The X-Files: I Want to Believe (**)

Directed by: Chris Carter (The Creator of The X-Files)
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connely, Amanda Peet, Xzibbit, Mitch Pileggi)
Seen: August 9th 2008

** Out of ****

Well, where do I start on this one? Let’s take Billy Connely. He plays a priest who lives in a compound for sex offenders (he molested young boys, and is a Catholic Priest? No!). He plays him with such grovelling remorse that you can’t help but sympathise with him, this man really wants to get rid of what he did. And he sees these visions of people getting killed, or rather how and where to discover their remains. And after a while it gets really old: “It’s here! I see a vision!” (but in a Scottish accent…).

Then there’s the story arc following Scully’s need to save a little boy who suffers from a horrible condition – through a medical procedure that will cause him some pain. Why do we need to see this? To flesh out the film? To indicate that Scully has a completely separate career and can be successful at it? No, because even here she is pre-empted by corrupt officials, this time a church priest with a unique smugness – how could anyone not agree with the church? Why is it that all Christians in film are portrayed as somehow insane or incredibly single minded people? Can’t we get a chance at normalcy?

There is also no true feeling of intrigue in the film, no struggle to follow the clues, to really figure it out. At one stage, when the investigation seems to hit a wall, Mulder literally looks around and sees something on the ground between his feet that, once identified (not through lab analysis either, just by picking it up) allows the investigation to continue unhindered – how lazy is that? Where’s the guess-work, the brilliant detective hunch? Will clues always simply become available as they are needed, or should detectives actually try to uncover them? Even the soundtrack does not follow the story, but attempts to lead it along its gravely path…

We are also back to all the sceptical FBI agents who simply can’t believe anything Mulder utters, even Scully is still so sceptical of her partner, even after all these years she can’t even trust him a little bit? And through it all the “strange” element comes down to a small-time rewrite of Frankenstein? Then I guess it’s no wonder no one wants to believe Mulder…

But hey, Mulder wants to believe, and this is confirmed by the poster still being on his wall. I would not be surprised if it were the exact same one from the series, even though that’s a while ago now. A fantastic X-files moment also flows from/into a picture of George W. Bush hanging in the hallways at the FBI offices – a truly great moment.

The relationship between Scully and Mulder is suddenly on a whole other level, and even though it steals some of the mystery it had in the show, it’s still refreshingly awkward to see the two play around each other while still stubbornly holding on to their old ways of Mulder believing and Scully being sceptical.

New characters are not in short supply, Amanda Peet and Xzibit join the investigations as two FBI agents whose only purpose is getting Mulder and Scully involved again, before (as is so easily done with non-regular cast members) Agent Whitney (Peet) gets killed off. Skinner makes a return, almost looking like he expects applause for walking in front of the camera, but its effective, and he saves the day once again. It’s also refreshing to see the Russians as the villains again, Carter choosing to steer clear of any Muslim/Middle East involvement in terrorist plots.

Eventually, however, this is too little too late. In a world where films are boldly presented with complex stories, this feels too much like an overlong under-budget episode of the X-Files, and ultimately the biggest part of the fan-base have already moved on. This film simply doesn’t measure up to expectations of what it could have been. The previous X-Files film (Fight the Future) was extremely enjoyable, why was that not retained here?