with organ and electronics heavy compositions that transcribes something sinisterly unnerving for the underlining of the chaos transpiring on-screen throughout, granting it an ethos in atmospheric range that it otherwise wouldn’t attain in the creative flatlining that can be seen throughout. More on that later. Beyond this, I also found the pacing of the film to bring a much-needed dose of urgency that was severely missing in the 84′ original, and in the case of the antagonists leaving them as ambiguous as a governmental agency in a Stephen King film can elicit. This obviously also cuts into the dynamics of the protagonist family in the forefront of the narrative as well, but considering 90% of the narrative involves them, it’s a welcome diversion, and one that constantly keeps the pieces of the storytelling moving fluidly at all times throughout. Beyond this, the performances are hit and miss, but the positive returns come in the form of twelve-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong, whose litany of experience already in big films like “Black Widow” and “The Tomorrow War”, elicit a surprising depth that affords her to make the role her own. As Charlie, Armstrong juggles the vulnerability and dangerousness of the character that not only externally convey the moral struggle internally, but also help us to sometimes forget she’s a child, despite the shortness of her stature telling us otherwise.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, as a remake, this is another soulless shill that rarely makes the most of its opportunity to diversify from the source material or an original film that wasn’t exceptional by any measurement. This is immediately felt in the confines of the script, which feel so claustrophobic with telegraphed movements that about halfway through it just decides to follow the path previously blazed. This not only makes the film overtly predictable, even in moments of slight deviation with character motivations, but also outlines a bigger problem in tonal consistency that shifts abruptly during key moments a scene calls for drama. This is because of elementary level dialogue that wanted so badly to be cool with lines like “Liar liar, pants on fire” that eviscerated any semblance of tension that the film only briefly earns. That sentiment is realized even further with the anticlimactic essence of the ending, in which little resolution is attained, and the credits just sort of surface when the film runs out of run time. These diminishing returns are also attributed to Thomas sitting in the director’s chair, who doesn’t subside any semblance of style to the film’s 38-year evolution, nor impact key sequences in ways that grip the audience instead of bore them. During scenes of devastation, the special effects are fine enough from a design concept, but the conflict itself becomes swallowed in a disjointed cloud of unappealing editing so obscuring that it completely wipes away the impact needed to enhance their appeal, all the while leaving the film as a thrill-less, scare-less afterthought during the only moments it could even possibly feel special. Thomas’ presentation is also muddled in an unappealing, uninspired conventionalism that never elicits with it anything compelling or energetic to attain captivity in the attention of its audience, in turn illustrating each capture with a strange incoherence of color that breeds TV production, right down to the flatness of its cinematography. From there, the downside of the performances kick in, especially in the case of Efron, who is tragically miscast with a complete lack of emotional registry so jarring that it undercuts the heart of the intention, and in his typical typecast deduces him from taking the necessary steps to evolve as an actor once more who isn’t held to being a one-dimensional pretty face who has only prospered in comedy. Efron’s incompetence is only exceeded by the overtly heavy-handedness of various Stephen King bullies, who once more find their way into this film with about a quarter of the nuance of typical expectations. These characters only add a temporary conflict to Charlie or any protagonist they plague, and in turn cement an outdated unnecessity who at best should be left on the cutting room floor of deleted scenes, and at worst left in the past where their unrealistic renderings sprung from.

OVERALL

This is one Firestarter that is all smoke and no sizzle, thanks in part to an absence of originality and uninspired direction that never fully ignite the flame of justifying its existence. With more focus on the thrills that could’ve seamlessly accommodated the masterful music score from one of the all time greats, the film could’ve found its creative spark, but as it stands, it’s just coldly undercooked.

My Grade: 4/10 or D