Firestarter

The acting is very stiff, the special effects look cheap… (the 1984 film) isn’t very well remembered, but somehow this manages to be worse.

The most incoherent, unengaging, and weirdly mean-spirited

The effects are dodgy and unconvincing. The emotional investment is nil. The running time is only 94 minutes long, thus proving there may, in fact, be a merciful higher power out there. It’s still a four-alarm disaster.

Maybe this book is unadaptable?

Only a thrilling throwback synth score from John Carpenter keeps this inferior, modernised take on Firestarter off the lower end of a list of Stephen King adaptations.

The only mood conjured by this dud is one of extreme torpor, and the only response it elicits is confusion as to why anyone—including headliner Zac Efron—thought this was worthy of their time or energy in the first place.

Firestarter evokes no strong feelings. It's not a film that has a point of view or an urge to get you to understand something about human nature.

Firestarter should either be a campy romp or a semi-serious look at the way people try to quell the rage of young women.

Keith Thomas sets the original script on fire and with that, the possibility of making a better movie. [Full review in Spanish]

When the lit match hits the tinder, the powered prodigy pulls no punches, making for a high body count as she turns the tables on the government’s goons, who devise an impressive gauntlet to capture her.