The New Firestarter Adaptation Mostly Sputters And Smoke

The 1984 adaptation of Firestarter is much closer in plot and story to the novel than the new version that premiered today on streaming service Peacock. Here is my spoiler-free review of the latest attempt to adapt the 1980 novel by Stephen King.

Now, I don’t mind when a movie deviates, even wildly, from the source material, if those changes produce something that is better than the original. But that isn’t the case with 2022’s Firestarter.

I even applaud the thematic shift the movie was trying to go for with its changes, but for the changes in the third act to work, the movie needed to change the first two acts even more than it did. The relatively new writer, Scott Teems, didn’t flesh out his interesting changes enough to make them believable. Or the studio, Blumhouse, cut out any of the scenes that would have done so, since the movie barely breaks the 90-minute mark. It really could have used those extra 30 minutes.

The acting is a mixed bag. Zac Efron (Andy McGee), in particular, is better in this than in anything I have previously seen him in, but that is admittedly a small list. Sydney Lemmon as Charlie’s mother Vicky is quite good, as is John Beasley as the old farm owner Irv. Michael Greyeyes as Rainbird is good, and it is wonderful to see an actual native cast in the role, but he lacks the menace of previous versions (something driven by the story changes as well, to be fair).

Alas, Gloria Reuben is miscast as Captain Hollister. I am sure she can portray a menacing character, but this isn’t it. And Ryan Kiera Armstrong just doesn’t quite click as Charlie. She’s never afraid enough, angry enough, frightening enough or vulnerable enough. She has one pretty cheesy line to deliver that made me chuckle uncomfortably, and one super cheesy like that made me actually cringe.

The one thing that really struck an off note for me was the music. And that hurts a bit, because it was composed in part by Cody Carpenter and his dad, the genre movie titan John Carpenter. Unfortunately, it often repeats a tinkling bell-like theme so reminiscent of the original Halloween, it seems as though John Carpenter was ripping himself off (he wrote, directed and composed the music for that movie). It was intrusive enough to get in the way of scenes, particularly in the third act, where you want the audience’s focus entirely on what should be an exciting climax.

All told I can’t really recommend you watch 2022’s Firestarter. It’s too short, the story doesn’t hold together despite (or because of) the many changes, and the performances vary too wildly in quality.

I give the 2022 version of Firestarter (Blumhouse Productions, R, 1hr 34mins) a 5 out of 10.

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