The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Chris Carter, 2008)

[luridedith]

Does anyone even know this comes out on Friday? How badly will this tank

Its really bizarre how zero promotion this movie is getting.

[mfunk9786]

It's probably going to open at about 4th... Step Brothers is going to outgross it, Mamma Mia may outgross it, and The Dark Knight is going to obviously continue to be at #1 for a few more weeks...

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Tosia Morris from Moviehole claims that it may be the best film of the year.

[Antoine Doinel]

I'm sure the studio is aware that the audience for the film is pretty limited. Only old fans of the show have any real interest in this, which is why they probably aren't going too hard with the marketing. I think their biggest mistake was opening this film in the dead of summer. This probably would've had a much better financial shot with a spring or even early fall release date.

[mfunk9786]

I'm not so sure about that - the summer opens them up to more midnight openings, which won't be overflowing but will attract X-Files nerds in droves, and the weekend after a gigantic release is a great way to get a niche audience in. Most people who would see an X-Files movie on its opening weekend will have already seen The Dark Knight at least once, and despite the fact that it's summertime, expectations for this won't be very high thanks to The Dark Knight being so huge.

[Zobalob]

Does anyone even know this comes out on Friday? How badly will this tank

Its really bizarre how zero promotion this movie is getting.

The trailer's running a lot in TV advertising slots here in the UK. It's being pushed quite noticably, if that's even a word.

[chaddoli]

Doesn't anybody here watch The Daily Show?

Commercials have been airing constantly. But I don't actually know anybody who cares.

[Finch]

It can't be a coincidence that so few reviews are being listed on imdb prior to release and foreign-language ones at that. My Spanish is non-existent but the German review states that the film is a great disappointment and feels like a drawn-out TV episode that offers nothing that hasn't been done in other films and TV shows, the X-Files included, before. I suspect the majority of reviews will be along the same lines, and frankly, I'm not surprised. The X Files hasn't aged well, and that includes the series' best years - I recently rewatched some episodes from the fourth season and, frankly, when you compare The X Files to HBO shows like Deadwood, Six Feet Under or The Wire, you realise how badly written The X Files is. The mythology? The most disappointing thing is you realise in hindsight that they actually didn't have a grand plan from the outset and just made it up as they went along. Even the standalone episodes aren't really that good, with a few exceptions like Home. This new film will be the final nail in the coffin.

[Antoine Doinel]

Well, Ebert really likes it (even though he does admit it's silly and poorly written).

Also interesting to note: Xzibit's real name is Alvin Joiner.

[lacritfan]

This new film will be the final nail in the coffin.

Gillian Anderson should guest star on Californication so she and David Duchovny can have hot graphic sex - that will be a nice big pile of dirt on top of the coffin.

Well, Ebert really likes it...

Apparently the director of My Brilliant Career and Little Woman has taken over the role of Scully

Mulder (David Duchovny) has left the FBI under a cloud because of his belief in the paranormal. Scully (Gillian Armstrong) is a top-level surgeon...

[domino harvey]

The ever-reliable Onion weighs in

And if you can't get enough Xzibit, he's starring in Chris Carter's next film too

[mfunk9786]

bombs away

[davebert]

I saw this with some friends on Sunday, we accounted for 50% of the audience (although it was 10am). I liked it, or rather, I really liked everything about it that didn't have to do directly with the weak-assed central plot. My wife and I are going through the TV series again to get ready for the film, and having spent hundreds of hours with these characters, it's nice to be able to spend more time with them. The whole thing has a certain melancholy tone to it that the aging probably brought on, but I like seeing Mulder and Scully happy after all those years.

Spoiler for those who don't want to waste money on tickets:

Spoiler

Mulder and Scully have now been living together for some time, practically common law married. Havin' sex and everything, no more romantic tension. Also, Mulder has a scruffy beard for the first half of the film. Also, if you stay until after the credits, you can see them rowing a boat happily in some tropical getaway.

I also really liked the introduced character of psychic Father Joe, who was well acted and brought out more of Scully's hilarious latent Catholicism. But the general lack of enthusiasm for the thrilling surgery/abduction plot made me wish we could get some motherfuckin' genetically-modified bees back up in the mix. A psychic and some crazy surgery is all we can think up for the paranormal? Boooooooo.

[Barmy]

Hmm, that spoiler seems inaccurate, in some respects, to me. Maybe I missed something.

Anyhoo, I have never seen any of the X-Files TV shows. I saw the first film and liked it. I thought the new one was excellent--no apparent CGI, no explosions, no SF/action film bullshit. Yeah, it's little more than a TV show on a big screen, but that was very absorbing to me. On DVD it may be unimpressive. Gillian Anderson is awesome.

B+

[davebert]

It's certainly inaccurate in that there is, of course, plenty of tension between their dueling personalities.

Duchovny said he would be down to play Mulder periodically, following the character as he ages. Chris Carter and the main stars were apparently in agreement to do a third film based on the 2012 storyline, but that depended on how the new film does. I'm not sure with their production budget and general lack of P/A what a "success" would be, but I still hope that third film gets made.

[indy81]

It's a sign of how desperate people are for "serious" summer movies that any decent reviews exist of this pretentious, poorly written mess. Other than Gillian Anderson's performance and some nice moments between Scully and Mulder, there is little to recommend. The formulaic "mad scientist" plot is utterly disposable and the supporting characters are nothing but plot devices.

I'd like to give Chris Carter and co. credit for focusing on character over plot, but I can't when the character arc consists of such banal, childish theological musings posing as profundity. Plus the thriller plot is deemphasized to the point where you can't possibly care what happens. There's probably enough here to keep hardcore fans slightly interested, but this has got to be the nail in the coffin for a franchise that has gone astray since its fourth season or so.

This is a film where Scully Googles "stem cell therapy", prints out a few pages, and within a couple of days is performing experimental surgery on a dying boy.

[Cosmic Bus]

This is a film where Scully Googles "stem cell therapy", prints out a few pages, and within a couple of days is performing experimental surgery on a dying boy.

For what it's worth, it felt like a scene or two was cut out, making this sequence sillier than it should've been. I got the impression the information was meant as a personal validation of the surgery and to present to the board of directors.

[Barmy]

It's a sign of how desperate people are for "serious" summer movies that any decent reviews exist of this pretentious, poorly written mess.

No, what's really sad is when pretentious, poorly written disposable comic book movies get 90% raves. X may be pretentious and poorly written, but at least it had perfs that were recognizably human. That is what has disappeared from the summer SF/action film genre. The fact that the Batman thread (I haven't read it, admittedly) has 27 pages in this forum is pathetic. Please, it's a cartoon.

[Mr Sausage]

Spoiler

Mulder and Scully have now been living together for some time, practically common law married. Havin' sex and everything, no more romantic tension. Also, Mulder has a scruffy beard for the first half of the film. Also, if you stay until after the credits, you can see them rowing a boat happily in some tropical getaway.

Spoiler

I don't think they were living together at the movie's start. First off, if they were, there wouldn't be any question about the FBI knowing where Mulder is. Second, when Scully goes to get him from his snow-bound cabin, she enters like a stranger, not an inhabitant, and their reuniting feels like it's taken place after some time. Also Scully only just now complains about Mulder's beard, which suggests it's new to her, not something she's been living with for a while. My guess: they were at one point living together, but haven't been for a number of years. Probably had something to do with whatever happened to that kid of theirs.

[Barmy]

Agreed with sausage on the spoiler part. I liked the way that scene just came out of the blue.

[davebert]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the Googling of the stem cell research, which was hilarious and embarrassing that any writer thought that was an adequate way to tie in the surgery images Scully discovers. And truth be told, I didn't really care about that kid at all, and felt it was the film's weakest time-suck of a subplot.

And while I'm complaining, the constant tundras made the Vancouver shooting just a little too evident. Also, Xzibit. That said, I still appreciate the movie's limited scope and the fact that when a character like Skinner reappears, it feels like he should be there, not that he was merely dragged out for the fans.

Finally, I guess I agree that I probably misread the spoiler scene and it is as you described, but I also didn't get the impression that the FBI were actively pursuing him so intensely that they would really gave a shit where he actually was, so long as he wasn't breaking into restricted-access UFO-holding military bases anymore. But I guess if they knew where Scully worked, they would logically know where and with whom she lived. I could have sworn she enters with her own set of keys and then places them on the counter, giving an air of being domestic partners (which if not in the beginning, I think they are assuredly heading that way by the end).

This is one of the key problems of seeing a movie at 10am and then letting Step Brothers vomit all over it 90 minutes later.

[Moviesnob]

Spoiler

I also got the vibe from the movie that they lived together. During their "break-up" scene Scully stated "I won't be coming home," leaving me to believe they've been making a home together for a while. They got together back while the series was on the air, and while they could have always broken up during the six-year gap between series and movie, I don't feel that happened. I don't feel they were apart, either.

[Mr Sausage]

Well Scully does ask him if he's been keeping busy, or something like that, and when he says he's good there's that pan up to the ceiling full of pencils. That's the kind of boredom that comes out of a period of isolation. Also, she has her own place.

It's nice that the movie didn't explain their current relationship, leaving it to the audience to piece it together instead. Gillian Anderson was impressive in her scenes with the ex-priest, too. I agree with Barmy: the silly plot (no less silly than any X-Files episode plot, really) is held firmly together by the human element. The movie is really about seeing what a couple of beloved characters are up to these days.

[MattXFLexicon]

As a longtime fan of the series, I have to admit, I merely liked it. The character interactions were the best part of it, but the actual X-File left me completely underwhelmed. I think it's safe to say, I probably am one of the few people here who is familiar with every season enough, to clarify for some, the references in the film, to those who have never watched a single episode.

I seem to be in the minority, other than a few friends, but I didn't mind the Scully sub plot regarding the dying boy. I think it was intended to illustrate, in her own way, Scully was as much of a renegade as Mulder, the lengths and risks she was willing to go to save a life, that they weren't reckless risks, but calculated risks, based on her instincts and judgment.

Yes, to another posters comment, I also feel it's implied the Mulder / Scully relationship has been on again / off again for the last five years.

Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz made the same mistake here, that was made with the first movie (FTF), they referenced the back story from the last three seasons, so naturally, non fans would be lost. It's a standalone that assumes you followed seasons 7 through 9.

To clarify, in a nut-shell, Mulder is abducted at the end of S7, Scully has become pregnant with his child before it happened. In S8, there's a search for him and by mid season, he's returned as an abductee in such a coma, he appears dead, buried, dug up, comes back to life, Mulder leaves the FBI, Scully gives birth. Mulder goes into hiding through S9, Scully's baby is endangered enough through S9 that she gives him up for adoption. At the end of S9, Mulder enters a NORAD military type instillation, skills a man in self defense and the military puts him on trial for killing a man who can't be killed. Mulder and Scully become exiles.

I'll also admit, the film plays like an extended episode, rather than having the scale a feature requires. Personally, I have to wonder if Carter was having write the final draft of the script based around that 30 Million budget.

I'd like to add, in defense of Chris Carter, most people who spend years working in television, the transition to helming a feature is a difficult one. I'd also like to point out, and while they're are exceptions to this point of course, for most first time directors, their debut feature films don't completely gel. That's more common than not, and so I feel he should be cut a little slack, IMHO.

If Fox does decide to green light another feature, I'm betting that Chris and Frank will have very limited involvement. I also have a hunch, the X-Files needs a present day Nicolas Meyer, but off the top of my head, I don't know who could shake things up with another feature to give this franchise a future. Any ideas?

[davebert]

Needs more Tooms!

[Barmy]

As I said, I've never seen any X-Files other than the 2 movies. I enjoyed both, and got bored with your backstory after the first 2 sentences. I don't feel a need for everything to be explained.