Saturday, July 26, 2008

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)



I agree with many reviewers that there are some things in this movie that are incredibly lame, like a scene in which Dr. Scully is desperately trying to save a young patient with a rare disease by googling "stem cell therapy". But anyone who says it's not as entertaining as an average episode, even from one of the earlier seasons, is kidding themselves about the former greatness of the series. I felt that some parts were miscast but Billy Connolly is very good as the psychic pedophile priest. I didn't mind that it was lacking special effects and government conspiracies, unlike the first feature film, which was more stylish and fun. But how many times can you spin a tale about abductions, cover-ups or alien viruses and still have it seem fresh? Reading all the negative reviews of the film I am reminded of what Anton Ego finally admits at the end of Ratatouille: "...in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." I Want to Believe is not junk, but it is certainly average. Any review that criticizes the film for not dazzling or being suspenseful enough is certainly missing the point. And if it includes a joke about how the reviewer "wanted to believe" that the movie would be good, then it is certainly an average piece of junk.
IMDB

4 comments:

Kelley said...

I did wonder why, if Scully was a neurologist, she had to google 'stem cell therapy'. Wouldn't she have a clearer idea of what could and couldn't be done? Oh well, I'll probably rent it when it comes out on DVD so I can watch it again.

AaronFlux said...

I agree on the sequel comment you left me. Now how do you add those star ratings to your blog? :)

TransformerGeek said...

I actually wound up enjoying it more because of all the negative reviews. I was coming in expecting something horrible and the fact that it was average more than surpassed my expectations coming in.

Unknown said...

I guess you're correct in that critics are unfairly harsh to this film being as it didn't live up to some orgasmic expectation they wanted, but I think not being a huge fan of the series helped me appreciate it better honestly.