Posted: Thursday 31st July 2008

A decade after the first movie and six years after the end of the television series, The X-Files is making a comeback on the big screen. After years in development and legal issues between the show creator Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox, the movie finally began filming in December 2007. The end result is The X-Files: I Want To Believe, a standalone movie that is aimed at widening the cult show’s audience by creating a story that doesn’t require you to have ever seen the series. I Want To Believe establishes Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) as having moved on from their former lives as FBI agents. Mulder is now in hiding following a trial accusing him of killing a man whom he couldn’t possibly have killed whilst Scully is a staff physician at Catholic hospital Our Lady Of Sorrows. After the abduction of FBI agent Monica Banan, Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet) contacts Scully to ask for her help in finding Mulder hoping he will come out of hiding to help solve the case. Reluctant at first Mulder worries he’s being trapped by the FBI but is soon persuaded by Scully that helping with the case will result in all charges against him being dropped. Working alongside ASAC Whitney and her partner Agent Mosley Drummy (Xzibit), Mulder is intrigued when he is introduced to Father Joseph Crissman (Billy Connolly), a convicted paedophile who claims to have psychic powers. With only Father Joe’s visions to help locate the missing FBI agent, Mulder is soon drawn back into a world of paranoia as he immerses himself in the case leaving Scully worried that she may lose her former partner, and now lover, to his obsessions.

I Want To Believe takes The X-Files in a different direction than we’re used to. The movie sits firmly in the serial killer thriller genre and moves away from the UFOs, aliens and conspiracy theories of the first movie. Whilst the movie does reference to specific moments from the nine-season series, it doesn’t alienate those viewers who may never have watched The X-Files. As a standalone movie I Want To Believe is an adequate and at times unsettling thriller. As a comeback vehicle for The X-Files it will definitely appeal to the hardcore fanbase the show still has years after its television demise. The movie successfully balances the main plot with an intriguing subplot involving Scully’s growing obsession with a terminally sick child at the hospital she now works in. Scully’s determination almost runs parallel with Mulder’s obsession and you realise that the two characters, whilst different in terms of their beliefs, are incredibly similar when you look at them closely.

Critics in the US have been unfairly harsh to the movie and early word here in the UK hasn’t been too kind either. Honestly we don’t understand the negative reaction this movie is receiving. Personally we enjoyed every moment of seeing Mulder and Scully back on screen together and felt that this movie could easily have slotted into any one of the nine seasons from the show’s original run. It contains all of the elements that made The X-Files so popular in the first place. Mulder and Scully’s chemistry is intact, the thrills and chills come thick and fast and the out of this world twist adds an extra edge of creepiness to the proceedings.

Don’t get us wrong, I Want To Believe isn’t without its flaws. A clumsy scene with Father Joe being tricked into believing he’s at a crime scene to test his psychic powers is almost laughable when he is adamant that the house he’s at isn’t the crime scene only to turn around to the correct house that is covered in police tape with ‘crime scene’ written all over it. The movie’s flaws are merely nit-picks and nothing so major that it ruins the enjoyment for the viewer.

I Want To Believe is bolstered by the strong performances from its two leads; David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Duchovny brings back the charisma and saracastic humour that made us fall in love with Mulder whilst Anderson displays an incredible depth and range as the oft-conflicted Scully. It was enjoyable to see the duo sparring onscreen as their beliefs begin to cloud their judgements. Duchovny and Anderson get adequate support from Amanda Peet and Xzibit. The actors do the best they can with underwritten parts but their characters are supposed to remind you of Mulder and Scully in the early years as they battle with their differing beliefs. The main difference here being that Peet’s ASAC Whitney is the believer and Agent Drummy is the sceptic. Billy Connolly also turns in a superb performance as psychic Father Joe. He plays the character with incredible fragility whilst managing to remain thoroughly creepy. We won’t ruin it for you but there’s a great surprise appearance from a character well-known in The X-Files universe and we nearly wet ourselves with excitement when the character appeared unexpectedly on the screen.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe is everything that this X-Files fan could have hoped for. With plenty of nods to the original series and strong character development for Mulder and Scully, the movie managed to disturb, entertain and intrigue us whilst scaring the life out of us at regular intervals. If you go to this movie expecting a continuation of the conspiracy-style stories then you’re going to be disappointed. If you approach it with an open mind then you’ll enjoy every minute of it. Ignore what the other critics are saying and believe us when we tell you this is a great movie. Fingers crossed that its box office performance allows for a new film in a couple of years time.