An adorable Drew Barrymore lighting shit on fire in a story based on a Stephen King novel? What’s not to love?
Release: May 11th, 1984
Short nitty-gritty plot description from IMDb is as follows: A couple who participated in a potent medical experiment gain telekinetic ability and then have a child who is pyrokinetic.
Tatlock’s Quick ‘n Dirty Review: I’ve never seen Firestarter until I picked it up cheap on Blu-ray and I gotta say it’s a lot of fun. It can be slow at times, but once we roll around to the ending, all hell breaks loose and I end up smiling from ear to ear.
The events leading up to that awesome ending, have our little fire-bug and her father on the run from a mysterious government agency, run by Martin Sheen. Sheen plays Captain Hollister, who wants to get his hands on these two, as they both have powers that could be put to good/bad use. In comes John Rainbird (the ever dependable George C. Scott), the bounty hunter with a heart of solid black tar, who is tasked with bringing the two in.
I enjoyed the time we get to spend with Charlie (Drew Barrymore) and her father Andy (David Keith), as we get to see that they just want to live a normal life, but with Charlie’s sometimes uncontrollable “problem”, it can make things tough. You just wish the evil agency would leave them alone, but of course we wouldn’t have a movie. About the midway point through the 114 minute run time, we shift focus to a different location, which changes things up a bit and keeps things fresh and moving along nicely, all the way until that bat shit, but awesome crazy ending. I only wish we would’ve got a little more craziness early on.
Blu-ray Opinion: Don’t expect reference material in this Blu-ray release, but do enjoy a pretty decent looking transfer. Also, the disc lacks any special features and even a main menu. Still, it can be had for fairly cheap ($9 approx).
Verdict: I’ve never read the Stephen King book this movie is based on, but from just rating on the movie itself, Firestarter is an enjoyable watch, with an ending that makes up for any misgivings.
Rating:
