Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson. Written by Chris Carter,
Frank Spotnitz. Directed by Chris Carter. (14A) 104 min. Opens July 25.
Much has been made of the measures taken by Chris Carter to keep plot details about this long-gestating bit of brand extension from spilling on the internet. One wonders if he’ll try to suppress all the negative reviews he’ll get now that people have actually seen the thing.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a major disappointment, though it’s not uninteresting in the way it deflates expectations. Hardcore fans and casual fans alike wondered which angle Carter would take in restarting the franchise: more of the series' alien mythology? A balls-out monster mash? Jose Chung-style spoofery? No. The director has opted for option D: an earnest, semi-lucid position paper on the merits of stem-cell research.
The film pivots on FBI agent/physician Dana Scully’s dilemma: should she subject a terminally ill young patient to a painful series of radical tests that might save his life? Her reservations — which have at least a little to do with her loud ’n’ proud theism — is none-too-subtly juxtaposed against the efforts of a gay Russian organ trafficker to save his failing husband’s life through highly unconventional means.
Meanwhile, the now righteously bearded Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is on hand to try to draw his former partner (and, apparently, current bedmate) away from the first crisis and towards the second. Scully is none too enthused to be back on the paranormal beat, and incensed that the FBI’s star witness (Billy Connolly) appears to be a phony psychic in addition to being a disgraced priest.
There’s no shortage of interpersonal intrigue. There is, however, a marked dearth of the stuff that makes good thrillers: pace, action, jolts, compelling villains, etc. Carter is a mediocre director, and his barely-functional camera set-ups exacerbate the dullness of the proceedings — a late action sequence is staged so poorly it comes off as comic. The choice to tell a small-scale story with movie-sized resources, meanwhile, is bold on one level but also leaves one wondering whether this distended story would have even worked in the hour-long format.