Watching the X-Files: I Want to Believe yesterday was a lot like watching a pretty solid 2-hour X-Files episode. It's almost as if Fox (20th Century, not Spooky -- we'll get to him later) said to Chris Carter, "Hey we want to revive this show, only without the mythology. Here's $30 million." And Chris Carter banged out a pretty good made-for-TV revival debut.
If that sounds good to you, or doesn't, then you probably already know if this movie's one you want to see. The rest of this I'm going to keep pretty much spoiler free, but I'll ramble some, as is my tendency.
I don't know if it was some of the bad-hype I'd heard the few weeks before the movie came out, but I was pretty much geared to expect this movie was going to be terrible. So when I went into the theater and watched it, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a good double-dose of the X-Files. It wasn't one of the best episodes of the X-Files (some of my favorites are "Pilot," "Ice," "Jose Chung's From Outer Space," "Kaddish," "Bad Blood," "Hollywood A.D.," "Closure," and yes, even "Existence," which is where I wish the series had ended) but like I said, it was pretty solid, certainly better than some of the convoluted shit some of us sat through (and others didn't in the final season). I think I wrote somewhere that if this movie removed the bad taste in my mouth the series finale left, then that's all I'd need. So, Mission: Accomplished.
Unfortunately, the best thing about this movie is the worst thing, too: it felt like a 2-hour X-Files episode. When I heard that Carter was going to be doing a stand-alone, monster of the week-type story, I was fairly excited. I do like the aliens, but I'd love to seem some creepy X-Files. Creepy like acidic green alien blood that makes your eyes bleed, creepy like Luther Boggs all sweaty in his orange jump-suit telling Scully to mind the devil, creepy like trapped in a subzero research station in Anatartica with a bunch of corpses and knowing any of your team could put a bullet in your brain. Before the movie, we saw a preview for Kiefer Sutherland's new movie Mirrors, and that looked creepy. I'm sure you can come up with a list of films that creeped you out for days, weeks, or even months. I Want To Believe had its tense moments, don't get me wrong, but it is not one of those movies, and I don't think it will creep-out the "younger generation of potential fans."
In fact, I'm pretty sure if I posted this review in the Pseudopod section, someone would chime in and say, "Waitaminute! Is this even horror?"
In addition, I'm curious as to why this was the movie/story that brought back Scully and Mulder. The script's more than competent, don't get me wrong. But I'd hoped to have my fair share of "oh, CRAP!" moments, and I didn't. And the plot, well, it felt like a stand-alone monster of the week episode and less something that would bring Mulder out of hiding/retirement. It did look sleeker than any of the old TV episodes did (not in a ridiculous Michael Bay fashion, don't worry, it was still subtle) but it didn't have the Big Screen presence you'd expect from this kind of movie. Fight the Future, for all it's convoluted mythology, had much more of a cinematic feel to it than I Want To Believe did.
If I'm sounding all down on the movie, I'm not really. I was disappointed with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There's no nuking the fridge moments, nothing out of place like Indy looking out as a UFO takes off. I'm not at all disappointed in the X-Files in the same way. My complaints with it are few, and really, I was satisfied. Not blown away, but satisfied.
Seeing Mulder and Scully was like seeing old friends again, and you're grateful just knowing they're going to be okay. I love their relationship, and it all felt very true to me. His faith allows her to be open to more possibilites, her methods keep him from being a sucker.
Fox Mulder, as I've said before, may very well be my favorite character of all time. Screw the Han/Greedo shooting first argument. His desparation to believe is something I can definitely identify with. And it was nice to see that Duchovny was so comfortable still in that role, and that it all felt just a relevant as it did when I was in high school, although it might have been downplayed.
Scully also had some desperation in her this time around, which was a nice touch, and Anderson pulled it off well. There was one other familiar face from the original show who's appearance was a welcome surprise.
The movie looked beautiful. It made me want to have a long, white winter, with a pad of paper, a pen, and the monsters in my head.
So if you're a fellow X-Phile, if you liked the show in its prime and you want to believe, yeah, you should check this out. If you really don't care, then I doubt you'll be entertained. It makes me want to spend a few days just rewatching old X-Files episodes. I would've liked more from it, but I'm also very happy with what I did get.
