The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)

Director:

Chris Carter

Writers (WGA):

Frank Spotnitz (written by) and
Chris Carter (written by) ...

Release Date:

25 July 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Believe Again

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.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Priest | Psychic | Psychic Vision | Catholic

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Nov. 25

8:45 AM

HBO

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Amanda Peet	...	ASAC Dakota Whitney
Billy Connolly	...	Father Joseph Crissman
Xzibit	...	Agent Mosley Drummy (as Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner)
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Callum Keith Rennie	...	2nd Abductor - Janke Dacyshyn
Adam Godley	...	Father Ybarra
Alex Diakun	...	Gaunt Man
Nicki Aycox	...	2nd Victim - Cheryl Cunningham
Fagin Woodcock	...	1st Abductor - Franz Tomczeszyn
Marco Niccoli	...	Christian Fearon
Carrie Ruscheinsky	...	Margaret Fearon
Spencer Maybee	...	Blair Fearon
Veronika Hadrava	...	Female Assistant

Also Known As:

The X Files 2 (USA) (working title)
The X Files: Done One (USA) (working title)
The X-Files (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
The X-Files Movie (USA) (promotional title)
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (USA) (alternative spelling)
Untitled X Files Sequel (USA) (working title)
X-Files: Je veux y croire (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing content and thematic material.

Runtime:

104 min | USA:108 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English | Russian | Czech

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (uncredited)

Certification:

UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Ireland:15A | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Hong Kong:IIB | South Korea:15 | Germany:16 | USA:PG-13 (Approved No. 44443) | Netherlands:16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:15 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Italy:T | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | New Zealand:M | Peru:14 | Austria:14 | Denmark:15 | France:U (with warning) | Brazil:12

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

At the end of the scene where Scully is discussing the options for her patient with the hospital administrators, on the wall behind her are several photographs of priests. The last one is a photograph of actor Bruce Harwood who played John Fitzgerald Byers, one of the three Lone Gunmen from both "The X Files" (1993) and its spin-off series, "The Lone Gunmen" (2001).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Though the attacks occur in Somerset, West Virginia, in one scene shot from inside the victim's car, you can clearly see a Virginia State Police Inspection sticker.

Quotes:

Dana Scully: What are you doing?
Fox Mulder: Trying to ignore you.

Movie Connections:

References The X Files (1998)

Soundtrack:

Movin' On Up

Complex, dark and grim, with more questions than answers - but good

While this movie will not please casual theater-goers looking for mindless entertainment, exploding buildings and high speed car chases, it is an excellent and long-awaited episode in the classic X-Files television series. Fans of the series will enjoy it as an extended "monster of the week" episode, but people who aren't familiar with the show can still enjoy this work on its own merits - though only if they're prepared to go a bit outside their comfort zone. There is nothing comforting or even comfortable about this movie.

In grand X-Files tradition, the movie raises as many questions as it answers, and it asks some very disturbing and thought provoking questions. Can God truly speak for good through a disgraced and defrocked priest? Does his counsel actually save a sick child, or only cause needless suffering? Is the advice meant to apply to Scully's situation at all, or Mulder's, or to both of them? As usual, the answers are left for the fans to think about. And it does make you think. That apparently isn't an easy or comfortable exercise for critics, which is unfortunate as I think many of the negative reviews have entirely missed the point.

Mulder and Scully are unrelieved grim and gloomy throughout, preoccupied with the sad and sometimes truly horrific events happening all around them. This shouldn't surprise X-Files fans any, but it was undoubtedly a factor in the critics panning the movie. As always, Mulder and Scully can still depend on each other, though the tensions between them threaten to pull them apart. I would have liked to see even a few brief moments of Scully's satisfaction at accomplishing something for good with her current situation, but even that was denied in favor of a despairing vision of the darkness surrounding them. In fairness, there is a ray of light at the end of that tunnel, though it takes quite awhile for the movie to get there.

The only really atrocious flaw I found in the movie was having a presumably highly skilled professional sit down to research a complex and advanced operation on Google the night before performing it. Granted, showing Google is big screen shorthand for "this person is doing research online", but that's definitely the wrong place to do it.

This said, the movie was greatly enjoyable. It was a thinker's movie, a cop crime drama with a gritty real-world feel that asks uncomfortable and provoking questions about the nature of God and man. It would make an excellent book with some real literary merit, which is not something that can be said about very many movies. I give it a big thumbs-up and recommend it to people who want some serious thinking with their crime drama.