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cyanide-latte · 2 years

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Some Firestarter 2022 thoughts, now that I've had a chance to sleep on it. These will be largely positive points, I've not had many things crop up yet about the movie that bother me.

⚠️ ❗❗ SPOILERS BELOW ❗❗⚠️

Compared to the book and the original '84 movie adaptation, this movie is like a modernized version but on speedrun

The '84 movie is closer to the book in terms of following the plot structure and points, this film deviates quite a bit from that, mashing a few things together where convenient, removing some points entirely and condensing Charlie's power development down to a "training montage", but the heart of the story is still present in this adaptation

That being said I think this movie handled the portrayal of the various powers far better

I have issues with the modernization and that's probably my biggest complaint since the original book and the MKULTRA experiments are contextually crucial to the original time period

Might have worked if Vicky and Andy were portrayed older but they were like in their mid-30s so it doesn't really work

Kind of wish we'd gotten more of an explanation there or something because even saying that it was an attempt at reviving the MKULTRA projects would have been SOMETHING

The decision to make Cap Hollister a woman was an interesting one and I think, given how crunched for time the story got in its allotted hour and a half, it did make it smoother or more believable for the character's beliefs, motivations and attempts to connect with Charlie

Zefron did well as Andy McGee, I really enjoyed seeing him in the role

Was a little bothered and heartbroken to see Andy use the push on Charlie, but I figured that was going to be inevitable after the second time the character stated he'd never choose to use the push on his kid

Would have liked to see more of the echo and ricochet effects of the push, especially since Andy mentioned that he has no idea how much his powers might fuck up someone else's brain, but meh

While I feel like we missed out on seeing the uniqueness of Andy and Vicky's relationship, I do enjoy seeing Vicky actually get impactful and significant screentime, as well as seeing her actually use her TK in self-defense

A cat dies, and you can tell from the build-up that it's going to happen but it still wasn't great to see

On that note, there's a fair amount of grisly wounds we see in this movie, including the kid from the Lot Six experiments who gored out his own eyes

Not sure what was going on with the characters who were supposed to be versions of the Manders and idk how I feel about that

This version of Charlie is somewhat older, far darker and angrier compared to the book and OG film, but it fits with the rest of the movie and leans more into Dr. Wanless's suppositions of how Charlie is becoming a young woman and thusly, her powers are growing into something even more fearsome

There's implications that both Vicky and Andy had some psychic experiences prior to being tested on with Lot Six, suggesting Andy has always had some low-level precognition and clairvoyance

This movie showcases not just Charlie's pyrokinesis but also her TK, low-level TP, clairvoyance, and warning precognition

It also has her inherit the push from Andy, which seems a bit odd, but I can dig it

A good chunk of the rising action showcases Charlie on her own, setting out to infiltrate the Shop(?) and save her dad, and while there's an argument that this breaks suspension of disbelief, I feel like it's not a bad way of showcasing just how drastically everyone continues to underestimate Charlie

John and Cody Carpenter were both involved in the music for the movie, which was super cool (especially when you consider John was originally tapped to direct the '84 movie but ultimately didn't due to circumstances,) and a lot of the scoring feels close to that for Halloween 2018 without being too interchangeable

And now this brings me to the biggest, most vital change this movie did to the story

... *inhales*

JOHN RAINBIRD

I've always been highly uncomfortable with the way this character was handled in the '84 movie and especially in the book

The way Rainbird is handled in this movie is drastically different to both and I actually prefer this version of the character, hands-down, no contest

Michael Greyeyes was perfect for the role

Rainbird is a very sympathetic character in this film and it's made clear the Shop used and abused him in the past and this time is no different

The most fascinating change I wish we could have seen more of is the fact he mentions to Vicky that there were "lab rats" that the Lot Six compound was tested on prior to the college co-eds, like they had both control and variable groups to test

The mentions of people being tested against their will is hefty enough but there is a subtextual suggestion in the way he talks about it to imply that missing indigenous people were used as those "lab rats" and that hit like a fucking gut punch

It really doubles down on the fact of the Shop using and abusing Rainbird, as well as the organization's corruption and Dr. Wanless's regret and self-loathing over everything to do with the Lot Six experiments

Rainbird appears to be telepathic, and perhaps an incredibly powerful one at that? I really like this concept and the way it plays into his character's complexity in regards to his feelings towards the Shop, the McGees and especially his interactions with Charlie

The climatic moment of the film where he offers himself in quiet surrender to a rampaging Charlie and she chooses to spare him was easily one of my favorite moments

And the silent sort of understanding and communication that passes between them in that moment and the final scene as he picks up an exhausted Charlie and carries her away from the devastation she's wrought honestly works so much better for the fact that it IS silent. Nothing else is needed. I love that~

All in all, I was excited for this movie but somehow kept my expectations low enough that I wound up enjoying it immensely. Again, it's wildly different in many ways to the book and to the '84 adaptation, but I think it really does keep a lot of the core of the story there and for the most part I either enjoyed or didn't mind the changes. Wish I could have seen it in theaters for the opening weekend but this was a long work weekend, so I watched it with the spouse last night after work via Peacock. I do highly recommend giving it a chance.

#Firestarter (2022)#movie spoilers #King'verse #Charlie McGee #Andy McGee #Vicky McGee #John Rainbird #Cap Hollister #brain vomit #movie thoughts #Cyanide speaks

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