The X-Files: I Want to Believe Review by Shale July 25, 2008 Only about a third of the professional critics liked this movie but I don't listen to critics when it comes to certain movies that I know I will see anyhow. Guess it's that cult following thing (Like Star Trek: The Motion Picture that we Trekkers liked just because it was). I saw the movie today and have to say it is mostly character driven with our old familiar believer Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and skeptic Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) doing much the role they did on TV. Of course they have both aged - the TV series started in 1993 and lasted 'til 2002, with the first movie (Fight the Future) coming out in '98. So, it's been a decade since we last saw these characters and a lot of catching up in their relationship and where they are with the world. S P O I L E R MAYBE Other reviewers have told parts of the plot in this movie that I feel may ruin it for some. I sorta like the surprises that unfold in a story and don't necessarily like to know what to expect beforehand but if you don't mind knowing these things read on. I was surprised that it was not the movie that the trailers implied. Also, it seems what I saw in the trailers were misleading and those scenes changed in the movie. The trailers showed a bunch of FBI agents spreading out on a frozen lake as if to outline a large circular object (perhaps like the space ship in the previous movie) but that was never a consideration in this storyline. In the trailers the long-haired psychic, Father Joe (Billy Connolly) looks up with black eyes like those infected aliens in the TV show but in the movie it was blood - no alien. Don't expect the big Sci-Fi focus of the previous movie. This one was more down to earth in its fiction, like many of the TV episodes that left the alien story arc to explore other weird stuff. There was very little special effects, no big explosions, no shooting just killing by other means and mostly on the victims whose parts were being found. Our movie opens with Father Joe finding body parts by psychic ability in the West Virginia snow. He is a convicted pedophile so also a suspect by the FBI. Scully is a practicing doctor, having left the FBI oh, maybe a decade ago. She is approached by a couple of FBI agents (Amanda Peet & Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner) to see if she can locate Mulder to help on this bizarre case of a missing agent and verify the psychic. Sure she can locate Mulder. Apparently since we saw them last they now share the same bed in an isolated home in the country. However, Scully is still the science based realist and Mulder still the believer in all that paranormal stuff that we all wanna believe or we wouldn't be watching the X-Files. Mulder agrees to help the FBI, even though they gave him grief and smeared his name in all those TV shows and the last movie (referenced here BTW). The rest of this movie is just an old fashioned mystery and drama that really got into our characters' relationship and dependence on each other. Mulder & Scully Workin' Again Scully is really hostile toward the pedophile Father Joe and is working thru her own head trips with caring for a boy dying of an incurable disease, but she is determined to try a radical stem cell treatment against the wishes of the Catholic hospital in which she works. She is reluctant to help her partner and get back into the dark world of the X-Files and he is just as determined to see the investigation thru. Again, let me say that this movie is about Mulder and Scully in the midst of a mystery. There are moments of suspense and danger of course but it comes back to our main characters. So, if you were a fan of the TV show you will likely enjoy seeing this flick. I liked the subtle humor of this show, such as in the FBI building going thru a door with a portrait on either side. One of Duh'bya and the other of J. Edgar. The joke is so subtle I can't explain it but several people laughed at the scene. Also, there is a shot of Mulder going thru the phone list on his cell and the name Gillian is there. I liked the movie and will probably get it on DVD and watch it again.
Good review Shale! I loved the series and I want to see this movie. I was hoping it would be good and it sounds like it was. Thanks.
This doesn't come out here until August, so i'll refrain from reading that review in-depth.. Looking forward to the movie though... I go through patches where I have X-Files series marathons, so it'll be interesting to see where they've gone with this one!
i only recently got into the x-files tv show, but i really enjoyed the movie... of course, that might just be because of my semi-bizarre crush on david duchovny, who can say?
