The Good: Complexity, Most of the acting, Surprise cameo, Moments of character
The Bad: Jumbled plot, Predictability, Gruesome
The Basics: The X-Files: I Want To Believe crams a lot of ideas into a movie, making for a jumbled experience that is more gruesome than the average episode of the series.
I have a love/hate relationship with The X-Files. For one thing, I DO own the entire series on DVD in its collector's edition (reviewed here!), which I purchased after pretty much disowning the series for all of its flaws in terms of continuity and story. I generally enjoyed The X-Files: Fight The Future, the first cinematic outing for the franchise (reviewed here!) but I had been pretty lukewarm about the new cinematic endeavor, The X-Files: I Want To Believe. My trepidation came largely from hearing early on that it would not be a "mythology" type movie, it would be the cinematic equivalent of a haunted house story.
As they say, you can't believe everything you hear.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe is a thriller . . . sort of. What many fans of The X-Files seem to want to forget is that the series dealt with all manner of paranormal experiences and tried to make it as realistic as possible. As a result, the show was never just about extraterrestrials and the episodes that weren't were designed to scare the bejezus out of viewers, as Chris Carter said on the interviews on the original VHS tapes. Going into the movie, my last thoughts before simply experiencing I Want To Believe was just "I hope this doesn't suck." Well, it didn't suck. But it was something else . . .
When an FBI agent is abducted and a psychic leads searchers to a severed arm, Special Agents Dakota Whitney and Mosley Drummy call upon Dr. Dana Scully to find Fox Mulder. Scully, long-retired from the FBI and now simply a medical practitioner at a Christian hospital, arrives at Mulder's secluded residence with an offer from the Bureau: amnesty for past alleged crimes in exchange for Mulder's help in finding the missing agent. Reminded of their many adventures that nearly cost them their lives, Mulder opts to give up being a fugitive and help Whitney and the FBI.
While Mulder investigates the pedophilic former-priest with psychic abilities, Scully works to save the life of one of her young patients. While the hospital's administrative priest objects to the extreme measures Scully is willing to take to save the young boy's life, she and Mulder clash over how far out of the FBI she truly is. Soon, though, Mulder, Whitney and Drummy find themselves investigating multiple abductions, as evidenced by body parts from a terrifying number of different bodies and a twisted doctor who does have a connection to Father Joseph . . .
The X-Files: I Want To Believe bears more of a resemblance to episodes of The X-Files like "Home" than it does to any of the alien mythology episodes. It is not a "haunted house" type story any more than it is truly a "smoke out the psychic" story. The problem with the movie is that it is complex and ambitious and as a result, it is hard to describe what it actually is. I Want To Believe is not a simple movie to categorize and as a result, it often seems to be a mash of too many things.
As a result, there is a decent amount of political commentary, including a wonderful comparison between George W. Bush and J. Edgar Hoover. There is frequent mention of priests and pedophilia, belief and redemption. There are questions of faith and the Gruesome science of medical experimentation on people. There is the psychic and the doubt in him because of his history and truth be told, the only thing I called as I watched the movie that did not come to pass was the dogs being fed human body parts.
After about twenty minutes of I Want To Believe, the film spirals into an increasingly complex series of events and ideas. Given that viewers of The X-Files are generally savvy and intelligent people, it is not hard to guess that many - like me - would quickly see the relationships between the disgraced psychic priest and the abductors, the relationship between Mulder and Scully's separate obsessions and the role of belief in the film. And, despite that predictability, the movie pulls it off with a reasonable amount of panache.
The question ought to be asked: Who will like the film more: fans of The X-Files or non-fans? Fans of horror movies will like I Want To Believe. Fans of The X-Files will like the initial bits of humor as Scully and Mulder bond again. Fans of The X-Files will like the references to Luther Lee Boggs, Clyde Bruckman, William, and Samantha. But, objectively, fans of The X-Files are more likely to enjoy I Want To Believe simply because it is The X-Files. In other words, those of us who have a broad palate of movies we love are likely to have less tolerance for the conceits and issues in this movie than those who simply love the franchise. So, the answer to "who will enjoy this" is split pretty evenly between those who will see it anyway (fans of The X-Files) and fans of slasher/horror movies. Those who like crime dramas are much more likely to be turned off by the nuances and pacing issues than those others. And those who are fans of flat-out drama are likely to not enjoy this because it lacks genuine dramatic tension through much of the movie, going instead for the jumpy and shocking as opposed to the truly suspenseful. Actually, there is a very specific niche of people who will love this movie: fans of Chris Carter's spin-off Millennium. This "reads" much more like an episode of that series than it does like an episode of The X-Files.
That said, after so many years, it is pretty wonderful to see Mulder and Scully again. Neither is treated as monolithic and while Mulder has his obsessive belief in the paranormal, Scully still clings to her faith in god. The two sets of beliefs play off one another well, just as they did in some of the best episodes of the television series, and as they hunt for the serial killer in I Want To Believe, each character approaches it from their sense of faith. Mulder, then, is pretty willing to overlook Father Joe's past while Scully rails against him for his very earthly crimes.
One of the things that pushes The X-Files: I Want To Believe up into "recommend" territory is that the film is unflinching in confronting the complexities of these beliefs. The viewer is quite willing and able to empathize with Scully. After all, a priest who abused as many children as Father Joseph certainly does seem to be a man who is not a great messenger of god. But it is Father Joseph who tries to seek his own redemption; decrying what he has done and asking the same question Scully asks: where did the urges that rule him come from? It is pretty daring in this day and time to make a film that exposes the many colors of the world (it's not just shades of gray in I Want To Believe). Father Joseph does that admirably.
One of the things that did make me excited going into The X-Files: I Want To Believe was the presence of Amanda Peet in the cast. I'm a bit of a fan of hers and that she wasn't nominated for her work on Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (reviewed here!) is something of a mystery to me. She is fabulous and has the ability to do great work as a comic actress. In I Want To Believe, Peet reminds the viewer that she can carry serious drama as well. She has only one moment that reminds the viewer of her smirk, the rest of the time keeping up a grim and determined facade that makes the viewer believe she could be such a high-ranking FBI agent. Peet could be the next Scully and she sells us on that idea.
The acting challenge for veterans David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson is not so much to do something that the viewer has not seen from them before, but rather to convince the viewers that their characters are still the same people we are familiar with. Moreover, they have to sell us on the reality of the years in between the final frames of the television series and now, several years later. They do this surprisingly well and the movie quite wisely focuses on Anderson's Scully for as much time as possible.
Anderson rises to the occasion of the attention by playing Scully as determined and willful, a woman of strong convictions. Anderson has always had the ability to create a steely demeanor and here it serves her perfectly. The viewer must absolutely believe that Scully is not going to return to working for the FBI and Anderson sells that completely and makes it believable.
This is not to say that David Duchovny slouches through his part as Mulder. Mulder wants to be dependent upon Scully and when Scully refuses to join him (something that keeps the film feeling very fractured), he is forced to accept her decision. Duchovny makes it work, though, reminding viewers why it was easy to fall in love with Mulder for years the moment that light appears in his eyes that indicates to the viewer that Mulder is a visionary. Mulder sees the world differently and it is Duchovny who puts that light in the character's eyes.
Fans of The X-Files will find much to enjoy about the movie and I doubt the surprise cameo (which, given that it happens in the last fifteen or twenty minutes, ought to rightfully stay a surprise, especially considering that the IMDB did not ruin it on their front page of cast for this film, for a change) will remain that way for much longer, but I won't be the one to ruin the surprise. Also, the closing credit sequence is clearly a gift to the fans more than it is an actual conclusion to the movie, so sit through that if you're into The X-Files.
On DVD, The X-Files: I Want To Believe is packed with bonus features, including a pretty decent commentary track with Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. There are deleted scenes as well, trailers, a gag reel and a music video from co-star Xzibit. There's an extensive documentary on the making of the movie and how the plot was kept secret. The bonus features certainly raise the value of the DVDs for fans.
But ultimately, it's an erratic film and it is barely above average, especially for the genre; there are many good elements, but they are all mixed together and the pace is slowed as a result.
For other works featuring Amanda Peet, please check out my reviews of:
2012
6.5/10
For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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