Studio: 20th Century Fox Genre: Horror •
Thriller •
Scifi Street Date: December 2, 2008 Director: Chris Carter Number of Discs: 3 MPAA Rating: PG-13 Cast: • David Duchovny
• Gillian Anderson
• Amanda Peet
• Billy Connolly
• Xzibit Running Time: 104 minutes Format: DVD Specs: Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Color
Audio: ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC], SPANISH: Dolby Digital Surround, FRENCH: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish Special Features: Disc One:
- Includes Both the Theatrical Version and Extended Cut of the Film
- Audio Commentary by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
- Chris Carter: Statements on Green Production Featurette
- Body Parts: Special Makeup Effects Featurette
- Gag Reel: On-Set Antics and Bloopers
- "Dying 2 Live" by Xzibit
- Deleted Scenes and Still Galleries
Disc Two:
- Trust No One: Can The X-Files Remain a Secret? Documentary
Disc Three:
- Digital Copy of The X-Files: I Want to Believe for Portable Media Players Version: Standard Store Exclusives: N/A Review: X-Files was one of those shows I was really into during its run. Oh sure it had it’s moments of sheer frustration but I held firm that it would all pan out in the end and that it was more about the entire ride. I held on to this belief even when Duchovny left the show and things got really awful. I had faith because when the show was strong it was really great story telling and left you hanging on its multiple loose ends.
Wait let me take this from another angle for a moment; I have this ongoing theory about women (yes this is going to get a tad sexiest and vulgar) that basically if a girl brags about her skills in the bedroom and how wild she can be the odds are that she’s got little to no skill and you’ve just wasted more time than you should have finding that fact out. Oh sure it’s was a mildly amusing getting to her there but overall you just feel let down.
That is how this movie feels; fans have put in their time wooing and getting wooed but the end result is just a big fat ass disappointment.
Now if the idea of “I want to believe” was to continue on the same course and keep the mystery alive and to keep on making movies that would be fine by me but that isn’t what this film sets out to do and there is nothing that happens during the 104 minutes that makes much sense or is worth watching. The story is so sloppy and lame on top of horrible acting and direction that I cannot figure out what they were even attempting to get done here.
Lets pause again; a month before this came out in theaters I was sent a nifty little 2 disc set called Revelations that was suppose to be hand picked episodes that would act as a sort of primer for the new movie. Episodes that were supposed to have something clue to the film. I was jazzed; the collection was solid and pretty eclectic. I watched each and every episode on the set and was all set to see the movie. I even got it set up where I’d see the film when I got off the plane in San Diego for Comic-Con (since I’d miss the screening back home), I was NOT going to miss this movie! However when I got to SD I heard from 10 different other critics I respect and they all had the same bad news: The movie is awful. I decided to skip the movie until I got back since Revelations came with movie cash. Well the movie came and went so fast I didn’t get a chance so I waited for the DVD and hoped the extended cut would fix whatever it was those critics saw.
I’m not even sure where to explain this hot mess; but I think mostly I take issue with the fact that X-Files hasn’t had anything new in so many years and THIS is what they decided to come out with? A story about a pedophile who has a psychic connection with some missing persons case that turns out to be part of some silly Russian body part replacement program? Really? What’s worse is that I think they forgot how to write Mulder and Scully, they don’t even feel like the same characters we last saw and nothing in this movie really touches on where these two should be at or what drives them. Mulder spends most of the film in a daze and Scully spends too much time working as a doctor on things that don’t matter in the plot (though it might have a point about faith it’s over done and has little value) at all.
What’s worse is how this thing jumps around and how sloppy this whole thing is people come up with clues that have little to no explanation of how they arrived at the result. It’s like five people playing a game of Clue and everyone gets bored and starts cheating. It’s frustrating and we all know these guys can do better work.
Normally I don’t like to say “Hey see this or don’t watch this” I try to just give you an idea of what you are in store for without spoiling and let you decide if its worth your time. But in this case I’m going to say if you’ve been a fan of the show you may want to leave your love for it intact and just skip it, but odds are if you are a fan you’ll go for it anyway.
Oddly for people who love those many direct to video thrillers and are not a fan of The X-Files you might actually like it, its Steven Seagal free and as a stand alone flick might be ok.
In an interview Frank Spotnitz said they would still like to have another movie to wrap things up and give things a bit of closure, which even now I am still up for I do doubt Fox will go for given how this one crashed and burned. Sad part is X-Files could have been a good franchise for them at one point but now it’s pretty much done and the X-Files are closed. Buy It Now: Rating:
