Review: The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)

[tom elce]

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
2.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Tom Elce
Directed by Chris Carter
Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly, Marci T.
House, Adam Godley, Spencer Maybee, Denis Krasnogolov, Mitch Pileggi,
Amanda Peet, Carrie Ruscheinsky, Callum Keith Rennie, Xzibit
Rated: PG-13 (MPAA), 15 (BBFC)

Everybody either wanted to believe, wants to believe or will want to
believe in "The X-Files: I Want to Believe." A second cinematic outing
for the long-running, popular television program that you can neither
love nor hate, the film is all over the place in terms of quality
throughout, either going in successfully creepy directions or (in the
ultimate revelations) ludicrous ones. Fans of the television show -
one which I watched only sporadically - will likely find something of
merit in the latest big-screen outing for Agents Fox Mulder (David
Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), though for anyone with
only fleeting interest in the show (or those entirely unfamiliar with
it), there's little to keep you hooked and nothing that really makes
you care. Not even the clunkily obvious music score (which literally
tells you what to feel and when throughout) has a minimal effect.

For fans of the series, there might be some interest in watching
Mulder and Scully re-team for their latest investigation, their
relationship dominating everything else in the screenplay by Frank
Spotnitz and series creator Chris Carter, for which the film's sub-
title becomes a catchphrase. Now boyfriend and girlfriend but still
with a distinct divide between them, Mulder and Scully - or more
specifically Mulder - are called in to help the FBI investigate the
recent disappearance of an agent, which proves connected to a series
of mysterious abductions, of which convicted paedophile priest Father
Joseph Crissman (Billy Connolly) claims to have visions.

Kept under wraps in the production stage, the closely-guarded plot to
"The X-Files: I Want to Believe" disappointingly proves to have little
of major surprise or interest about it. Mostly, the focus is on the
dysfunctional relationship between longtime partners Mulder and
Scully, now so lacking in subtlety that every exchange between the two
is all but guaranteed to be accompanied by melodramatic music. When
the expected supernatural elements momentarily take precedence over
these two, the film springs to life, Billy Connolly especially
stealing the show as the disgraced, psychic Father Crissman, whose
disputable visions might or might not be an attempt to gain some
forgiveness for his molesting of altar boys years prior. Why Carter
and Spotnitz felt the need to make him a paedophile, and thus make him
irredeemable no matter what transpires, is seemingly an attempt to
mask each character's lack of depth.

At least Carter shows a talent behind the camera, exquisitely shooting
the film's uniformly snow-covered landscape and composing a series of
technically sublime scenes throughout. The shallowness of the
collective production, however, overshadows the film's visual flair,
the efforts of Carter, cinematographer Bill Roe and editer Richard
Harris in the movie's aesthetic not making up for the story's lack of
pulling power. A scene in which a (expendable) supporting character
falls to their death is spectacularly rendered, but has no emotional
effect on the viewer because the person plunging to their death is too
poorly-developed for their death to really mean something. Conversely,
a late scene that pits Mulder in a compromising - possibly fatal -
position works much better, even if we know exactly how the scene will
end.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson effortlessly slip back into the
roles of Mulder and Scully, igniting the morose romantic plot Carter
has cooked up for them with their believable chemistry and acting
prowess. Duchovny essays Mulder as a reclusive man throwing himself
truly into his latest case, a flipside to Anderson's Scully, now a
doctor in a Catholic hospital with hopes of leaving her Bureau past
behind her. A subplot concerning her devotion to saving the life of a
gravely ill boy would make for something touching were the film not so
broad in its representation of it. Either way, Anderson commits to her
role, and convinces us that Scully's hard is more into her adopted
profession than her former one, which itself is seeming inescapable.

Supporting them are some recognizable faces, most notably comedian
Billy Connolly, reeling in his comic skill and portraying his Father
Joe as a man either experiencing authentic frightening visions, or one
simply trying to make up for his bad past choices. Amanda Peet essays
ASAC Dakota Whitney, who originally calls Mulder in, very well, though
the transparent emotional attachment she begins to develop for Mulder
feels insincere and unnecessary, in spite of the chemistry the two
share. Xzibit, finally, tries to play the part of the respectable
actor once more, though his performance is basically the same peeved
expression as Agent Mosley Drummy, whose main characteristic appears
to be constantly making the wrong decision.

As the film nears its conclusion and goes in increasingly unbelievable
directions while dispensing of the supernatural traits of the
preceding minutes, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" gains momentum but
fails to go anywhere of great quality. The finale winds up being a
dramatic heart-to-heart between Mulder and Scully, in which the former
makes about two unctuous monologues. Fans of the show and filmgoers in
general deserve better than what Chris Carter and company have cooked
up here, and the quality performances from Duchovny and Anderson can
compensate for only so many of the film's flaws.