"The X-Files" television series ran for 9 years between 1993 and 2002. For the first 6 years or so I was a huge fan. I think that I lost interest in "The X-Files" at about the same time that David Duchovny did, although I kept watching due to some kind of misplaced loyalty. Was Duchovny staying in the series? Was Duchovny leaving the series? Who the hell knew? He kept popping up to tease the audience.
By the time "The X-Files" finally finished, I was kind of relieved. I didn't have to stay in on a Thursday night anymore (phew!) and, anyway, it had gotten kind of boring.
Then, last year, they announced that there was going to be a second "X-Files" movie and that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson would both be on board. Hmm... OK. Might be intriguing? What did become of Mulder and Scully after the events of "The Truth"?
Sadly "The X-Files: I Want To Believe" isn't intriguing. Not at all. In fact, and it pains me to say this, I really wish they hadn't bothered to make the film at all.
It was nice catching up with Mulder and Scully: Both of them older, but obviously still the same characters, with the same sexual chemistry. The bizarre casting of comedian Billy Connolly, as a tormented ex-priest suffering from visions, worked really well and he was good. Surprisingly, maybe, so was Amanda Peet as the leader of an FBI task force, who wants to involve Mulder in the case at hand.
But, "The X-Files: I Want To Believe" comes across as nothing more than an extended episode of the television series, and not an especially notable one. Way too low key and quiet. Plodding, not exciting, and with barely a reference to the extensive mythology of the television series. In fact, other than the main characters, "The X-Files: I Want To Believe" could have been any FBI procedural movie with a supernatural/sci-fi bent.
"The X-Files: I Want To Believe" was a big disappointment. Possibly one expected by the studio who, in their wisdom, decided to release it opposite "The Dark Knight". Frankly, no contest.
