The X Files: I Want to Believe Movie Review

The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)

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Written by: Frank Spotnitz & Chris Carter, Chris Carter (television series "The X-Files")
Directed by: Chris Carter
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet, Xzibit, Mitch Pileggi, Callum Keith Rennie
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
Mulder and Scully are called back to duty by the FBI when a former priest claims to be receiving psychic visions pertaining to a kidnapped agent.

Verdict
When it released and brought these characters back it was a nice nostalgia trip. Beyond that the story is flimsy, mostly there's the question of why any of this occurs. We don't get that answer and this story's aim seems to be gross, mysterious, and strange. The unexplainable aspect of this are the doctors and patient Mulder and Scully are chasing. Without clear goals from the antagonists, the story doesn't have a foundation. This wanted to create a mood and the story suffered.
Skip it.

Review
This movie came out well after the series concluded, acting as a standalone episode. I didn't like it when it was released, my recollection being I was disappointed that it wasn't very supernatural.

I started watching the series midway through the second season as it aired and through season eight. I later bought the entire DVD set and watched all nine seasons. I watched through the seasons a second time, and have seen some seasons three or four times. I saw both movies when they released. I watched the X-files mini-series, excited to see the show again despite my misgivings. While no episode was even above average, it was a fun nostalgia trip. Unfortunately the series was brought back for an eleventh season. Certainly the newer seasons have a different style from the original, but it made Mulder and Sculler more action heroes that investigators.

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny play Dana Scully and Fox Mulder

The draw of this movie was seeing Mulder and Scully six years after the series ended. It's not often you get to revisit a series this long after it ended, though that has become more common lately. I never expected ten years after this movie the pair would be back in the series revival. 

This opens with an abduction intercut with a canvassing search. A psychic helps the FBI find evidence, though I'm not sure Agent Whitney (Amanda Peet) should bare hand evidence.

Amanda Peet and Xzibit play Dakota Whitney and Mosley Drummy

Scully (Gillian Anderson) is a doctor. She always threatened to do it back in the series. The FBI wants to talk to Mulder (David Duchovny), contacting Scully who denies knowing his whereabouts. Mulder is wanted and hiding out. He's still tracking the unexplainable. Of course Scully knows exactly where he is. She appeals to his empathy to help the FBI. There are plenty of callouts to the series in Mulder's house, including the poster, sun flower seeds, pencils in the ceiling, and a picture of his sister.

This is a strange case where a disgraced priest claims to be a psychic. We get two agents, Whitney and Drummy (Xzibit) to get Mulder and Scully back in the FBI. I get why they're present, but it's an extra layer that doesn't do much. Whitney is a bit of a believer with Drummy playing a hard line skeptic. His role is to specifically condemn anything supernatural.

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny play Dana Scully and Fox Mulder

While Scully pushed Mulder to take the case initially, she asks him to stop when she thinks the situation is getting out of control. The disgraced priest affects them both. Mulder thinks he may have found a psychic, while Scully can't forgive a priest that was convicted of such heinous crimes.

The supernatural elements are relegated to the psychic. The crimes themselves are just weird. The scientists performing strange experiments was a staple of the series, but in this case the patient is willing. I don't know why he's willing or what he's gaining. Why are these doctors operating out of a barn, and how does the whole illegal organ harvesting play into this? I don't know the point of this. This manages to link the patient and priest, but it's tenuous at best. Scully is the one that discovers the crazy experimenting doctor, but that's even more contrived. I suppose this does feel like an X-file, but this is disappointing. I can only guess this was an attempt to create a movie franchise with the agents chasing monsters, but it's not the best first step.