Since some years, there is a trend in the movie industry to make comebacks for nostalgic TV series and old films. While we have seen some which were successful like TMNT and Transformers, some others were disappointing or flat-out awful. So 10...
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Since some years, there is a trend in the movie industry to make comebacks for nostalgic TV series and old films. While we have seen some which were successful like TMNT and Transformers, some others were disappointing or flat-out awful. So 10 years after the first movie, and 6 years after the original series ended, we finally get a sequel with The X-Files: I Want to Believe. But what we have here is only a bad sequel that would even be considered weak as a single episode. Ex-FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder (which is wanted by the organisation) are now called again to find an agent that disappeared without leaving any trace. In fact, the only person that can help them to find her is the priest of the village, Father Joseph Fitzpatrick Crissman, which has vision of the events. But the problem is sadly bigger than it looked.

Now at first glance, it looks like The X-Files: I Want to Believe stays true to the roots of the original. Both main characters are back and both are in charge of a strange affair. And apart from that, there’s nothing else. If those two characters were not the ones of the series, the movie would only be a simply bad science-fiction movie. The biggest reason for this is the movie’s serious flaw: you will never find any alien in this movie. I’m not kidding, there is none. Still, when you think about The X-Files for a second, you automatically think about aliens. I know that not all the episodes of the TV series were based on extra-terrestrial life form, but come on. This is a film based on The X-Files, so don’t come with a disappearance story that will never bring us to anything about space, even anything that we care about.

The rest of the plot is made with back stories, about the patient of Scully and the relation between her and Mulder. None of them are really interesting, and they feel like their only goal is to keep you from the action (if there is any in the first place). Sure the ending has something to do with one of the back stories, but it doesn’t change the fact that you get bored really easily through the entire film with plot that you never care about.

The only place where we can say without a doubt that they didn’t screw up is that we get both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as the main characters of the movie. But still, they don’t seem to want to be here. I think they want to do something else, and that for them The X-Files are all behind. The rest of the casting is also mediocre. Amanda Peet and Billy Connolly are not convicting at all in this movie. Sadly, there is someone even worse. You might not see his name on the card up here, but he is really in this movie. The casting responsible for The X-Files: I Want to Believe thought it was a great idea to get for this film a certain Xzibit. Yes, the guy from Pimp my Ride is here and he really proved to us that he’s a terrible actor. It’s just impossible to believe this guy. I mean, the other movie I’ve seen him in was Gridiron Gang, and it looked like he was shooting a public service announcement. The biggest mistake for him was to give this guy the role of the **** FBI agent that quickly annoys everyone. But hey! The main actors from the original series are there! At least it’s better than the last season.

The ending is, again, as bad as the rest of the movie. At the exception that here, you’ve completely lost any hope about The X-Files: I Want to Believe being good. What they end up doing is wrapping up the main plot and the back stories and they even make a connection between two of them. We also finally have the answer to the replacement to the aliens. And they fail at both. I won’t say what’s the ending but it’s far from great. Far from it.

While most of the comebacks that we see at the cinemas are made to please the fans, I feel like The X-Files: I Want to Believe was simply a quick cash-in. Yes, it’s maybe sad to think about it, but nothing was done right here. It’s missing what a good X-Files movie should have and what we have for replacement isn’t much. In the end, it’s easy to get bored, and it seems like ex-FBI agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder feels the same way.

This is a tremendous film---thoughtful, restrained, and brave. It just doesn't have the summer thriller/adventure special effects and it doesn't spoon feed the audience a cute or clever, easily digestible script. It requires real thought, which...
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This is a tremendous film---thoughtful, restrained, and brave. It just doesn't have the summer thriller/adventure special effects and it doesn't spoon feed the audience a cute or clever, easily digestible script. It requires real thought, which might be a tall order for summer. For the people that loved the X-Files for the timeless themes, compelling characters, and the interwoven intellectual perspectives on both the supernatural phenomena and the nature of belief, etc., this movie is completely refreshing. Chris Carter said from the start that this one wouldn't involve aliens or the series' mythology, so why people expect it is a mystery. IWTB is absorbing, provocative, and entertaining for those that want to pay attention and think about the connections within the stories. The cinematography is visually alluring and perfect for the purpose of the narratives, too. Love it.

humm I was hoping for more. The majority of the episodes had a better storyline than this movie. I went straight home and watched 'Chinga' (5x10) to cheer myself up.

Please do better with the next movie?

Thank God for a Summer movie that has ACTORS - Dialogue, and focuses on storyline instead of CGI.
Chris, write X-Files 3 and continue the feel of the television show and the heck with the Critics.
I Believe!