Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Ryan Kiera ArmstrongCharlie McGee
- Zac EfronAndy McGee
- Sydney LemmonVicky Tomlinson-McGee
- Kurtwood SmithDr. Joseph Wanless
- Michael GreyeyesJohn Rainbird
- Gloria ReubenCaptain Jane Hollister
- John BeasleyIrv Manders
- Tina JungMs. Gardner
- Hannan YounisDarla Gurney
- Gavin MacIver-WrightGavin
Recommendations
- 67
Collider
I think this would be best enjoyed by someone who had never seen the original 1984 film; that way, you won’t be constantly comparing the two in your head. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
While it has a few genuine scares (cat lovers will want to avert their eyes for one horrific scene), it never achieves the deliriously freaky heights one expects from a film version of one of King’s cheesier novels. - 50
Slashfilm
Firestarter isn't offensively bad. It's not likely to make you angry, or have you calling it the worst dang thing you've ever seen. But it is aggressively average, bordering on mediocre. There's nothing fiery here. It's lukewarm at best. - 42
Consequence
Is it better for a Stephen King franchise to burn out or fade away? Firestarter manages to do both at once. - 40
Los Angeles Times
When it’s a cautionary tale about an unusual family who’ll never know a moment’s peace because of their past choices, Firestarter is worthy of its source material. When in its last half-hour it turns into chapter one of a potential new superhero franchise, it joins the long list of Stephen King movies that are all gimmick, no guts. - 40
Variety
The whole thing plays like “Logan” done in the worst humdrum rhythmless made-for-streaming generic style, the lighting flat, the soundtrack heavy with John Carpenter’s old-school one-man-at-the-synthesizer horror music, because if you took that sound of processed dread away you wouldn’t have much else. - 38
Movie Nation
What starts out feeling lean and stylishly stripped-down, with a faintly-creepy young lead, waters her down and winds up playing cut-rate, abridged and cheap. - 30
CNN
A new do-over that can barely generate enough heat to qualify as a thriller.
