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Craig Younkin
Movie Review
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
By Craig Younkin Published July 25, 2008
US Release: July 25, 2008
Directed by: Chris Carter
Starring: David Duchovny , Gillian Anderson , Amanda Redman , Billy Connolly
PG-13 violent and disturbing content and thematic material
Domestic Box Office: $20,981,633
Directed by: Chris Carter
Starring: David Duchovny , Gillian Anderson , Amanda Redman , Billy Connolly
PG-13 violent and disturbing content and thematic material
Domestic Box Office: $20,981,633
D+
I wanted to believe this could still resurrect a love for a past television series but its small-scale approach, lousy story, and dreary tone drown out any excitement.
“The X-Files” ended in 2002 and I have to admit I’ve been so into the recent conspiracies of “Lost," “Prison Break," and ‘Heroes” that I can’t really remember how this one ended. All I do remember is Mulder disappeared and the guy from “Terminator 2” and an actress that no one really knew and since disappeared were brought in to track him down. In show creator and “Believes” director/screenwriter Chris Carter’s sequel, Agents Doggett and Reyes are nowhere to be found but Mulder and Scully are back solving the mysteries of the universe, as they did in the 1998 movie that seamlessly managed to introduce new fans to the characters and the show’s basic premise without boring the other X-Fanatics. This new “X’ installment will have to update itself in almost exactly the same way in order to be successful.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson take a break from their cable series and independent films to reprise their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, Scully is now a pediatric doctor and Mulder a grizzled recluse. Both are called in by the FBI to investigate the disappearance of a young agent. The key to the whole case is a psychic named Father Joe (Billy Connolly) who claims to have seen visions of the agent’s disappearance. Only Father Joe has had a little problem with pedophilia in the past and some say that these so-called “visions” from God are just scams in order to get back into the church’s good graces. Scully is sickened by the man and more concerned with a dying child in her care but Mulder is fascinated with him and decides to pursue this further.
What a topsy-turvy summer it’s been. Indiana Jones is chasing aliens and Mulder and Scully are checking out crime scenes. This second “X-Files” movie is a big come-down from the first, a small-scale disappointment that I don’t even think fans would accept if they were watching it for free on television. It doesn’t play to strengths of the first film, which had an intelligent and mind-bogglingly complex plot that keeps you wondering about government conspiracies and the paranormal up until the final tension-filled minute.
Just the only question “Believe” asks of us is the lame and stale "why is God so unfair?" The plot has no aliens, monsters, or things that go bump in the night but it does have Russian scientists kidnapping and playing Frankenstein with young girls. Why? The movie never really goes into it and after sitting through director Chris Carter’s dreary atmosphere and slow tempo, I was just ready to leave the theater and this movie far behind me. It’s disappointing though. You watch the “X-Files” for twisted conspiracies and paranoia and all those kinds of things but here the movie is really all talk and investigation. It feels like more of a “CSI” episode than an “X-Files” one except that’s kind of a putdown to “CSI” episodes because they usually have less anti-climatic endings than this movie did. There was no action in this movie, the only good part about it was the death of one particularly annoying actress, I’m just extremely disappointed.
That said, Duchovny and Anderson seem to fill their roles like gloves and they do remind us that there is romantic tension between Mulder and Scully still. Duchovny still has the wild enthusiasm of a man willing to think outside the box and Anderson the grounded, logical thinking that completes the team. Billy Connolly is also really creepy as Father Joe, but he unfortunately just feels like a plot device. He’s the only thing in this movie that comes close to paranormal, thus really the only thing that would put Mulder and Scully on this case, and he has a few cool scenes of eye-bleeding and so on but it always feels like Carter could dig deeper with this character but it never happens. And the rest of the cast is either given little screen time or is pretty wooden and inconsequential.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe" was a movie I wanted to believe could still resurrect a love for a past television series but its small-scale approach, lousy story, and dreary tone drown out any excitement in that possibly happening.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson take a break from their cable series and independent films to reprise their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, Scully is now a pediatric doctor and Mulder a grizzled recluse. Both are called in by the FBI to investigate the disappearance of a young agent. The key to the whole case is a psychic named Father Joe (Billy Connolly) who claims to have seen visions of the agent’s disappearance. Only Father Joe has had a little problem with pedophilia in the past and some say that these so-called “visions” from God are just scams in order to get back into the church’s good graces. Scully is sickened by the man and more concerned with a dying child in her care but Mulder is fascinated with him and decides to pursue this further.
What a topsy-turvy summer it’s been. Indiana Jones is chasing aliens and Mulder and Scully are checking out crime scenes. This second “X-Files” movie is a big come-down from the first, a small-scale disappointment that I don’t even think fans would accept if they were watching it for free on television. It doesn’t play to strengths of the first film, which had an intelligent and mind-bogglingly complex plot that keeps you wondering about government conspiracies and the paranormal up until the final tension-filled minute.
Just the only question “Believe” asks of us is the lame and stale "why is God so unfair?" The plot has no aliens, monsters, or things that go bump in the night but it does have Russian scientists kidnapping and playing Frankenstein with young girls. Why? The movie never really goes into it and after sitting through director Chris Carter’s dreary atmosphere and slow tempo, I was just ready to leave the theater and this movie far behind me. It’s disappointing though. You watch the “X-Files” for twisted conspiracies and paranoia and all those kinds of things but here the movie is really all talk and investigation. It feels like more of a “CSI” episode than an “X-Files” one except that’s kind of a putdown to “CSI” episodes because they usually have less anti-climatic endings than this movie did. There was no action in this movie, the only good part about it was the death of one particularly annoying actress, I’m just extremely disappointed.
That said, Duchovny and Anderson seem to fill their roles like gloves and they do remind us that there is romantic tension between Mulder and Scully still. Duchovny still has the wild enthusiasm of a man willing to think outside the box and Anderson the grounded, logical thinking that completes the team. Billy Connolly is also really creepy as Father Joe, but he unfortunately just feels like a plot device. He’s the only thing in this movie that comes close to paranormal, thus really the only thing that would put Mulder and Scully on this case, and he has a few cool scenes of eye-bleeding and so on but it always feels like Carter could dig deeper with this character but it never happens. And the rest of the cast is either given little screen time or is pretty wooden and inconsequential.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe" was a movie I wanted to believe could still resurrect a love for a past television series but its small-scale approach, lousy story, and dreary tone drown out any excitement in that possibly happening.
Craig's Grade: D+
Craig's Overall Grading: 340 graded movies
| A | 10.9% | |
| B | 41.8% | |
| C | 31.8% | |
| D | 15.3% | |
| F | 0.3% |
