Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Charlene "Charlie" McGee has the amazing ability to start fires with just a glance. Can her psychic power and the love of her father save her from the threatening government agency which wants to destroy her?
Firestarter is a competent but unremarkable Stephen King adaptation. The plot follows a fairly formulaic government-agency-hunts-psychic-child structure with little narrative tension or surprise, hewing close to pulp thriller conventions. Drew Barrymore and David Keith provide earnest performances, with George C. Scott delivering a memorably eccentric villain turn that elevates the acting slightly above average. Cinematography is workmanlike at best, with the fire effects being the main visual highlight but nothing distinguished beyond that. Novelty is limited — the telekinetic/pyrokinetic child premise was already well-trodden by this point, and the film adds little that feels singular or fresh to the subgenre. The ending is flat and unsatisfying, failing to deliver a compelling payoff to what came before.