The X-Files: I Want To Believe (2008)
The X-Files: I Want To Believe (Special Edition)
Directed By: Chris Carter
Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly
Reviewed by: Ken Mooney
Rating: Four-Out-Of-Five Bananas
Special Features:
Extended Cut
Deleted Scenes
Makeup Effects
Gag Reel
Director’s Commentary
Documentary/Featurettes
In what could only be described as a summer of superheroes, the arrival of an X-Files movie was somewhat understated and passed by without much fanfare. The DVD release of The X-Files: I Want To Believe may go similarly unnoticed, which is quite a pity: in the great scheme of things, it’s actually a rather good film.
Picking up in real-time, six years after the end of the TV series, I Want To Believe features a return to form for the franchise, ignoring the conspiracy theories that significantly weighed down the later series in favour of a traditional, monstrous evil plot that provided some of the series’ strongest episodes. Working at a hospital (and tending a terminally ill patient), former Special Agent Dana Scully (Anderson) is approached by FBI Special Agent Dakota Whitney (Peet) with an offer: if Scully can enlist the help of Fox Mulder (Duchovny) in a missing person’s case, previous charges against him will be dropped. The case itself is especially chilling (if you’ll pardon the pun) with a missing FBI agent, and various unrelated body parts turning up buried in ice, all either helped or hindered by an eerie Billy Connolly as Father Joe Crissman, a paedophile priest, supposedly having psychic visions involving the body parts.
The plot of the movie sounds a lot more convoluted than it is, and everything fits together neatly: there’s a nice (if somewhat convenient) sense of symmetry in the various plots (Scully’s patient, the body parts and Fr. Joe) which all contribute to each other, yet come across as natural extensions. The main storyline is suitably tense, with Carter easily evoking the thrills and scares that originally had us watching The X-Files on TV from behind the sofa, but really takes a backseat to some interesting character work: both Duchovny and Anderson are surprisingly comfortable in the skin of their respective roles, noticeably growing in the time since we’ve last met, and at the core of the film is their relationship and how it’s affected by the divergent plots. Even the title carries a curious message, a softer interpretation of the somewhat militant ‘the truth is out there’ that captures Scully’s personal faith and convictions.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe captures everything that we loved about The X-Files and crams it together in one package, but don’t expect a sequel: it’s more of a complementary story, a nice, subtle nod providing a potential swansong to the series (or an opening for more stories to be told.) While the special features are worth a look, the film stands well enough alone on its own to merit a look.
Verdict:
Just like watching The X-Files all over again: maybe not one of the best episodes, but certainly one of the better. And for those who don’t remember the series’ glory days, worth a look to see what Carter and co were capable of back in the day.
Originally published on FrankTheMonkey.com