The 1984 film version of Firestarter is one of the weakest early Stephen King adaptations, so it makes sense that someone would eventually get around to giving it another try. Even King himself wasn't a fan of director Mark L. Lester's film, starring Drew Barrymore as the title character, a young girl with pyrokinetic abilities. It's hard to see the new Blumhouse-produced version as much of an improvement, though, even if Ryan Kiera Armstrong is more convincing as Charlie McGee, whose dangerous powers make her a target for a secret government agency nicknamed "the Shop."

Those powers come from Charlie's parents, whose time as experimental subjects of the Shop is reduced to a montage during the opening credits in this version of Firestarter. Charlie's father, Andy (Zac Efron), and mother, Vicky (Sydney Lemmon), were both dosed with a drug called Lot Six, which gave them telekinetic and telepathic abilities. The combination of her parents' genetics has made Charlie even more powerful, as the movie makes clear during a somewhat silly opening scene of infant Charlie inadvertently setting fire to the mobile above her crib.

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Zac Efron in Firestarter

That turns out just to be a dream sequence, and the movie really begins with Andy, Vicky, and Charlie living a somewhat stable life, although constantly in fear of being discovered by the Shop. Charlie's kept a lid on her powers for years now, but she's starting to have trouble holding back, and her parents worry that a single outburst could draw the wrong kind of attention. That worry is justified since an incident at school puts the McGees back on the radar of the Shop, led by the ruthless Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben). She dispatches assassin John Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes), another former Shop experimental subject who's developed powers of his own, to capture Charlie by whatever means necessary.

Rainbird has been completely reimagined, and while it's a relief not to see someone like George C. Scott playing a Native American character, as he did in 1984's Firestarter, the update makes Rainbird into a weaker role. Instead of a scheming, unhinged villain, he's a glum victim, trudging through his duties with a sense of weary obligation. That leaves only Hollister as a real antagonist for the McGees, and Reuben seems miscast in this role, failing to project the character's authority or menace. She also barely has any screen time in Firestarter's first half, which mostly involves the McGees standing around and fretting over what to do next.

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Like the 1984 film, this version of Firestarter is surprisingly boring for a King adaptation, with almost no scares. The earlier film suffered from a severe lack of firestarting, and here director Keith Thomas and screenwriter Scott Teems make up for that with a handful of additional scenes featuring Charlie losing control and igniting fires. One scene of Charlie attempting to redirect her powers while in a school bathroom is the closest that this Firestarter comes to genuine suspense, in a room filled with steam hiding the out-of-control Charlie from her unsuspecting teacher.

It's a problem when that one scene has more tension and terror than the explosive finale, as Charlie invades the Shop and unleashes the full force of her powers. Most of Firestarter looks surprisingly low-cost, like a slightly upscale Syfy TV pilot, especially in the film's climax, set in a supposed high-tech government facility that's just a series of nondescript corridors. Instead of dynamic action, there's one security guard in a room full of monitors, reacting with alarm to events happening offscreen. Charlie starts more fires than she did in the earlier movie, but they're not particularly impressive.

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Ryan Kiera Armstrong Blumhouse Firestarter reboot

Armstrong makes Charlie more sympathetic and more determined than Barrymore's version, but even she can't sell cheesy lines like "Liar, liar, pants on fire" as Charlie deploys her powers. Efron completes his transition from teen idol to father figure, but Andy is a bland mentor whose emotional connection to his daughter is perfunctory. Greyeyes is left in a tough middle ground as Rainbird, whose character arc is especially unconvincing by the time Firestarter gets to an ending that will surprise anyone familiar with the source material -- either King's book or the previous movie.

The narrative and action of Firestarter are limited, and the world-building is sketchy, leaving out a lot of details. It's especially disappointing to see Thomas follow up his excellent 2021 debut feature, The Vigil, with this generic film, considering how distinctive and emotionally resonant The Vigil was within its familiar horror template. Firestarter also wastes the musical contributions from John Carpenter and his regular collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, who put together a moody, synth-driven score that is far better than the movie it accompanies.

Blumhouse's typical ingenuity with lower budgets falls short here, and the filmmakers don't find many creative ways to make up for the lack of resources. King has yet to weigh in on this new version of Firestarter, but it's hard to imagine he'll be any more impressed with it than he was the last time.

Firestarter is now playing in theaters nationwide and streaming on Peacock Premium.