For more than a decade, parents Andy and Vicky have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for creating fire into a weapon of mass destruction. Andy has taught Charlie how to defuse her power, which is triggered by anger or pain. But as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. After an incident reveals the family's location, a mysterious operative is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans.
He might look good in a white T-shirt but the thing is, as Zac Efron gets older he looks more and more like an automaton. When he was younger, he had a charm about him - now he just looks like his life consists of nothing but the gym, the manscapists and a bath in yesterday's excess kale smoothie mix! Add to that really lacklustre performance some screaming from a competent youngster in Ryan Kiera Armstrong ("Charlie") and we are left with a very mediocre adaptation of this pretty lightweight Stephen King story that is big on pyrotechnic effects, certainly, but on very little else. There is a story: the youngster can cause things to combust at will when she gets stressed or annoyed; her father can bend people to his will making his eyes bleed in the process - quite an effective cure for smokers who want to give up; and her mother - Sidney Lemmon, well she too has a quirk - but I cannot remember what it was (but it definitely wasn't firefighting). Anyway, those who scientifically enhanced this family are hot on their trail - and it's all a question of who will prevail. Well it would be if you were still remotely bothered but after half an hour I just wasn't. For a movie about conflagration - it's sadly all a bit of a damp squib.
JPV852
@JPV852
Eh, just another pointless remake/re-adaptation, although I don't mind it since the 1984 version wasn't great either. Nothing terrible but not anything special either. Performances were bland and not even the pyrotechnics weren't all that impressive. I guess it's fine to watch for free on Peakcock Premium but even so, you're really not missing anything. 2.25/5
The Movie Mob
@mooney240
Ironically, this fire never got going—total dud.
What? How? I didn't expect to be blown away, but I also didn't expect to be bored. I love Blumhouse flicks, and their fresh take on The Invisible Man had my expectations high for their version of Firestarter. Unfortunately, this was as straight to streaming as a movie could feel. Think Push (2009) but much more mediocre.
Robert Grawey
@robbiegrawey
Add it to the “passible movies that are adaptations of Stephen King novels” pile, which is getting concerning-ly large.
Regardless, I got to see the NOPE trailer on the big screen!
