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Firestarter Rekindled
Part 1
The 1984 film Firestarter is one of the many Stephen King novels that moved over to the big screen. The folks over at SCI FI thought it such a good idea that they created the mini-series Firestarter Rekindled to add some more depth to the story. The original told the tale of a young couple who are part of a government drug experiment to try and generate humans with superpowers. The two meet in the program's Lot 6, fall in love and eventually have a child, Charlene "Charlie" McGee. She is beyond the wildest dreams of the government scientists, a child who can light fires with her mind. The child is captured by agent John Rainbird, who uses her for his own means and eventually kills her parents. Furious, she unleashes the full wrath of her power on Rainbird, cooking him alive.
The mini-series picks up ten years later. Charlie (Marguerite Moreau) has spent that time on the run from a government that would do anything to get her back. She's getting tired though, tired of living on the run and tired of being unable to really control her power. This is a woman who sleeps with a fire extinguisher next to her bed. Rainbird (Malcolm McDowell), it turns out, survived the fire and has continued with his research. His face is disfigured from Charlie's attack and he obsesses over finding her again. In the meantime, he has created a new brood of super children, each possessing a unique ability.
Vincent Sforza (Danny Nucci) works for a company that handles insurance claims. Or so he believes. He is currently working on tracking down the members of Lot 6, supposedly so that they can receive payments from a class action suit. While searching for a man named Richardson (Dennis Hopper) he stumbles across Charlie, who is on his list but presumed dead.
The first night of the mini-series basically sets the stage. We learn about all the major characters and the government program. There are a series of flashbacks to help out those who didn't read the original novel or see the first movie. Marguerite Moreau is the star and definitely earns it by showing off a real presence in her scenes. She is guarded and cautious but with a whole stew of emotions hiding under the surface. Nucci is less impressive but not so much that he distracts. Of course, he has a real hard time matching her presense when she's busy torching everything in sight.
Dennis Hopper is nowhere to be seen in the first night. Oh sure, he appears in photographs but that's it. We'll learn more about him in part two. McDowell however is very much here and does a nice job. He's the sort of actor that is almost always a plus to have in a movie, he can elevate bad material to watchable and can make good stuff great fun. He's the villain and appropriately enough, has the audience wanting to see bad things happen to him in no time.
I'd say the biggest surprise of the first night is the amount of sex to be found in it. Moreau has two separate sex scenes that are quite hot (figuratively and literally) and also add some real depth to her character. If the scenes were any racier, this would have been showing on HBO.
Overall though, I'd say this is pretty entertaining. It succeeded in entertaining myself and even sucked in my wife, who really isn't a fan of such material. The special effects aren't movie quality but are more than adequate for TV. Fans of the original will probably find this worth their time and most others will be able to enjoy it easily. I'll be back tommorrow with a review of part 2.
Episode Rating: 7 out of 10
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