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The X Files: I Want to Believe – I Wanted to Like It
Living with an X Files nut who owns every single series on DVD, I’ve seen more than my fair share of encounters of the strange kind as Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate weird happenings on behalf of, and sometimes in spite of, the FBI.
Given that the dynamic duo in question haven’t graced the big screen since 1998’s ‘The X Files Movie’ (catchy title, eh?), there was a lot of pressure on this movie both to deliver what the die-hard fans wanted and also to rope in new fans to revive the ailing franchise (the 9 season TV series wrapped in 2002). What we got, however, was a fairly good story, a great mystery with controversial political and social elements and some fine performances from David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and Billy Connolly but never any sense that it was specifically an ‘X Files’ movie.The plot centres on an investigation into the disappearance of a female FBI agent, led by Agents Whitney & Drummy (Amanda Peet & rapper Xzibit respectively), who call Mulder and Scully, both having abandoned the FBI since the end of the TV series 6 years ago, back into action. The disappearance itself does not have much of an ‘X Files’ aura, but the Bureau have enlisted the help of a shamed ex-communicated priest (Billy Connolly) who claims to have God-given visions linking him to the missing woman. Both Mulder and Scully are reluctant to be drawn back into the FBI, each for their own reasons, but when they relent and pair up once more, the audience are not left as satisfied as they should be by the re-opening of the X Files…
There were very few weird and wonderful goings-on, no aliens whatsoever and even Mulder and Scully themselves seems virtually unrecognisable as the characters they had played for a decade.
I left the cinema thinking it would have made a great ‘crisis of faith’ drama with supernatural undertones if it had absolutely no links to ‘The X Files’, but as it was supposed to further the stories of two characters whom we had to grown to love over countless episodes of the cult TV show, and to further their life’s work into the mysteries of the unexplained, in that respect the film failed. **2*s
1 Comment
Thanks for the review!
My cousin, Jeff Charbonneau, was the sound editor on this film. He was also the sound editor for the TV series and won 2 emmy’s. He’s also won twice for the 24 TV series.
X-Files has disappointed me more than any other series ever. It was so good for so long and then in the end it never really went anywhere. I find it funny that Chris Carter always wanted his TV episodes to have a movie type feel to them and I think he achieved that but his actual X-Files movies are really not that good.