The X-Files is my favourite TV show of all time. Nothing else even comes close for me. The way this show combined action, emotion, dry humour and intellectual stimulation on a weekly basis was fantastic. The fact that it sustained this high level of quality for 7 years is a credit to the actors, writers, and everyone involved with the show. When people think of The X-Files they immediately think of aliens, UFO's and government conspiracies. True fans know better. True fans know that The X-Files was all about the relationship between two people. I'm not sure there's ever been a better small screen duo than Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. I've never seen two characters and actors have such good chemistry, and sustain it for so long. The little-hyped X-Files movie sequel, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, is not about shady government employees or little green men - it's about Mulder and Scully.
When I first heard of an X-Files film sequel officially being produced I had a mixed reaction. On one hand the series had ended so poorly that the chances of producing a decent film were very slim. Ultimately though, it was a chance to see Mulder and Scully in action again, and perhaps a chance for the writers and creators of the show to redeem themselves for the god-awful final season. The result, what we are left with, is an absolute mess of a film that bounces freely from pretentious and plodding to intelligent and poignant.
You can divide I Want to Believe into two sections: the narrative being told, and the relationship between Mulder and Scully. The latter succeeds in many ways, but the former is so poorly pieced together it's borderline offensive. The plot is contrived, as most X-Files plots are. After the FBI and the government tried for years to destroy Fox Mulder, a young agent is given free reign to bring immunity to Mulder's murder charges over a hunch. Let me remind you that Mulder was on trial for killing a government employee and was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to death. Following this he broke out of prison and was last seen on the run in New Mexico. Now some young female agent has used her wand of justice to wipe away those charges over a hunch. Amanda Peet's character claimed that Mulder could provide insight on a case of the supernormal. He had no connection to the case, no relationship with anyone involved, and the FBI chooses to give him immunity from the death penalty because he could help out. It's just too ridiculous to believe. It's lazy storytelling. Unfortunately this is a recurring factor in the film.
Things like this I could forgive, after all director and series creator Chris Carter wanted this film to stand apart from the mythology of the series. He would be better suited to spending his time on plot points concerning the movie instead of delving into explaining what happened in the past. Unfortunately the plot is an absolute joke. It's dull, uninteresting and tedious. I find it offensive that after allegedly planning the film since the end of the series in 2002 the best the writers could come up with is 'black market body parts'. It's really quite incredible how pathetic this is. The story never takes off, never gains our interest and never makes us believe we should care about these characters.
Character development in the film is possibly its major offense. Amanda Peet and Xzibit play the 4 and 5, and are totally uncharismatic. Paper cut-out characters if ever there were. The major non-Mulder or Scully role goes to Billy Connoly and his portrayal of a psychic pedophile priest. He's the wild card in the film but the script and performance make his character nothing special at all. You never feel sympathy for him, are never afraid of him, and honestly never care about him. We know nothing of his past, nothing of his connection with the later-to-be-revealed token skinhead baddy, and basically nothing about him at all. He's poorly developed and I could just never buy into his character.
Before I get into the themes of the film and other stuff, I just want to quickly look at the whole 'black market body parts' plot. Could they have come up with a less interesting idea? Yes it's kind of creepy, yes the shot of the red fingernails on the attached arm is pretty cool, but that's about it. We never get a backstory to explain the motives behind the villains, and there's nothing to make these characters or the story especially chilling or even notable. We have token scary looking Russians as our bad guys, it's terrible. I will say though, that despite its convoluted nature, the final scenes surrounding this plot are effective. Albeit in a weird way.
A film doesn't necessarily have to have a stellar plot if it is driven by themes that reach the viewer. I Want to Believe has an interesting theme of 'not giving up' that plays a huge part in the film's end game. The idea isn't quite 'sprung' on us towards the end, but it almost feels like it. For non-viewers of the show the theme will be absolutely meaningless and almost feel like a cheat. For regular viewers of the show though, it should make its connection. In The X-Files Mulder and Scully rarely won, and sometimes weren't even able to settle for minor victories. Yet for nine years they persisted in their quest for the truth. They never gave in. This resiliency was always a key motif in the show, and I like how its been utilised in the film. What I'm not so sure about is how it ties in with the religious aspect of the film.
The X-Files never shied away from religion. Scully's faith was one of the major elements of the show. After the show had jumped the shark religion became even more prominent in the mythology. This wasn't good, it disrespected what had transpired in the previous seven years. Religion in The X-Files went from being an interesting topic in the early years to an overpowering and ultimately unhealthy force by the end. The case is no different here as religion runs rampant. We have the priest (the pedophile priest nonetheless), the Catholic hospital, the argument of medicine vs. faith, and Scully's ever-lingering necklace to remind us of the presence of a higher power. Unfortunately it never really clicks, as we're never entirely certain of what the writers are trying to convey about religion. Is God talking to Scully? Is the Father paying for his past sins through his 'gift'? We never find out.
Chris Carter was obviously aiming for a dark and atmospheric film. The film is set in rural West Virginia and the snowy landscape reminds us of Fargo. The cinematography is dark and shadowy - I can't remember a scene with even a ray of sunshine. Unfortunately opting for darkness and atmospherics doesn't quite pan out for Carter. The line between chilling, dark and atmospheric and dull, plodding and plain boring is a thin one, and Carter finds himself time and time again on the wrong side of it.
The general consensus about the first X-Files movie is that it was good but not great. Say what you want about it, but you can't deny that it didn't feel like a feature film. There were chase scenes, explosions and spaceships. That's not the case here. There isn't a single explosion or shot fired. The one chase scene is pedestrian, although the climax is fantastic and genuinely thrilling. I Want to Believe feels like an extended episode of the TV show, not a feature film - let alone an action blockbuster.
In spite of all these failures the movie does seem to work occasionally and for one sole reason (no prizes for guessing which) - Mulder and Scully. Duchovny and Anderson are on top of their game, taking us back to the halcyon days of The X-Files. Their relationship is the only thing on the screen worth watching. Incredibly, I Want to Believe is more so a romantic drama about a middle aged couple struggling with their occupations than anything else. Even more incredibly, it works. The relationship between Mulder and Scully is complex and deep. Not surprisingly the sexual tension between the two, the show's greatest calling card in its heyday, is non-existent (and honestly had been ever since the release of the first film). Thankfully this is replaced with more common themes of love, and what real couples have to deal with on a regular basis. As we did for nine long years, we find ourselves caring about these characters once again. The acting and writing for both characters is fantastic. The scene in the hospital between the two following the death of a key character, where they discuss their differences and the 'darkness' that seems to engulf them is as good as anything that transpired over the nine years. It's classic X-Files. For one scene it felt like we were back.
It's interesting to note that this is very much Scully's film, not Mulder's. The X-Files was seemingly always about Mulder's quest and Scully was merely the viewer's connection into Mulder's world. As the series progressed we gradually came to understand that Mulder and Scully had an equal amount of importance. Still though, it was always Mulder's quest for the truth, Mulder's quest to bring down the government, and Mulder's quest to find his sister. It seemed like Scully was just along for the ride a lot of the time. I Want to Believe is Scully's film from the get-go. Mulder's story is pretty clear-cut. He's been in isolation, he's back and he has a real hunger to solve the case. Scully's assertion that he's doing it to 'find' his sister is ludicrous, and totally out of place. He's doing it because he's just got the itch. Scully on the other hand is anything but clear cut. She's moved on from her life as an FBI agent, she's come to the realisation that she's a doctor. She's also accepting, and knocking back Mulder in the process, that she can't deal with the darkness that comes with investigating murders and everything else that comes with it. She wants to move on. She also has to deal with a clash of faith vs. science, and a young boy's life that hangs in the balance. The film's final scene is all about Scully, and it's effective. This is her story, she's the most developed character in the film, and the scenes that detail her struggles are the best in the film.
The performances in the film aren't anything special. Duchovny and Anderson are right at home and shake off the rust pretty quickly. Anderson in particular delivers a very strong performance. Aside from them though the cast is disappointing. One of The X-Files' greatest strengths was its ability to extract fantastic performances from guest actors. Peter Boyle in "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", Doug Hutchison in "Squeeze", Robert Wisden in "Pusher", Carrie Hamilton in "Monday", Tom Noonan in "Paper Hearts", the list goes on. There isn't a single interesting character outside of Mulder and Scully to be found in the film. Billy Connoly surprisingly lacks charisma, Amanda Peet is wooden and Xzibit is plain annoying. Mitch Pileggi's cameo is nice but doesn't really have any impact.
Even the script seems dull. One of the show's major attractions was its sharp, witty and intelligent scripts that were pumped out of a weekly basis. Sharp, witty and intelligent are three adjectives that don't even enter consideration in describing this film. Bland, mundane and unimaginative seem more apt. There's about two good one-liners in the film and Mulder's trademark dry wit goes AWOL for a large portion of the film. The script for Billy Connoly's character is painfully dull, and Amanda Peet and Xzibit have nothing to work with.
The film has bust written all over it. Fans of the film will be disappointed, newcomers will find it tedious and dull, and the target audience will be seeing The Dark Knight instead - and for good reason. Last week I went to a 5:15 session of The Dark Knight and there wasn't an empty seat to be found. Yesterday at a 6:40 session of I Want to Believe there weren't 15 people there. The film has been panned in the press and all signs point to it being a financial bust. The one saving grace is that its small budget of $33 million means that it will be hard for the film not to at least make a profit.
Given its poor quality, critical bashing and likely financial failure this is more than likely the last time we will ever see Mulder and Scully. I say that with a degree of sadness, but also of acceptance. I wanted to believe that Chris Carter and the team behind The X-Files could give us a film that could approach the quality of the show in its prime. They couldn't, and you have to question exactly how much they tried. The movie is a failure and a colossal disappointment, but in some regards I'm glad it happened. I Want to Believe shows glimpses of why the show was so popular and such a hit in the 90s, although they come sparingly. In one scene with Mulder and Scully that comes around the halfway mark it feels like we're back. It's only about two minutes but for me I was back, sucked into Mulder and Scully's web of conspiracy, paranoia and quest for the truth once again. And for that I am thankful.
When I first heard of an X-Files film sequel officially being produced I had a mixed reaction. On one hand the series had ended so poorly that the chances of producing a decent film were very slim. Ultimately though, it was a chance to see Mulder and Scully in action again, and perhaps a chance for the writers and creators of the show to redeem themselves for the god-awful final season. The result, what we are left with, is an absolute mess of a film that bounces freely from pretentious and plodding to intelligent and poignant.
You can divide I Want to Believe into two sections: the narrative being told, and the relationship between Mulder and Scully. The latter succeeds in many ways, but the former is so poorly pieced together it's borderline offensive. The plot is contrived, as most X-Files plots are. After the FBI and the government tried for years to destroy Fox Mulder, a young agent is given free reign to bring immunity to Mulder's murder charges over a hunch. Let me remind you that Mulder was on trial for killing a government employee and was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to death. Following this he broke out of prison and was last seen on the run in New Mexico. Now some young female agent has used her wand of justice to wipe away those charges over a hunch. Amanda Peet's character claimed that Mulder could provide insight on a case of the supernormal. He had no connection to the case, no relationship with anyone involved, and the FBI chooses to give him immunity from the death penalty because he could help out. It's just too ridiculous to believe. It's lazy storytelling. Unfortunately this is a recurring factor in the film.
Things like this I could forgive, after all director and series creator Chris Carter wanted this film to stand apart from the mythology of the series. He would be better suited to spending his time on plot points concerning the movie instead of delving into explaining what happened in the past. Unfortunately the plot is an absolute joke. It's dull, uninteresting and tedious. I find it offensive that after allegedly planning the film since the end of the series in 2002 the best the writers could come up with is 'black market body parts'. It's really quite incredible how pathetic this is. The story never takes off, never gains our interest and never makes us believe we should care about these characters.
Character development in the film is possibly its major offense. Amanda Peet and Xzibit play the 4 and 5, and are totally uncharismatic. Paper cut-out characters if ever there were. The major non-Mulder or Scully role goes to Billy Connoly and his portrayal of a psychic pedophile priest. He's the wild card in the film but the script and performance make his character nothing special at all. You never feel sympathy for him, are never afraid of him, and honestly never care about him. We know nothing of his past, nothing of his connection with the later-to-be-revealed token skinhead baddy, and basically nothing about him at all. He's poorly developed and I could just never buy into his character.
Before I get into the themes of the film and other stuff, I just want to quickly look at the whole 'black market body parts' plot. Could they have come up with a less interesting idea? Yes it's kind of creepy, yes the shot of the red fingernails on the attached arm is pretty cool, but that's about it. We never get a backstory to explain the motives behind the villains, and there's nothing to make these characters or the story especially chilling or even notable. We have token scary looking Russians as our bad guys, it's terrible. I will say though, that despite its convoluted nature, the final scenes surrounding this plot are effective. Albeit in a weird way.
A film doesn't necessarily have to have a stellar plot if it is driven by themes that reach the viewer. I Want to Believe has an interesting theme of 'not giving up' that plays a huge part in the film's end game. The idea isn't quite 'sprung' on us towards the end, but it almost feels like it. For non-viewers of the show the theme will be absolutely meaningless and almost feel like a cheat. For regular viewers of the show though, it should make its connection. In The X-Files Mulder and Scully rarely won, and sometimes weren't even able to settle for minor victories. Yet for nine years they persisted in their quest for the truth. They never gave in. This resiliency was always a key motif in the show, and I like how its been utilised in the film. What I'm not so sure about is how it ties in with the religious aspect of the film.
The X-Files never shied away from religion. Scully's faith was one of the major elements of the show. After the show had jumped the shark religion became even more prominent in the mythology. This wasn't good, it disrespected what had transpired in the previous seven years. Religion in The X-Files went from being an interesting topic in the early years to an overpowering and ultimately unhealthy force by the end. The case is no different here as religion runs rampant. We have the priest (the pedophile priest nonetheless), the Catholic hospital, the argument of medicine vs. faith, and Scully's ever-lingering necklace to remind us of the presence of a higher power. Unfortunately it never really clicks, as we're never entirely certain of what the writers are trying to convey about religion. Is God talking to Scully? Is the Father paying for his past sins through his 'gift'? We never find out.
Chris Carter was obviously aiming for a dark and atmospheric film. The film is set in rural West Virginia and the snowy landscape reminds us of Fargo. The cinematography is dark and shadowy - I can't remember a scene with even a ray of sunshine. Unfortunately opting for darkness and atmospherics doesn't quite pan out for Carter. The line between chilling, dark and atmospheric and dull, plodding and plain boring is a thin one, and Carter finds himself time and time again on the wrong side of it.
The general consensus about the first X-Files movie is that it was good but not great. Say what you want about it, but you can't deny that it didn't feel like a feature film. There were chase scenes, explosions and spaceships. That's not the case here. There isn't a single explosion or shot fired. The one chase scene is pedestrian, although the climax is fantastic and genuinely thrilling. I Want to Believe feels like an extended episode of the TV show, not a feature film - let alone an action blockbuster.
In spite of all these failures the movie does seem to work occasionally and for one sole reason (no prizes for guessing which) - Mulder and Scully. Duchovny and Anderson are on top of their game, taking us back to the halcyon days of The X-Files. Their relationship is the only thing on the screen worth watching. Incredibly, I Want to Believe is more so a romantic drama about a middle aged couple struggling with their occupations than anything else. Even more incredibly, it works. The relationship between Mulder and Scully is complex and deep. Not surprisingly the sexual tension between the two, the show's greatest calling card in its heyday, is non-existent (and honestly had been ever since the release of the first film). Thankfully this is replaced with more common themes of love, and what real couples have to deal with on a regular basis. As we did for nine long years, we find ourselves caring about these characters once again. The acting and writing for both characters is fantastic. The scene in the hospital between the two following the death of a key character, where they discuss their differences and the 'darkness' that seems to engulf them is as good as anything that transpired over the nine years. It's classic X-Files. For one scene it felt like we were back.
It's interesting to note that this is very much Scully's film, not Mulder's. The X-Files was seemingly always about Mulder's quest and Scully was merely the viewer's connection into Mulder's world. As the series progressed we gradually came to understand that Mulder and Scully had an equal amount of importance. Still though, it was always Mulder's quest for the truth, Mulder's quest to bring down the government, and Mulder's quest to find his sister. It seemed like Scully was just along for the ride a lot of the time. I Want to Believe is Scully's film from the get-go. Mulder's story is pretty clear-cut. He's been in isolation, he's back and he has a real hunger to solve the case. Scully's assertion that he's doing it to 'find' his sister is ludicrous, and totally out of place. He's doing it because he's just got the itch. Scully on the other hand is anything but clear cut. She's moved on from her life as an FBI agent, she's come to the realisation that she's a doctor. She's also accepting, and knocking back Mulder in the process, that she can't deal with the darkness that comes with investigating murders and everything else that comes with it. She wants to move on. She also has to deal with a clash of faith vs. science, and a young boy's life that hangs in the balance. The film's final scene is all about Scully, and it's effective. This is her story, she's the most developed character in the film, and the scenes that detail her struggles are the best in the film.
The performances in the film aren't anything special. Duchovny and Anderson are right at home and shake off the rust pretty quickly. Anderson in particular delivers a very strong performance. Aside from them though the cast is disappointing. One of The X-Files' greatest strengths was its ability to extract fantastic performances from guest actors. Peter Boyle in "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", Doug Hutchison in "Squeeze", Robert Wisden in "Pusher", Carrie Hamilton in "Monday", Tom Noonan in "Paper Hearts", the list goes on. There isn't a single interesting character outside of Mulder and Scully to be found in the film. Billy Connoly surprisingly lacks charisma, Amanda Peet is wooden and Xzibit is plain annoying. Mitch Pileggi's cameo is nice but doesn't really have any impact.
Even the script seems dull. One of the show's major attractions was its sharp, witty and intelligent scripts that were pumped out of a weekly basis. Sharp, witty and intelligent are three adjectives that don't even enter consideration in describing this film. Bland, mundane and unimaginative seem more apt. There's about two good one-liners in the film and Mulder's trademark dry wit goes AWOL for a large portion of the film. The script for Billy Connoly's character is painfully dull, and Amanda Peet and Xzibit have nothing to work with.
The film has bust written all over it. Fans of the film will be disappointed, newcomers will find it tedious and dull, and the target audience will be seeing The Dark Knight instead - and for good reason. Last week I went to a 5:15 session of The Dark Knight and there wasn't an empty seat to be found. Yesterday at a 6:40 session of I Want to Believe there weren't 15 people there. The film has been panned in the press and all signs point to it being a financial bust. The one saving grace is that its small budget of $33 million means that it will be hard for the film not to at least make a profit.
Given its poor quality, critical bashing and likely financial failure this is more than likely the last time we will ever see Mulder and Scully. I say that with a degree of sadness, but also of acceptance. I wanted to believe that Chris Carter and the team behind The X-Files could give us a film that could approach the quality of the show in its prime. They couldn't, and you have to question exactly how much they tried. The movie is a failure and a colossal disappointment, but in some regards I'm glad it happened. I Want to Believe shows glimpses of why the show was so popular and such a hit in the 90s, although they come sparingly. In one scene with Mulder and Scully that comes around the halfway mark it feels like we're back. It's only about two minutes but for me I was back, sucked into Mulder and Scully's web of conspiracy, paranoia and quest for the truth once again. And for that I am thankful.
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