(SPOILER ALERT - and a disclaimer. I've watched "X-Files: I Want to Believe" three times so far - the first time in a standard theater, and twice afterward on DVD. For some reason, I seem to rack up more complaints with each viewing. Maybe I should give it a rest, and revisit the film in a year or so to see how it has aged. Mind you this post comes from someone who considers The X-Files to be one the finest series to grace the Boob Tube, so my expectations may be overly high. Please take these words with a grain of saltpetre.)

Only if the screenplay makes it worthy of the investment in big screen running time and real estate. Case in point:"X-Files: Fight The Future" made excellent use of big-screen FX and integrated well with the Season 5 mytharc. "X-Files: I Want to Believe" was essentially a long-form MOTW episode, muddied by the fact there several monsters.

Which "monster" triggered more audience consternation? Was it the Russian "Frankenstein doctor," the dying gay assassin seeking a nubile female body upon which to graft his head (love the "Married in Massachusetts" throwaway quip), or the now-cliched pedophile priest who "castrated himself at 28"?

XF:IWTB might have worked better as a TV/cable movie/series reboot rather than a feature film. Granted, XF:FTF rode the series' popularity wave nicely (rather than "jumping the shark" - ouch) but oh, my, XF:IWTB could have been SO much better, even without aliens, the 2012 theme, or William.

As Garrison Keillor says in his Lake Wobegon tales: "It could have been worse." But not much.

Labels: movies, soapbox, x-files

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