Firestarter

As a novelist, it must be very difficult to come up with a fresh idea to creatively challenge yourself, as you want to keep our audience entertained with new tricks like a magician at a magic show trying to develop more unique ideas to keep the public more interested in the product. Take Stephen King for example, he’s known for making a lot of notable works, however, most of them can be dull or idiotic such as Children Of The Corn, Cujo and last but not least, Firestarter, one of his works went on to become a film adaptation.

Firestarter was released in 1984. It was a modest box office success but it received mixed to negative review from critics.

You know what Drew Barrymore & Bill Skarsgård both have in common? They come from a generation of actors spreading like a single cell dividing into a group of cells spawning one generation after another. Due to the upcoming release of It this Friday, I want to introduce y’all to an obscured Stephen King related adaptation.

The following review contains big SPOILERS. If you never seen this movie before, read at your very own risk.

Hot: Drew Barrymore, Martin Sheen & George C. Scott, all did an ok job on their performances.

Fun Fact: Barrymore’s character is named Charlie, several years later, she went on to star in the adaptation of Charlie’s Angels alongside Tim Curry, known for playing Pennywise in the 1990 It mini-series.

Practical Effects were heavily used to orchestrate telekinetic/pryokinetic scenes.

Cinematography felt normal, doesn’t contain any Shaky Cam of Dutch Angles.

The Climax was the only part that kept me satisfied with Charlie using her full potential It going Jean Grey/Phoenix, on the The Shop agents by setting them on fire, using fireballs as projectiles, and blowing up a helicopter.

I’l give the book and the film of the same an extra point for inspiring Eleven from Stranger Things, currently one of my favorite tv shows on Netflix.

Cold: George C. Scott’s character kills a scientist with a karate chop. In real life, he would’ve been knocked out. This is not how a death scene works, unless a character has super strength or an instant kill ability.

When Martin Sheen is introduced, the soundtrack unintentionally made a fart sound.

After Charlie get tranquilized, her father incompetently didn’t carry her and runaway way from the government. He just mopes around like a mook. If I were him, I would’ve escape for my life.

Charlie robotically says “Back off.” This has got be one of Barrymore’s underwhelming moments in her career. Was this filmed in only one take? If I were the director, I would’ve done a lot of multiple takes on Barrymore going berserk mode. Benson The Gumball Machine from Regular Show can do a better flip out performance than her!

When Charlie gets captured by The Shop, it becomes surprisingly dull like Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, filled with way too much exposition.

For an R rated film, there’s no sign of a gorefest. I’ve been duped because I expected this movie to contain a lot of carnage such as skulls being ripped apart or the bad guys exploding like a beached whale with guts raining all over the scene. I have no choice but to double down the points for being tricked. Once again, The Bait-&-Switch-a-ro got me!

The film lacked suspense to get me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t care about the characters. Again, they’re boring like the various scenes about an intergalactic treaty in The Phantom Menace.

Why did The Shop killed Charlie’s mother instead of tranquilizing her so that they can experiment on her abilities? Care to explain why they want her husband and daughter alive? THINK!!!!!!

The Final Verdict: D-

I thought the film tried to be its own thing, but it felt underwhelming for me. Look at the bright side, if it weren’t for King writing the novel, Eleven from Stranger Things would’ve never existed in the first place. I highly recommend Stranger Things if you haven’t seen the first season, you’ll be very satisfied with 8 episodes and it’s definitely worth your spare time. Don’t forget to prep up for Season 2!