Movie Review: X-Files: I Want To Believe

The long awaited X-Files second movie came out this past weekend, X-Files: I Want To Believe, and it was released at least eight years too late.  The television series that it was based on had long since gone through the sunset of shows that had "jumped the shark" as they say.  I was a fan of the series even after it had skidded completely off the road and exploded like a pirate bear in a microwave.  I watched the first movie, which was "o.k.", but at least it fit into the context of the TV series mantra of mystery mixed with conspiracy.  This movie takes us to the present day so many years have passed for Scully (Gillian Anderson who now is forever typecast in this role) and Mulder (David Duchovney who now is forever typecast in this role) with no clear explanations on how they got there.  It's like watching a DVD starting at scene 12 of the movie and then trying to figure out what had happened in the previous eleven chapters.   The movie's attempts at clarifying how we got here were feeble at best for those who are aware of the TV series and totally obscure for those who are not.  So in this sense, the movie was doomed from the start in a no-win situation:  take a lot of time getting us up to speed or doing nothing and hoping that everyone will figure out the gaps on their own.  Either way it was not going to work in a movie that is set in the present and trying to fill in six to eight years of history.  

The plot actually it did not appear to be the true plot.  The "case" the former FBI agents work on is an old urban myth tale with no originality whatsoever.  It seemed that the "case" was not supposed to be the main plot.  The main plot appeared to be the relationship between Mulder and Scully and each character's struggle with who they are and who they have been.  However, each "plot" was done half-way and with very mixed results.  This, in the end, was a movie that did not know where it was going or how it got to where it was.  

The acting was average.  There were no stellar moments.  Nothing stood out in the positive.  It was not awful either.

The plot had more gaps than President Asterisk's ability to make rational decisions.  There were two plots that were each given short shrift (like our war on terror) and with no positive results except pissing everyone who gives a rip off (just like our war on terror).  There was little originality.  No true link to the mantra of the series past.  Just gaps and confusion which resulted in more questions than answers.  At least when the series was in it's zenith you had at least some answers.  Here in this movie, there are way too many questions and at this point, at the end of luckily a short film (102 minutes running time), I just did not care anymore.  

In terms of camera work and directing, there were no stellar moments either.  Nothing stuck out good or bad.

My grades:

Acting:   C

Plot:       D

Directing:   C

Final GPA:  1.67  (Academic probation)