THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Parents always raise their children to be the best versions of themselves, making it only more shocking when they unleash the worst.
PLOT
Based on the titular Stephen King novel, Firestarter follows Andrew McGee on the run, protecting his daughter Charlene or ‘Charlie’ from the Department of Science Intelligence aka ‘The Shop’. 9 years prior, he was part of an experiment where he was given a low grade hallucinogen called ‘Lot 6’, which granted him the telepathic ability to control others to do and believe what he wants. While other volunteers had suicidal side effects, the only other person to survive was Vicky Tomlinson who gained the ability to read minds. They both eventually fell in love, married each other and conceived Charlie, who now has pyrokinesis (can control heat & fire) and can see near futures. One day, Andy comes home from work only to find Vicky dead in the hands of agents from The Shop. He is able to save his daughter from being captured by making agents believe they lost their sight. Forward to the story’s present, the father and daughter duo have been on the run for the past year. Charlie unintentionally makes it difficult to hide as she still has no control of her powers, which makes it easier for The Shop to be on their tail whenever she uses them. For at least a day, she and her dad meet a farmer couple, Irv and Norma Manders, who encourage Andy to share his story to the public. Just when he agrees to do so, The Shop has caught up to them outside the Manders’ home. Charlie does dispatch of the group of agents with her powers, but as she runs away with her dad, his powers begin to weaken. Although they find a new hiding in a secluded cabin, they are captured by the agency’s top assassin, John Rainbird. During their capture, Andy gets medicated with drugs that appear to weaken his powers even more, as ordered by the agency’s head, Captain James Hollister. Rainbird poses as a friendly janitor to Charlie, encouraging her to submit to her own tests, in which Hollister organized in hopes to weaponize her powers. As she gets stronger, Andy is revealed to pretend taking the medications, keeping his powers at bay. With this advantage, he is able to get Hollister to himself to get information from him, particularly of how Rainbird is tricking his daughter. Knowing this, he arranges to leave with her, later sending her a note that they’re gonna escape. But Charlie makes the mistake of sharing this to Rainbird, still unaware of his true intent. He then decides to hide in a barn, in hopes to kill both her and her dad. When Andy enters the barn with the hypnotized Hollister, he warns her that her friend is not who he says he is. Yet she still falls for him when he promises to hurt her dad. In hopes to protect Charlie, he orders Hollister to kill the assassin, but the latter kills his superior first. When Andy continues to intervene, he gets fatally wounded as well. Heartbroken, Charlie decides to take revenge by using the full extent of her power, which kills Rainbird and every DSI agent, as well as destroying their entire base of operations, to prevent history repeating itself. Once she returns to the home of the Manders, the film ends with Irv taking her to New York, for her to tell her story to the media.
THOUGHTS
The 1980s was filled exciting films and I don’t think this one was an exception as I find myself mostly entertaining throughout. Personally, I believe Director Mark L Lester pulls off in making something that is indeed thrill seeking throughout. It feels such because it has a creative perspective on how far people are gonna go to protect their families and the further you go can be worth it because nothing can be stronger than the love you spread for those you love. This is strongly felt through the presence of the memorable father & daughter duo. As the leading man, David Keith leaves a strong mark for portraying Andy as the most dedicated and loving parent you'll ever see from SK's bibliography. All he cares about is doing the right thing that is protecting his daughter. Someone as selfless as him makes you admire. He wasn't perfect due to how he had stressful powers of his own, but the love he shared was enough to root for him. It sucks when he dies because he won't be able to see Charlie grow up. But in the end, he'll be satisfied in the afterlife for not reuniting with his wife but seeing their daughter grow up with nothing but as much good she can share. Speaking of which, the young Drew Barrymore is arguably remarkable when playing the powerful child. In her shoes, we learn in an odd yet horrifying fashion that expressing your flaws are important because that's how you know you're being true to yourself. While the majority of the film is indeed thrilling, it is without a doubt terrifying when she destroys the DSI's HQ with all the hellfire inside and out of her body, especially since the fire appeared mostly practical. It is that moment where she realizes the difference between lesser and greater evil; It is obviously frightening for causing such damage, but she is still the better person because now no one else will go through the similar trauma as her. While she and her dad are indeed memorable characters, they weren't the only ones that stood out. In their given time, I thought both Art Carney & Louise Fletcher were great together as Irv & Norma respectively. From what you see, you quickly adore them for having bigger hearts than anticipated. They may not know everything, but seeing them genuinely express sympathy towards the family and advises them to take a stand is satisfying because despite living different lives, even they know doing the right thing is always important. With such unique protagonists, you're definitely gonna need some interesting villains as well. Fresh off of The Dead Zone, another SK adaptation, Martin Sheen makes it easy being bad to the bone as Hollister. Like Greg Stillson, he is without a doubt the most selfish in the room and does not care how bad things can get, as long as he gets what he wants. So seeing him get controlled by Andy to be played like a fiddle is hilarious to see, especially when he dies. And as for George C Scott, even he can make it easy to transform to the stone cold Rainbird. He is more evil than his superior because he obsessively enjoys the pain that he causes and is committed to the Shop's cause more than anything that he's willing to kill a kid he was pretending to befriend. So when he gets lit on fire, even that was satisfying because he didn't deserve to live after what he had done. Although I respect this film for what it is, it still had issues of its own. First off, why the hell would a cabbie turn down driving to the airport? That is like turning down the biggest check ever, although he doesn't. And why exactly did the Shop agents hide Vicky's body in the house? I know they're trying to cover their tracks, but they could've hidden her elsewhere like burying her in the backyard. And how exactly did the agents figure out one of the hotels Andy was hiding at? Charlie wasn't using her powers within that period, so it doesn't add up. I don't know if this is a continuity error or not, but I was pretty thrown off when noticing Norma patching up Irv so quickly during the shootout. Rainbird is pretty smart throughout, but why didn't he wear a hazmat suit like the other Shop agents? He may have tranquilized the father & daughter duo, but there is no way he could've known if their powers weren't gonna go off. And why didn't the Shop doctors have earmuffs or helmets whenever they were near Andy? They were smart to wear hazmat suits, so they should know that he is dangerous too, whether or not they believe he's taking their meds. And lastly, how did Charlie convince a driver to be driven to the Manders couple? I know we need a happy ending, but I was tripped out seeing her get there safely without questions asked. Other than that, this movie is still entertaining to see. In short, Firestarter is a unique thriller for questioning limits and keeping you on edge throughout. If you are a fan of Stephen King's work, I'm sure this one will be up your alley as well.
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