In the 1984 film, Charlie was a kiddie cipher here, she’s processing conflicting advice from her (incompetent) parents, and wrestling with the fact that her fiery vengeance is, well, pretty satisfying.ĭespite the increased sense of danger here, neither film adaptation really finds its way into King’s dark heart both movies use almost unbearably sad family tragedies as plot fodder without much emotional resonance. Twisted Firestarter: Though the earlier Firestarter had a marquee child star in the form of Drew Barrymore, the new one’s one advantage (beyond a shorter runtime) is Armstrong, whose Charlie is a few years older than Barrymore, and therefore allowed to play some notes of pre-adolescent strife. Efron can be a nimble comic performer in the right role, but cast as a Patrick Wilson-style overmatched father, fumbling through impossible parenting choices, he jettisons any reserves of charisma and gets upstaged by the tears of blood that result from overusing his mind-control powers.įirestarter zac efron Firestarter Review: Zac Efron Stars In a Stephen King Remake That Quickly Flames Out Unfortunately, she’s saddled with the world’s shittiest Professor X in the form of her ineffectual dad. There’s some potential juice here: Charlie is torn between suppressing her powers (Elsa-style) and learning to wield them with judicious care.
(“You are a real-life superhero,” one bad guy tries to tell Charlie late in the game.) We Are the Future, Charlie, Not Them: Indeed, now a lot of the Firestarter narrative - especially the parts utilized for this slim 94-minute affair - plays like any number of five-or-ten-minute X-Men sequences stretched out to a feature length narrative: a child’s powers running amok, powers-on-powers face-offs, and showdowns in anonymous secret facilities. The new Firestarter still follows Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), the pyrokinetic daughter of two telepathic parents, who goes on the run with her dad Andy ( Zac Efron), pursued by the shadowy government forces who want to study and control her powers.īut time has not been kind to the story - not because it’s particularly outdated, but because it’s been done better through a variety of less horror-centric but nonetheless more interesting media, including Frozen and the X-Men movies. Scott, Louise Fletcher, and a young Drew Barrymore!) than its meandering story (albeit one that’s largely faithful to the events of King’s book). So it’s only natural that studios might circle back and revisit some of the adaptations that weren’t especially beloved in their day.įirestarter seems like a good candidate the 1984 film version is more notable for its eclectic cast (including George C. The Pitch: Stephen King adaptations have been a fixture of the big and small screens for decades, but there’s been a particular surge in recent years, following the blockbuster success of It.
The post Firestarter Review: Zac Efron Stars In a Stephen King Remake That Quickly Flames Out appeared first on Consequence.
0 kommentar(er)
