The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)

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.

Director:

Chris Carter

Writers:

Frank Spotnitz, Chris Carter

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully both worked at the FBI as partners, a bond between them that led to their becoming lovers. But now they're out of the FBI and have begun new careers. Scully works as a staff physician at a Catholic hospital. Her focus these days is on a young boy with an incurable brain disease. Administration wants to give up on him. Scully, who feels a special bond with the boy, does not. Meanwhile, Mulder's focus is on clipping newspaper articles, throwing pencils into his ceiling and writing about the paranormal. Scully and Mulder are brought together as partners again when a special case requires Mulder's expertise and Scully is prevailed upon to convince him to help. The case involves a pedophile priest who claims he is having psychic visions regarding the whereabouts of a missing FBI agent.

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Plot Keywords:

fbi | psychic vision | psychic | priest | staff physician | 

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Taglines:

It's time for Mulder and Scully to believe

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English Russian Czech

Release Date:

25 July 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The X Files 2

Filming Locations:

10112 208 St, Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,021,753, 27 July 2008, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$20,981,633, 5 October 2008

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$68,369,434, 29 March 2010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Ten Thirteen Productions, Dune Entertainment III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 108 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (uncredited) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Scully first visits Mulder in their rural home, Mulder is tacking up a story titled "Princeton closes ESP Lab after 40 years of paranormal study" This refers to a real-life event. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research facility (PEAR) closed in 2007 after school administrators felt continued funding was unjustified. The lab's original mission was to investigate possible phenomena for the defense industry, such as if the minor electrical field present in the human body could interfere with sensitive electrical equipment when the body was placed under extreme stress (ex. a fighter pilot involved in a dogfight causing his controls to malfunction). While the lab failed to provide conclusive evidence that such things could happen, large-scale experiments showed a statistically detectable influence. Other PEAR experiments included such things as remote perception.

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Goofs

Near the end of the movie, when Scully visits Mulder's house, her Ford Taurus is parked outside. When Scully and Mulder emerge from house and talk next to the car, it's a Ford Fusion.

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Quotes

Dana Scully: Yeah, well, it's been fun.
Fox Mulder: Scully? Nobody's gonna make you sit next to him.
Dana Scully: Thanks, but I've already been taken for a ride. Anyway, he doesn't want me there.
Fox Mulder: I want you here.
Dana Scully: This isn't my life anymore, Mulder. I'm done chasing monsters in the dark.

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Crazy Credits

During the opening when the 20th Century Fox logo comes on and fades away, the X in "FOX" lingers a little longer and is the last letter to fade off.

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Alternate Versions

The DVD release includes a "Director's Cut" of the film, which runs about 4 minutes longer. According to David Duchovny, this version includes some more graphic / disturbing scenes that Chris Carter did not use in order to avoid an R-Rating.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The X-Files: I Want to Believe/American Teen/Brideshead Revisited/Step Brothers/Boy A (2008)

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Soundtracks

Broken
(2007)
Written by Gavin Clarke (as Gavin Clark), James Lavelle, Richard File and Christopher Allen Goss (as Chris Goss)
Performed by Unkle (as UNKLE) featuring Gavin Clarke (as Gavin Clark)
Courtesy of Surrender All Ltd.
By Arrangement with Zync Music Inc.

User Reviews

Better than your average MOTW...

The Good: - Duchovny, Anderson, and Connelly all deliver excellent performances. Mulder and Scully are still fun to watch. - The atmosphere of the show is very much kept intact. - The surprise appearance of a series regular is a great addition to the finale of the movie. - The Scully Subplot was done very well. - The few action sequences are well done. - It explains what happened to Mulder and Scully.

The Bad: - Xzibit's character is as one dimensional as a piece of paper. - The plot is very weak due to it being incredibly simplistic. - It's slow pace will turn off many. - It feels made for T.V, almost exactly like an episode from season 7. They should've made it a 2 hour special on T.V instead. - It's way more of a Drama film than a Sci Fi thriller, which is misleading since the previews showed otherwise.

Overall: I had mixed thoughts when leaving the theater. Though it was slightly disappointing and underwhelming, it was still a good movie, especially for X Files fans. Duchovny and Anderson have not lost a step and deserve either another season to close up the series or another movie. I'm leaning more towards the former, as the movies have illustrated that Carter excels far more in a T.V environment.