| Firestarter 2: Rekindled | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Stephen King (novel), Philip Eisner |
| Directed by | Robert Iscove |
| Starring | Marguerite Moreau Malcolm McDowell Dennis Hopper Danny Nucci |
| Country of origin | U.S.A. |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 168 min. |
| Distributor | Universal Studios |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Firestarter |
Firestarter 2: Rekindled (also known as Firestarter: Rekindled) is a 2002 television miniseries and the sequel to the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Firestarter. It stars Marguerite Moreau as now-grownup Charlie McGee, Danny Nucci, Dennis Hopper and Malcolm McDowell as Charlie's old nemesis from the original story, John Rainbird.
In the United States, the miniseries was broadcast onthe Sci Fi Channel (now known as Syfy). Originally, the film was supposed to be followed by a television series, but the series never went into production.
Vincent Sforza (Danny Nucci) works for a large, influential research firm, and he has been put in charge of locating several people who were part of an old experiment from the 1970s -- an experiment in which a group of college students were given a dose of a chemical called LOT-6.
Apparently, the victims of the experiment have won a class action lawsuit and need to be found so that a check can be issued. Included on the list is Charlene "Charlie" McGee (Marguerite Moreau), the offspring of two of the participants in the experiment.
When Charlie was a kid, Charlie's mother Vicky (Karrie Combs) was murdered by men who worked for the now-defunct Shop, the government department that wanted to harness her pyrokinesis as a military weapon.
Charlie's father Andy (Aaron Radl) was killed by John Rainbird, a professional killer who had been hired by the shop. Ever since then, Charlie has been in hiding to protect herself. Under an assumed name, she now has a job at a university library, where she secretly does research to find a way to suppress her pyrokinetic abilities.
When Vincent finally locates Charlie, he unintentionally sets into motion a series of events with deadly consequences. It turns out that there really isn't a class action lawsuit settlement.
It seems that John Rainbird (Malcom McDowell), who was thought to have been burned to death by Charlie, is still alive, scarred from the burns -- and he's looking for Charlie, because he's still obsessed with her. Rainbird has been using the lie about a class action lawsuit to lure the original LOT-6 experiment's victims out of hiding so these victims can be killed one by one in order to keep things quiet.
Charlie gets help from James Richardson (Dennis Hopper), one of the victims of the LOT-6 experiment. The experiment has given James the ability to tell the future. When Vincent discovers that he's been duped into luring Charlie back to Rainbird, Vincent also decides to help Charlie.
John's been working on perfecting the LOT experiments, and has created 6 young boys with rather unusual abilities. One has the power of suggestion, another can sense truth and deception, two can move things with their mind, one has the destructive voice from hell. But the most dangerous one of them all is an energy sink, someone who can suck the life and energy out of anyone or anything.
Rainbird is using these children to rob a bank as a test of warfare in the new decade. With Vince and James on her side, Charlie must decide whether to keep running, or fight Rainbird to the end.
Charlie chooses to fight to the end, and after Rainbird kills Vincent, Charlie kills Rainbird -- right in front of his experimental boys -- by taking him into a fiery embrace, and literally turning him into a pile of ashes. Then Charlie ends up in a one-on-one battle against the energy sink.
Charlie uses her powers to destroy the energy sink, and the other experimental boys realize that Charlie was telling them the truth when she said that they become a little less human every time they use their abilities.
Charlie, finally having no need to be in hiding, later boards a bus to Canada.