Stephen King was very fortunate to not only write bestselling and highly praised novels in first decade of his career but also to have them adapted into successful and highly praised films. Such good run had to end eventually, and it did, rather spectacularly, with 1984 adaptation of King’s novel Firestarter.
The film begins with Andy McGee (played by David Keith) and his nine-year old daughter Charlene “Charlie” (played by Drew Barrymore) being on the run from sinister looking government agents. Through flashbacks it is revealed that Andy as a college student participated in secret government experiment which left most of subjects dead, but he and his future wife Victoria “Vicky” (played by Heather Locklear) survived and gained telepathic abilities. Through the years Andy developed further ability to mentally “push” people into obeying his will, but also discovered that Charlie develops abilities of her own, which involves precognition and pyrokinesys – ability to cause fire with her mind. That brought attention of “Shop”, secret government agency run by Captain Hollister (played by Martin Sheen), ruthless bureaucrat who wants to use Charlie as weapon and stops at nothing to take her away from her parents. Andy, who wants nothing other than normal life for he and his daughter is forced on the run after “Shop” operatives have killed Vicky. Two of them find temporary shelter at the farm owned by Irv Manders (played by Art Carney) and his wife Norma (played by Louise Fletcher), but they are again tracked by “Shop” operatives, which now include John Bainbird (played by George C. Scott), experienced Native American assassin who has his own, very personal and very sinister plans for Charlie.
Considering the intriguing plot and the highly respectable names involved in the cast, audience had all the reasons to expect at least decent combination of science fiction, horror, thriller and road film. That made the final disappointment even greater. Most of the film’s problems lie with incredibly inept direction by Mark L. Lester, film maker who was brought as “safe” and “reliable” replacement for John Carpenter. He not only makes Firestarter look cheaper than it actually is, but also overlong and ultimately boring due to lack of pace. One of the more telling examples of this approach is having certain events in flashbacks portrayed after being described by characters. Even more disastrous is Bainbird being clearly shown as monstrous villain and declaring his depraved intentions before scenes in which he tries to win Charlie’s trust. Lester seems to be more interested in pyrotechnics and special effects and the most effort is invested in the scene of final showdown between Charlie and hordes of “Show” operatives. The scene is interesting at times, but seeing obviously omnipotent Charlie making short work of her enemies becomes tiring after a while and scene is even more disappointing after comparisons with similar finale in Carrie. David Keith as concerned father does decent acting job, while George C. Scott wastes the potentially intriguing and unusual character of villain through a little bit of overacting. The rest of cast, including young Barrymore, is solid, but it can’t save this disappointing film. The film is even more disappointing now, when the supposed happy ending of Charlie exposing secret government shenanigans to New York Times looks looks different to cynical audience grown up in the world where less and less things separate Deep State from the mainstream media.
RATING: 3/10 (++)
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