- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,067
Before I get onto the actual review, let me go into Nerd mode for a second.
-Nerd Mode Active-
*Hugs his now out of print collectors box set containing every season of the x-files and the first theatrical film and the pristine, mint condition poster, comic, mythology and episode guide, and the creepily awesome art cards.*
-Deactivate Nerd Mode-
So, I think you get the point. I loves me some X-Files. In fact, when I saw the teasing poster for the new film, the one just showing Scully and Mulders shadow forming the X logo, I went ape:cursing: in anticipation. But thanks to crappy funds and a hatred of piracy, I couldn't see the thing in theaters. Now I'm pondering whether or not those moments waiting for the DVD release in anticipation were worth it.
Mmm... Probably not.
Any self respecting X-Files fan knows about the X-files "Mytharch," and any nerdy self respecting X-Files fan knows that there are still some loose ends in that mythology. While, in fairness to I want to Believe, it DID, in the tradition of the series mythology, take an ordinary question and turn it into a big intellectually stimulating question, but that question boils down to this: Faith or Science? Yeah... Okay movie, Faith or Science, but is that what we expect from "X-Files?" What happened to "Trust No One?," "Fight The Future," "The Truth is Out There" and... well, yeah, "I want to Believe," but that was talking about the government, conspiracies, and what not. The problem with this film is that while it has Mulder and Scully running around solving mysteries again, its just not X-Files. There's little to no science fiction, and the pacing, while made a bit more tolerable by excellent cinemetography, great music, and superb direction, is slow and dull and goes nowhere forever, and then, as soon as it starts going somewhere and getting interesting...
It's over.
In fact, what little Science Fiction that was tossed around in I want to Believe, happens so quickly you have little time to care or to really understand. There's this 2 hour babble about god and faith in him as well as who god has faith in, and then theres something about... Whoah! A creepy as hell, (Possibly extraterrestrial?) thingy who has found a way to take his dying body and perform a surgery to have it attached to another human body using strange mysterious genetic materials and lots of surprisingly freaky shots of severed heads looking at you :drool:... and then baldy saves the day and we're back to Mr. PedoPriest telling Dr. Scully to have faith in her work.
:thumbdown: I might actually accept this concept in another movie, with better execution. But in X-Files, a SCI-FI, I expect something a little more interesting. It just feels like a bit of a ball buster to hope we get a continuation of the mythology, and then find out the entire theme and mytharch of the series has been changed to something that doesn't feel like it belongs here.
To be fair, its not necessarily a *bad* movie in the sense that its totally unwatchable or painful, like I said, the music, cinematography and direction are all top notch, but with compelling production you have to have a compelling movie, and I want to Believe just doesn't have that. It doesn't have it for fans of the series or new comers. Really, the best part of the film, as a fan at least, is just seeing Mulder and Scully at it again. Duchovny is a bit blander than usual in terms of acting, but he has his moments. Anderson puts a little more oomph into her role, and I have to admit, I actually think she looks better older than she did when she was younger. One other mild highlight I will give it, is there were some genuinely successful attempts at humour (For example, I admit I chuckled when Mulder takes a look at a picture of Bush and you hear a snippet from the classic X-Files tune. I knew it!
) and the PedoPriest WAS an interesting character, although he's one of the biggest problems for me at the same time because he's the one that distracted the film from its one sci-fi element.
Just skip it. It's not an awful movie, or even a bad one, but its mediocre and the only appeal it has to fans is the return of the main characters.
-Nerd Mode Active-
*Hugs his now out of print collectors box set containing every season of the x-files and the first theatrical film and the pristine, mint condition poster, comic, mythology and episode guide, and the creepily awesome art cards.*
-Deactivate Nerd Mode-
So, I think you get the point. I loves me some X-Files. In fact, when I saw the teasing poster for the new film, the one just showing Scully and Mulders shadow forming the X logo, I went ape:cursing: in anticipation. But thanks to crappy funds and a hatred of piracy, I couldn't see the thing in theaters. Now I'm pondering whether or not those moments waiting for the DVD release in anticipation were worth it.
Mmm... Probably not.
Any self respecting X-Files fan knows about the X-files "Mytharch," and any nerdy self respecting X-Files fan knows that there are still some loose ends in that mythology. While, in fairness to I want to Believe, it DID, in the tradition of the series mythology, take an ordinary question and turn it into a big intellectually stimulating question, but that question boils down to this: Faith or Science? Yeah... Okay movie, Faith or Science, but is that what we expect from "X-Files?" What happened to "Trust No One?," "Fight The Future," "The Truth is Out There" and... well, yeah, "I want to Believe," but that was talking about the government, conspiracies, and what not. The problem with this film is that while it has Mulder and Scully running around solving mysteries again, its just not X-Files. There's little to no science fiction, and the pacing, while made a bit more tolerable by excellent cinemetography, great music, and superb direction, is slow and dull and goes nowhere forever, and then, as soon as it starts going somewhere and getting interesting...
It's over.
In fact, what little Science Fiction that was tossed around in I want to Believe, happens so quickly you have little time to care or to really understand. There's this 2 hour babble about god and faith in him as well as who god has faith in, and then theres something about... Whoah! A creepy as hell, (Possibly extraterrestrial?) thingy who has found a way to take his dying body and perform a surgery to have it attached to another human body using strange mysterious genetic materials and lots of surprisingly freaky shots of severed heads looking at you :drool:... and then baldy saves the day and we're back to Mr. PedoPriest telling Dr. Scully to have faith in her work.
:thumbdown: I might actually accept this concept in another movie, with better execution. But in X-Files, a SCI-FI, I expect something a little more interesting. It just feels like a bit of a ball buster to hope we get a continuation of the mythology, and then find out the entire theme and mytharch of the series has been changed to something that doesn't feel like it belongs here.
To be fair, its not necessarily a *bad* movie in the sense that its totally unwatchable or painful, like I said, the music, cinematography and direction are all top notch, but with compelling production you have to have a compelling movie, and I want to Believe just doesn't have that. It doesn't have it for fans of the series or new comers. Really, the best part of the film, as a fan at least, is just seeing Mulder and Scully at it again. Duchovny is a bit blander than usual in terms of acting, but he has his moments. Anderson puts a little more oomph into her role, and I have to admit, I actually think she looks better older than she did when she was younger. One other mild highlight I will give it, is there were some genuinely successful attempts at humour (For example, I admit I chuckled when Mulder takes a look at a picture of Bush and you hear a snippet from the classic X-Files tune. I knew it!
) and the PedoPriest WAS an interesting character, although he's one of the biggest problems for me at the same time because he's the one that distracted the film from its one sci-fi element. Just skip it. It's not an awful movie, or even a bad one, but its mediocre and the only appeal it has to fans is the return of the main characters.
