Brief Story Line
Andy (Zac Efron - The Greatest Showman, High School Musical trilogy etc) and his wife Vicky (Sydney Lemmon - Helstrom TV series etc) had a young daughter named Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) who had pyrokinesis power. As they tried their best to avoid the spotlight by moving around a lot, it turned out that there were some people who worked at "The Shop" that were looking for Charlie.
The Shop was led by Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben - Marvel's Cloak & Dagger TV series, Mr. Robot TV series etc) who later assigned a mercenary named John Rainbird (Michael Greyes - Woman Walls Ahead etc) to capture Charlie.
So how would the story conclude? You can find them all in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
The reason I hesitated on convincing my wife to see this movie together was because I read that it was not well received by critics and audiences. Usually I am still open minded about movies that did not get high critical rating, but when audience did not embrace it either, then it might be really bad. Anyway, I still went ahead and try it for myself. As the movie began, I thought it was still OK. But as the story continued, I started to feel that the characters seemed to be a bit soulless. It's like watching people who were not that interesting.
However, when Charlie started to show her powers, it was actually more enjoyable and once the mercenary started to show up, the movie became more intense, especially the way the powers were being used. There were few times where the film felt suspenseful too, but I felt the pace was inconsistent especially with the appearance of people who were supposed to be important but did not leave too much impression. They were the good samaritan named Irv (John Beasley - The Soul Man TV series etc) and the scientist Dr. Wanless (Kurtwood Smith - That 70's Show TV series, Rambo III etc). It's a good thing that at least the climax still managed to give some excitement, although it was not that spectacular.
For those of you who are unaware, this movie was adapted from one of Stephen King's popular novel of the same title. It had already been adapted to a movie back in 1984 which I have seen once on TV but probably I was not really concentrating then as all I could remember was the girl (played by Drew Barrymore) who could start fire using her mind and was very close to her father while being chased by some bad guys. Oh funnily enough, I actually felt a bit resemblance of Ryan Kiera Armstrong with Barrymore as sometimes I could see the likeness in few scenes. Btw, the 1984 movie was not liked by Stephen King at all, but at least critics and audience were not totally against it, unlike this remake. It's pretty sad actually that even a remake was not well liked either.
As I said above, I myself did not feel any real fondness of the characters in here. It's like they were just passing through. There was no real sympathy on Andy whose chemistry with his daughter was not that convincing, though at least Sydney Lemmons was slightly better as the mother Vicky. The movie was written by Scott Teems (writer of Halloween Kills etc) and directed by Keith Thomas whose prior work The Vigil was critically acclaimed. It has a duration of 94 minutes without any mid or post end credit scene.
Overall to me this was a forgettable sci-fi thriller movie that fail to impress. It has nothing truly special or memorable and I could understand the dislike of audience/critics. Although it still have few moments that I could still enjoy like the climax scene, but I personally do not like the final ending as to me it made the whole build up seemed senseless. Anyway, if you are in the mood for this kind of movie and do not mind the lack of characters proper development, then you might be able to enjoy it. However, if you want to see a good adaptation of Stephen King's novel or even an amazing thriller movie, then likely you are going to be disappointed.
Mike's movie moments rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
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