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X-Files: I Want to Believe

There’s been a lot of secrecy concerning this, the second film derived from the popular television series about a pair of FBI agents who specialize in paranormal investigations (though if I had to tell you that, you’re probably not exactly champing at the bit to see this). The series ended six years ago, and fans are presumably eager to learn what Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been up to. Far be it from me to give away plot surprises, but in all honesty there really aren’t any: There isn’t a whole lot more ambition to this movie than you might get in a two-hour “Return of the X-Files” TV movie. Their previous troubles with the FBI are disposed of as Scully, now working as a doctor at a Catholic hospital, and Mulder, still in hiding, are brought back to help with a case involving a missing FBI agent and a defrocked priest (comedian Billy Connolly in an effective dramatic performance) who claims to be receiving related visions. There are no aliens, no global conspiracies, just a fairly standard serial-killer thriller decked out with a lot of red herrings about the nature of faith, religious and otherwise. On TV this might seem like shocking stuff, but Chris Carter (taking the director’s chair this time) and co-writer Frank Spotnitz never go too far out on a limb to spoil their film’s chances at the Midwestern box office. Sure, Father Joe is a convicted pederast, but in movie morality he pays for his sins. And the cast, which includes Amanda Peet and Xzibit as FBI officers, spend so much time yakking about faith in ways that wouldn’t engage college freshmen in a 101 Philosophy course that the plot suffers for it, culminating in a deus ex mailbox that has to be some kind of nadir of scriptwriting laziness. Considered as an episode of the TV show it’s not bad, but then, you get to watch those for free.

m. faust


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