Firestarter 2

Firestarter: Rekindled (2002)

Directed by: Robert Iscove
Written by: Philip Eisner, based on Firestarter by Stephen King
Starring: Marguerite Moreau, Danny Nucci, Malcolm McDowell, John Dennis Johnston, Darnell Williams, Dennis Hopper, Travis Charitan, Dan Byrd, Ron Perkins, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Jeremy Elliot

Not really a sequel to Firestarter in the traditional sense. It sort of recaps the highlights of the first movie in it's own special way, with different actors, different sets, different dialogue, circumstances and artistic vision. It's almost a remake of the first one, combined with a sort of sequel, in a weird way.

This is about a grown-up Charlie (Drew Barrymore being replaced by Marguerite Moreau) who's just starting to come to terms with her pyrokinetic abilities. She's living under an alias, she keeps a fire extinguisher next to her bed for when she has nightmares, and just as long as she doesn't have sex, everything's okay. Then along comes this guy with whom she falls hopelessly in love. Unfortunately, he works for a company which has been killing all of the other people from the Lot 6 experiment back in the '80s. He doesn't know that, though. He thinks he's helping them out. Anyway, he unintentionally brings her to John the Friendly (Pedophile) Orderly (George Scott being replaced by Malcolm McDowell. And holy shit is he creepy). As it turns out, she didn't actually kill him, she just disfigured him horribly. But that's okay, because he's still in love with her. Then Dennis Hopper comes. He can see the future. And then there's this other lady who they try to kill, but they don't...

The problem with this movie: it's very very long. It was made as a TV miniseries, after all. Oddly enough, though, it wasn't as unbelievably boring as the first one. I guess the cast/writing/music was better or something, I don't know.

Actually, the music wasn't that much better. It was just made with real musical instruments instead of Tangerines. It was way too intense, though. The movie also had that made for TV feel, but that wasn't too bad. It had pretty good production values.

It wasn't terribly original. It sort of felt just like X-Men, but kind of more interesting. X-Men is too... smooth or something. It wasn't made for television.

In fewer words, I liked this one a hell of a lot better than the first one. The first one was crappy. This one was just long. I got really hungry while I was watching it.

Although, there's the problem I have with all movies that involve people with psychic powers. There's no reason at all why dear old Dennis there can't stop the bad shit from happening. I'm sorry. I lean more on the side of free will (although, to be honest, both free-will and destiny seem equally unlikely). It frustrates me so.

But apart from that, and the shoddiness of the digital FX, and the unbelievable creepiness of John the friendly pedophile (which I found got rather amusing after a while. He was just SO creepy), I didn't really have any problems with it.

And hey, in the end, she goes to Canada! The land of the ice and the snow! See the lovely lakes. The larch... here we go again. The ending seemed strangely lacking in closure for some reason. To me at least. I don't know. It didn't really feel like an ending at all. It just...

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