The X-Files: I Want to Believe

As a huge X-Files fan who was expecting something impressive from this new film, I was left pretty disappointed. It’s not a bad film but I would’ve hoped they could pull off something better with the time afforded to writing the script and with the film shoot coming back to beautiful British Columbia.

Instead what we got was a very simple story barely worthy of an X-Files TV episode and a subplot with only a tenuous link to the main plot. There was some stuff to like about it though. The film didn’t get bogged down in trying to fill in the gap of the last six years, the Mulder & Scully relationship was kept understated and it adequately dealt with issues of belief, faith, morals, etc. among the main characters. Some of the outdoor scenes in the snow were nicely shot and there were a lot of night scenes, reminiscent of the television episodes. I also loved all the little nods to the ardent fan. Since seeing the film I’ve even read about a couple more injokes that I hadn’t noticed. It was also fun to recognise some of downtown Vancouver in one scene.

The film had a supposed $30m budget and will need to top that comfortably in box office takings if Fox are to greenlight another film in the franchise. For an opening day release, the theatre I was in had a good crowd but was nowhere near sold out (unlike the myriad Batman showings over the last week).

I really hope we get a third X-Files as it will probably go back to dealing with the overall mythology arc of the show, particularly with 2012 being set as a pivotal year in the show’s storyline some time ago. But that hypothetical film would require a bigger budget and I fear that it might not happen.

Anyway, I give ‘I Want to Believe’ 5 crumbs out of 10.

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