The X-Files: I Want to Believe

You can bet that I was extremely nervous as I headed in to see the new X-Files movie, after having read negative review after negative review in the days leading up to its premiere. As you may recall from my post about the 1998 X-Files Expos last week, I was quite a fan of the television series. From the picture on the right, you can see that I had my mini-Mulder with me for moral support in case the film was awful (and yes, I had him on my lap so that he, too, was able to watch the movie).

First, the bad news. The movie was not great. My husband called it "crap," but I think he was just jealous that I shouted out "YESSSSS!!!!!" when clean-shaven Mulder appeared on the screen (early in the movie he looked a little rough, so I was worried). But anyway, we both agreed that the pacing of the movie was way too slow, that we were flat-out bored at several points, and that they could've written a much better plot in the six years since the series went off of the air.

The good news is that I'm still glad I saw it, and it in no way ruined my fond memories of the TV show. Mulder and Scully continue to rock the house and all of the acting in the film was fine--quite frankly it just felt good to be reunited with those beloved characters once again. And it wasn't like the storyline was totally lame or anything... it's just that the action was too spread out and they probably could've chopped off at least 20 minutes or so from the 105 minute running time.

While I had been worried about the addition of Amanda Peet and rapper Xzibit (seriously?) as two new FBI agents, they weren't really in it that much and didn't annoy me when they were, so that was a big relief. Finally, there were a few nods to the series (one that made me especially happy toward the end) that helped piece a few things together for long-time fans. Overall, however, it was a "stand-alone" story that anyone could understand, even if they never saw the show.

If you loved the series as I did, though, you should stay seated until the end of the credits so as to leave the theater on a slightly happier note.

The bottom line is that I can, in good faith, recommend the movie to anyone who watched the show religiously--just set your expectations accordingly and know that the movie doesn't even come close to being as good as some of the best episodes in the series' nine-season run. If you never watched the show, however, or watched it on and off but weren't outright obsessed with either Mulder or Scully, then you should probably skip it... at least on the big screen.

The thing I'm most disappointed about is that since the movie hasn't wowed the box office (it made $10 million over its opening weekend, and had a $30 million budget...), I fear that plans for the third movie, revolving around the alien invasion and possible end of the world on December 21, 2012, may be scrapped. I honestly think that movie would be awesome, because who better to handle the extreme paranoia that's going to be engulfing the world that year than Chris Carter? They've got a few years to convince The Powers That Be in Hollywood to still move forward with it. "I want to believe" that it will happen! Hee, hee.

I leave you with semi-relevant pictures of my dog and mini-Mulder--they had never met each other until this weekend. At first my dog appeared upset at the little FBI agent, but then, as happens with most everyone, he grew to love him.

Long Live Fox!





- e