The X-Files: I Want to Believe: Review By P.A.C.K. '75

If you were a fan of the series when it originally aired you will appreciate the film. If not, hmm… maybe wait to rent it. I was a fan from day one and was very excited to see Mulder and Scully back in action. And Mulder and Scully are great to watch again, but the film is a slow-paced, disconnected mess.

Without the mythology (Mulder’s UFO obsession, the dark gov’t conspiracy) storyline to anchor “The X-Files: I Want to Believe”, we get nothing more then a 104 minute episode, which we might have seen in season 3 or 4. Even if they didn’t watch the X-files when it was on, audiences know about the UFO stuff from just the hype and publicity surrounding it. And those that did watch know that Mulder’s obsession was the pivot point of the whole show. [sigh]

Highlights for those of you that do go; Amanda Peet (“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”), perky and doe-eyed as ever as the FBI agent who brings Mulder in from the cold. And Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner, that’s right “Pimp My Ride” Xzibit, who turns in a believable performance also an FBI agent.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson slip effortlessly into the roles that made them stars. It’s a lot of fun to have them together again, believer and skeptic, bearing the emotional scars of their battle against black oil, super soldiers and the Cigarette Smoking Man.

It’s perhaps the weight of these performances, the character's emotional baggage and nine years of mythology that bring the entire picture to a near halt before it’s even half over.

Glad I paid the matinee price, and here's hoping that we see the truth revealed on December 21, 2012. I give “The X-files: I Want to Believe” a C.