I saw “X-Files: I Want To Believe” tonight and, being an X-Files fan, it was with some trepidation I sat down to watch this movie.

SPOILERS

Does it disappoint Yes, unfortunately it does.

The biggest problem this movie has, is that it’s not an X-Files story. Sure, it’s got a psycic in it (a former catholic priest who’s a convicted pedophile - nice touch) and of course Mulder and Scully, but other than that it’s a pretty straight forward generic thriller.

I understand the producers would want to take a step away from the alien invasion / government conspiracy storyline in order to reach out to a broader audience. But it was almost like they tried too hard to NOT make this movie related to the X-Files. That would have been okay if the story was really extraordinary which, however, in this case it is not. I think the producers made a mistake here. When a movie has “X-Files” in the title, moviegoers, I believe, expects something in tune with the TV-show and not a sadly average plot that has only a tiny bit of the paranormal to it.

When the movie picks up, after a fairly powerful opening scene, Scully is sent by the FBI to get Mulder (who is in hiding) to help them on a missing-agent case. The FBI has had some help on the case from the psychic I mentioned earlier. Scully, who’s now working as a doctor and trying desperately to save a young boy with a brain decease, doesn’t buy the psychic mumbo jumbo - Mulder of course does. Another woman is kidnapped and the chase hots up but this also puts a strain on Mulder and Scully’s relationship. Scully want’s to stay out of it and concentrate on being a doctor while Mulder is right back at being his good old self.

Somewhat surprisingly, the focus of the story is much more on Scully than Mulder - which is a good thing imo. cos’ Gillian Anderson has way more talent in the acting department than David Dochovny. Her quest to save the young boy is actually quite moving - obviously a throwback to the “loss” of her and Mulder’s son.

It turns out that the bad guys in this movie are actually Russians who are kidnapping people with a certain blood type in order to save a man (I never got why he was so important to them). The abductees are being used for, not organ transplants...but limb transplant.

That’s right.

That actually leads up to a very creepy scene near the end of the movie but the scene comes to late to save a movie that is paced waaaay to slow in my opinion. Not much happens in this movie - at least not something X-Files related.

All in all a disappointment - which was exactly what I feared. But it was good to those characters again (Skinner also makes cameo) and it turns out that Xzibit is actually a better actor than rapper.

The title “I Want To Believe” fits like a glove though. This is the essence of the story. Scully wants to believe in god - even though she questions him, and Mulder...well, Mulder just wants to believe period.

We watched this last night, and yes I was a little disappointed. So many questions left unanswered, the script was a bit of a mess to be honest, especially towards the end.

All in all an pretty average crime thriller that would not be out of place on a saturday night at home.



**BIG SPOILERS DOWN BELOW - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK**

Why women? I never got that. It was a man but for some reason all the body parts were women, was he trying to have a sex change?  Was this then the significance of the child molesting storyline? They never really explained why this was important and presumably this guy being a victim of a molester is now sexually messed up and wants to be a woman? Who was he?

What was Skinner doing? how did Scully get him out to them so quickly and why did he help them? If he likes them so much why was it not him who came out to get Mulder to help on the case?

They never explained anything in the end, really frustrating.

GM, I never thought of that! Indeed!! Why were all the body parts women?

Well, here's my two-cents.

I've never seen the X Files shows. My husband used to watch them all the time, but I was working or busy.

We went to see the movie together and we both enjoyed it. He said that it WAS like X Files and I value his opinion, not just for movies, but in everything-- he's a smart man. But digression aside...

I heard the same comment: "This wasn't like X Files!" from my daughter's boyfriend, who is a real sweatheart, but obviously didn't like the movie that much.

Here is my opinion:

I liked the movie, but I can't say whether or not it rings true to the TV show.

Here's why:

And for those who want to know if there's a spoiler here:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!

I liked the fact that the movie had a moral tale brewing underneath-- in two ways.

One, we've got the psychic pedophile, and although these aren't his exact words, this is basically what he says:

"I didn't create me. I hate myself. I hate what I am. I've prayed for forgiveness; I even castrated myself to fix the situation."

The pedophile hated what he was, but he couldn't help it and he continued to pray for his redemption.

For me, this holds true to my way of thinking, and though it's hard to accept, I believe that there's a gene for everything. There's a gene that makes people aggressive, there's a gene that makes people  prone to alcoholism, there's a gene that makes people sly, there's a gene that makes people gentle, there's a gene that makes people anxious, there's a gene that makes people prone to thievery and manipulation... and on and on and on...

The other moral theme that was running in the show had to do with stem cell research. We saw the bad side, but we also saw the good side. The two sidedness of the world was embedded into the script.

And probably, like in GM's case, other people will be able to find more than this. I have a feeling there's a lot more to this film than what I see on the surface.

Sandra

Quoted from Murphy Why women? I never got that. It was a man but for some reason all the body parts were women, was he trying to have a sex change?

I think it was because the body could only survive for a short period of time (after being decapitated), at least that what I got from those google searches Scully did. That means that time was of the essence and they simply just had to get a viable body - no matter the gender (remember the FBI found many bodyparts in the ice, they didn't say it was all women).

But I still don't get what was so important about him.

Quoted from sniper But I still don't get what was so important about him.

Maybe the importance was not disclosed so that we would ask: Why is he so important? Thus: the question mirrors back to the boy. The board at the hospital don't think he's important enough to keep there. Instead, put him in palliative care-- Let him die in peace.

Opposite: The man being kept alive in a Frankenstein like fashion. Where is there peace here? Women's body parts sewn on just to survive?

So maybe the real question we are asked to ask is: To what extreme do we go morally and ethically to keep someone alive?

When scully begins treatment on the boy at the end, it seems like a good ending, but is it?

Thank you for asking the question about "Why that guy is important?" I think maybe they didn't answer it for a reason. Maybe the answer is:

There is no reason except the value we put on a human life.

Sandra

I agree there's a duality of sorts in the two stories (the boy and the man - and there treatment) but the way both are relayed means, at least in my opinion, that they come across as two seperate storylines (almost like two seperate movies) which in my book doesn't work.

Also, and I had forgotten this yesterday, I believe Scully or Mulder says, in their final interogation of Father Joe, that "the man" lived with (as in gay) with the other guy (the one who was doing the kidnapping). That would explain why he was so important to them.

The guy who was transporting the organs was his lover.

It didn't wow me, but I liked it very much.  Enough to buy the DVD.  Gillian Anderson is always terrific as Scully, and Duchovny is great as Mulder.  This is without a doubt my favorite TV series of all time, with The 4400 a close second.

Yes, the trouble with this movie was that the pace remained constant.  Not very fast.  it didn't have much white-knuckle excitement to it.  I never really feared for anyone.  Oddly enough, not even Mulder as he was about to do a Thanksgiving Turkey impersonation.  I just knew Skinner or Scully would save him.  Yeah, you knew it was going to happen every episode of the show, but the beauty was in the way Chris Carter still made you worry.  It didn't happen here.  He didn't set it up right.

I'll still watch it more times, just because it's an X-Files show.

Hey guys and gals, I saw this last weekend...finally.  Also, a HUGE fan of teh series. I remember so well watching onm Friday nights, even though I was young and going out often.  Great stuff!

First movie was OK, but nothing great. 2nd sequel was just pretty weak.  Never reallay got into it, although I defintely tried.  Just too slow and lacking in action...and excitement.  The end was OK, but again, didn;t really deliver any punch.

Miss the old "monster episodes" from the mid 90's.

I think the franchise is about dead and run it's course.  We'll see.

I think it's time to pack it away.  I loved it, and would love for it to go on, but sometimes you just have to let go. . . .