Saturday, July 26, 2008

Blue Sky Disney Review: X-Files: I Want To Believe...





I've been a huge "E-Files" fan since the first episode. I watched almost every episode and hated seeing the series crash and burn the final few seasons. I thought the first X-Files film was really good, not great, but a good way to start what could have been a franchise series of films to compliment the television series. Unfortunately as the show seemed to twist in the wind the last few seasons and that awful final episode that left a bad taste in my mouth, I began to doubt Chris Carter could continue with more films. It seemed he had ran out of ideas and was coasting on the success of the show. When year after year unfolded with rumors or scant news about a new movie I figured it was done. Over.

Then last year they announced there would be a new film. A new X-Files film, I mean... It was shooting before you knew it and I was curious to see what kind of tale Carter and the cast had in store for us.

After seeing the film, I can tell you one thing for sure...

We've seen the last of the X-Files. It's over. It's buried. Was it really that bad? Actually, no. I had heard a lot of negative vibes about this film and went in dreading Carter was going to do to Mulder and Scully what Spielberg and Lucas did to Indy... But he didn't. He also didn't deliver what he needed to for this series to continue on as a film franchise, though.

I could basically sum it up to say that I paid to see the final episode of the TV show. It was well written. It was well acted(although Scully was a little stiff). It was well directed(except for a lazy shot during the credits that bugged me). But it wasn't what fans of the show were or should expect after waiting so long for a new film. It would have been nice to have had the show end kind of like this because it would have been a much better ending that what we got on the show, but as a film it's rather lacking.

I know some people are saying it's a "Monster of the Week" type film, but it's not. It's more of a serial-killer detective movie with almost no sci-fi element to it. That is going to be a big problem for the fans going in right there. It's almost like Carters said, the X-Files are over and now Fox and Dana are going to just do normal investigations. I know the show had some horror episodes, but even they were pretty deep into the geeky culture of paranormal. Not in this film. There is a small scientific element to it that could be considered in this vein, but it's a major stretch.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD...

The story involves a missing female FBI agent and a disgraced priest that happens to have visions of her. Even though the bureau tried to discredit Mulder, an agent has him brought in to validate if the priest is genuine or a fraud. Mulder gets hooked in as Scully is trying to focus on their lives outside the FBI.

There are a series of missing people and the hunt is more like that for a serial-killer than a scary monster... it's not a bad film. It actually would've made a good episode. Just not one of the best episodes. Think of this as a "Silence of the Lambs/Dr. Frankenstein-lite story. It did serve as a much more fulfilling ending than the actual finale, but truthfully... what wouldn't?

It's a character piece. There's some interesting scenes with Mulder and the rest... there's even a cameo by one of the original cast members that I thought they were going to leave out. But there are no set pieces. No big action/dramatic scenes like you would expect in a big motion picture released in the summer. If you're going to take a really good show and transfer it from television to film you have to take the story into a higher plane, otherwise what is the purpose? There are truly a great deal of episodes from the show that would have made a great film...

This one deserves to be on the tube. I have a feeling that I've seen the last episode of the X-Files and sadly I don't want to. But the film makers gave us a pedestrian story and expecting us to shell out our hard earned dollars for it. That works for something like "The Dark Knight", which I've seen more times than I want to admit... it doesn't work for a movie like this. The reason we love these characters is that they're great characters, but they also live in such rich, compelling stories that we keep coming back to see more. I kept waiting for the commercials to start running...

That didn't happen when I watched the original show and that's one of the problems here. I know we've all wanted and waited to see another X-Files film, but is this what Chris Carter waited so long to do?

This is a mystery to me... perhaps we should call in Mulder and Scully to solve it?

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