The X-Files: I Want To Believe Review
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Directed by: Chris Carter
Written by: Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet, Xzibit
It used to be that when a popular TV show went off the air, it would remain that way for good, with the possible exception of a made-for-TV reunion special some ten years later. People just learned to accept it. But nowadays, neither the fans nor the studios are willing to let these characters go. More and more frequently, popular shows are finding a second life on the big screen, where there is even more money to be made.
When it comes to The X-Files, I think most people assumed that it would always continue as a movie franchise, since it had already appeared once on the big screen with The X-Files: Fight The Future, a fairly successful feature film that bridged the gap between the fifth and sixth seasons. However, after a five year break following the end of TV series, it was beginning to look like another movie might not happen.
In late 2007, the announcement came that Chris Carter had finally written a great script that both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were excited about, and Fox was fast-tracking the project to be ready for the next summer. But would it be good enough to re-establish this once popular series, or had Mulder and Scully already long since faded from the public consciousness?
The truth is, a lot has changed in the past five years, and the final episodes of The X-Files left a lot of fans disappointed and disillusioned with the show. Chris Carter and his writing partner Frank Spotnitz had wisely decided to make the movie fairly self-contained, but they still needed pick up the pieces and address the passage of time in some way.
As the movie opens, neither Scully nor Mulder work for the FBI anymore. Scully is a doctor at a local hospital, while Mulder is basically an unemployed conspiracy nut, still wanted by the FBI. One day, the FBI comes to Scully and asks for help finding Mulder; they are offering amnesty in return for his help on a new case involving a missing FBI agent. He agrees, and they both get pulled into a search for a serial killer, enlisting the help of a psychic pedophile priest named Father Joe (Billy Connolly).
Now, after all the time it has taken for this movie to get made, you’d think that it would be one amazing piece of work, but sadly, this is not quite the case. The whole movie feels rushed and unremarkable in almost every way, and comes across as nothing more than an extended episode on a bigger screen. Indeed, for something that is supposed to be both an event movie and a summer blockbuster, The X-Files: I Want To Believe feels incredibly small and underwhelming. The previous X-Files movie at least felt like it had a reason to be shown in theatres, whereas this does not.
Don’t get me wrong; as a fan, it’s nice to see Duchovny and Anderson together on screen again, and they both slip into their characters without too much difficulty. The problem is, their characters have all this baggage now, and even though the story stands alone, the details of their relationship does not. Aside from a few moments of typical Mulder sarcasm, there is not a lot of fun to be had from their interactions because they still have a lot of heavy issues to work out between themselves. The dialogue is well-written, but for the most part it’s just kind of a downer.
Probably my biggest complaint about this movie, however, is the fact that the main storyline is extremely bland and ordinary. Fans of The X-Files didn’t really watch the show to see Mulder and Scully’s relationship explored, they watched for the far out science-fiction concepts, mysterious government conspiracies and creepy atmosphere. While I won’t get into specifics about the plot of this movie and where it goes, I will say that it’s severely lacking in supernatural elements and it’s not very scary either. All of the cues and the directing style feel dated, like a paint-by-numbers thriller from the 90’s. Some may also take issue with the fact that there’s very little action aside from one particular chase scene, but I maintain that this does not make or break the movie.
Although I was excited to see The X-Files return, I now find myself ready to face facts: maybe this show is just way past expiration. Fans will still get some enjoyment out of it, but after five or six years, there’s no question that they should have been able to come up with something a little more exciting than this. I suppose it doesn’t help that they tried to push it as a summer blockbuster when it feels more like a fall or winter release. My advice: if you’re a fan, wait to watch this one DVD. If you’re not a fan, don’t even bother… you’ll be bored out of your skully. — Sean
SCORE: 
Recommended If You Like: Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls, Stigmata
Comments (12)
Wow…a “psychic pedophile priest”…wtf?!?
Anyways, besides the cliche, your 1 1/2 star guarantees that this is a paint by numbers thriller.
Thank God I didn’t waste my money on this turd.
Posted by Baychuk on July 26th, 2008Great to see Mulder and Scully as characters again, but other than that it was a very weak film. It reminded me of just some poorly made x files episode. oh well…
Posted by cronenfly on July 26th, 2008Well at least there is J.J. Abrams’ “Fringe” this fall…maybe the new X-Files?
Am I alone, or has Scully gotten better looking with age?
Posted by Lord Dungbeetle on July 26th, 2008It’s no surprise that this sucks. The last trailer I saw took me back to 1996.
Posted by Ryan M. on July 26th, 2008Goes to show how hollyvitz operates. Build the hype off of crappy movies and roll in the dough. Then dust yourself off and make plans for another shitty movie. Hype get the sheeple everytime.
Posted by Baychuk on July 26th, 2008I can’t believe Xhibit is getting jobs as a serious actor. That was the first bad sign for this movie. Seems like he should be pimping mulder and scully’s cars or something.
Posted by Jon Rocks on July 27th, 2008This is the third bad review I’ve read for this movie. Out of curiosity, I went to rottentomatoes to find out if anyone had anything good to say.
Most of the reviews are negative, and I daresay that most people fall into the traps of criticism that Sean has fallen into. Not that they’re bad criticisms, but they’re too easy to fall back on when someone needs a reason to explain why they did not like a movie. For example, just because a “summer” movie doesn’t have a blockbuster plot, is this a justifiable reason to give a movie a bad review?
Interesting that the reviewer at Salon who disliked The Dark Knight (for some reason, I began typing The Black Knight) gave this movie a positive review. She seems to like being the devil’s advocate (a part I relish).
She did make an interesting comment about The X-Files in general: “The recurring gag of the show was that Mulder, no matter how screwy his ideas were, was usually right — although I don’t think the intent was to suggest that man’s intuition trumps that of womankind, but more to affirm that logic can take us only so far.”
Posted by Reed Farrington on July 27th, 2008Yeah, I guess in some ways it’s not fair to judge it because it doesn’t feel like a summer blockbuster, but as I mentioned in the review, I don’t think the lack of action is what makes it a subpar movie. All of the Star Trek TNG movies were criticized for just being episodes of the TV show, but the truth is most of them justify their existence on the big screen a lot more than this movie does.
Posted by Sean on July 27th, 2008I was honestly hoping it would rekindle the franchise with new material, but from what I’ve read, the main characters of Mulder & Scully were just not into it. :/
Posted by Baychuk on July 27th, 2008Having seen the movie last night, I think most of the criticism were unjustified. I have seen critics rave about poorly acted, poorly edited and poorly directed movies BUT the Xfiles movie wasn’t one of them. It had a good flow, pacing (although a tad long) and interesting story with tension and excitement (it wasn’t a Fight the Future). It was worth the money to see it, whereas almost every Will Ferrel and Judd Crapatow movie I have seen (not including Strange Than Fiction – I did love that film) was not.
Posted by David on July 29th, 2008I think expectation were too high for this one, but it shouldn’t take away from the fact it is an enjoyable movie.
Booooooooring…
Why was this story worth unearthing this franchise to tell?
Posted by Rian on July 29th, 2008How about “The Twilight Zone” franchise? Is there some hope for us sci-fi conspiracy types?
Posted by Baychuk on August 2nd, 2008Leave a Reply