The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Three-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)

In fact, I was never really a fan of the show, and when the first feature outing came out, I wasn't any more a fan. The first film dealt with all the things the X-Files fans seemed to love: the conglomerate of gray-suited men with names like "cigarette smoking man", sitting in well-appointed rooms saying things like, "You're in way over your head, Mulder." Something to do with the mythology that I don't think ever concluded satisfyingly ... even for fans.

However ... 'I Want to Believe' is a stand alone and doesn't have to spend time explaining itself. It brings together agents Mulder and Scully in the search for a missing FBI agent, with the help of a fallen priest that Scully regards with little more than contempt. The familiar elements are here: the argument between the spiritual and the scientific, the unexplainable that, in the end, is either explained or left with an even bigger question mark, and the terrific chemistry between agents Mulder and Scully. If anything, it's better ... with age and wisdom and maturity added to the supernatural mix. And let's face it, at the end of a long hot summer of '08, it was nice to see two human beings using their intelligence to solve a crime that didn't involve defying all the laws of physics in an overtly CGI manner while wearing Kevlar or a clown face or an iron suit while explosions littered the landscape. Those were fun movies ... but X-Files provided a thoughtful and atmospheric end to the summer season. And now you can take it home and really appreciate the almost quiet way this movie works its spell. It's almost not for anyone under the age of 30. 'I Want to Believe' is a throwback to movies made at least three decades ago when intelligent characters could act their age and still be very interesting.

'I Want to Believe' is a terrific piece of the X-Files puzzle. If Chris Carter and writer Frank Spotnitz are able to make another one ... than I'm more than able to make it to the theater. A really great 'little' movie.

I don't know where to start! This film is the dullest one I have watched in years.It takes itself so important and delivers a story which is so brainless that it makes your flesh crawl.All the actors stumble through the scenery and think about their pay checks.
The whole chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson tastes like a sitcom. There is no tense,no dark side, no secret, no charm,no action oh yeah i forgot some gory sequences(uuuuh).I don't want to write anymore.Sorry

It took a long time to get made, but that probably helped make the movie better, as the writers had more time to think everything over. It is a stand-alone movie, but briefly addrresses mythology aspects of the show, in order to address storyline and continuity issues. The blu-ray itself is fantastic, the timeline is probably the best feature.

This review WILL contain a few spoilers, but since I LOATHE THIS MOVIE I really don't care.

If you could remove the wrapper (the name) "X-Files: I Want To Believe" and also change JUST the names of the characters "Mulder, Scully & Skinner" (okay, and the actors playing them), what would be left?

The character of a creepy pedophile ex-priest, who may or may not be a psychic, in a ripoff of the film "Jeepers Creepers." And "Jeepers" was directed by a man who was arrested on suspicion of child abuse. He may have actually been the source of Carter & Spotnitz's "inspiration."

IWTB has a lot more in common with "Frankenstein" and "The Silence of The Lambs" than the X-Files franchise.

I watched the extended version of this film twice on dvd. Once with the normal soundtrack and once with commentary. I really wanted to know what was going through their heads when they made this thing.

The script that Carter & Spotnitz wrote contrasts loving heterosexual parents and their (of course) dying child against a child molester AND his employers who are (Surprise!) a male couple that "got married in Massachusetts." And if I understood the "plot" correctly, one of the 2 men had been molested by this same ex-priest as a child.

The film also contrasts the love of Mulder & Scully (which is enhanced with great lighting, nice scenery and orchestral music) against the relationship of the 2 gay villains who LITERALLY kidnap, imprison, & hack up their mostly female victims. The women are imprisoned at a location with blood spattered floors and vicious dogs.

See, the women are being used for "body parts" to transplant into one of the gay men who is dying.

Why not have them kill puppies & steal girl scout cookies as well? A little TOO obvious I guess.

And since these are "gay" men, they're (of course) using the body parts of WOMEN, because the writers needed to go after transexuals too. Uh, no I'm sorry, it's because the women have a rare blood type and blah, blah, blah.

P-R-O-P-A-G-A-N-D-A

The "message" in this movie is pretty obvious. Gay people are a THREAT and they should be feared because they kidnap, maim, mutilate, and murder women to get what they want. They "feed" off society and are monsters who "pal around" with men who are child molestors. It's actually the kind of "reasoning" that justifies hate crimes.

During the commentary track Chris Carter expresses a little concern for the animals that are used in actual research labs. And during one DVD special feature he talks about how proud he is that they were so "green" in making this movie.

But I guess LGBT people didn't even warrant that level of concern from Carter & Spotnitz. This film has a PG-13 rating and so it'll be seen by many, many children around the world. Let 'em learn to hate (themselves or others) while they're still really young & impressionable. Good job.

Contrast the PG-13 rating that IWTB got with the "R" rating that "Ma Vie En Rose" received. Of course, that film does have something truly terrifying in it.... a little french boy in a dress!

Maybe I should just be happy that Carter didn't make the men cannibals, but I guess he had to save something for the next sequel.

Well, I'll just save the hundreds of dollars that I could have spent on all the X-Files movies & TV seasons. And that seems fair.

I wonder how soon "X-Files: Attack of the Transexual Cannibals from Outer Space" will be in theaters?

Note: In video stores, this little "gem" should be displayed in between "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and "Boat Trip."

This film is BAD on so very many levels, but as propaganda it works really well. Congrats!

.

I'm not about to pretend it's a perfect piece of filmmaking. It has flaws. The most significant of these seemed to be that the actors had a difficult time getting back into roles which hey had long ago left behind, and some of the distance was evident in this movie no matter how they tried.

The script, however, was wonderfully ambiguous, harking back to the best of the horror episodes from the series; the element of the supernatural was understated and the mood was carefully, finely wrought. The setting - probably Canada, but on-screen a snowed-in West Virginia - was gorgeous. I was pleased there were no hints of the overriding government conspiracies the show devoted itself to; they really had no place in this movie. It wasn't that sort of film. The effects were mostly very very nice indeed, neither overdone nor used excessively. The thing it most reminds me of is, oddly enough, the feel you get from the first "30 Days of Night" comic book, of darkness and winter and clarity.

It was beautiful and satisfying though, both as a character study and as a mystery. As a character study it did not do what fans wanted but it did stay absolutely true to the character's natures; Scully was never someone who had an easy time dealing with the darker side to life, despite her long-term exposure to it. Mulder was always drawn to it, searching it out and dealing with it easily.

As a mystery is was nicely creepy and well-thought out, illustrating the ways that Mulder and the FBI would take divergent paths which would eventually arrive at the same place, albeit at different times. The mainstream FBI, while still shown as quite hidebound given the internal logic of the series, isn't made out to be quite as incompetent as the show generally preferred to portray it, which is a gratifying change.

All in all I liked it; I may like it more on second viewing, it seems that sort of movie.