The X-Files: I Want to Believe Blu-Ray Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 12.31.2008

One of the most popular shows of all time returns with a new movie. While the film itself was disapointing, how good can the Blu-Ray release actually be? You might be surprised.

Directed By: Chris Carter
Written By: Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Cinematography By: Bill Roe
Music Composed By: Mark Snow

Cast
David Duchovny ... Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson ... Dana Scully
Amanda Peet ... Dakota Whitney
Billy Connolly ... Father Joseph Crissman
Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner ... Mosley Drummy
Mitch Pileggi ... Walter Skinner




The Film

The X-Files is a phenomenon that I don’t think will ever be matched. I was a fan of the show but the original movie left me feeling a little indifferent. The fact that I didn’t care too much about the alien conspiracy might have had something to do with that. I want to see the X-Files agents going after werewolves and shape shifters. That stuff makes me excited.

I Want to Believe opens with a strange montage that transposes an incident from the recent past with an FBI hunt for something in present day. An FBI team led by Dakota (Amanda Peet) and Mosley (Xzibit) are led by a psychic priest to a severed arm that belongs to one of the men in the juxtaposed flashbacks. We then cut to Scully, who is now a physician at a Catholic hospital. She is approached asked for help finding Mulder to help solve a case involving a missing FBI agent. Mulder has been in hiding since the end of the original series, wanted by the FBI. He is offered a full pardon if he comes out of hiding and helps them find the missing agent.

The show always came across as two separate incarnations in my eyes. There were the mythology episodes and the monster of the week shows. I never got into the mythology episodes very much, although I understand that was the main attraction of the show to its legion of fans. However, my favorite episodes were always of the monster of the week variety. It is why new shows such as Supernatural are so interesting to me. The first X-Files movie took on the mythology angle and became a part of the ongoing series storylines. I Want to Believe largely ignores the mythology of the show but also seems to shun the Monster of the Week format as well.

What results is a movie that seems to be no more than another addition to the serial killer subgenre and an uninteresting one at that. This movie could have been made without Scully and Mulder and that makes it a difficult film to really get behind as a fan of the show. It contains hints of the supernatural including a pedophile priest who is having visions of abducted women tied to a former altar boy he once had relations with. Regardless, the use of the X-Files cast serves no purpose other than to bring more viewers to the film.

I grew bored with the dichotomy between Mulder and Scully in the film and that makes this a failure in the most disappointing way. Scully is having conflicts of faith. Mulder wants to believe in something. Yawn, we’ve been here before and it was done much better in the television show. There are only so many times Scully refuses to believe the fantastical before you just think of her as a fool. What does make this interesting is the wrapping up of loose ends and allowing Mulder to finally come out of hiding. Maybe it was a great idea to leave the end of the series open ended but after all this time, it is neat to actually see where everyone ended up. Other than that, it is just a rehash of old storylines.

After my initial excitement at the iconic theme music, I found myself watching just another thriller. Yes, the experimentation of the evil scientists was very much the X-Files in nature but it wasn’t The X-Files I loved. The acting was solid, with Duchovny and Anderson on top form and the supporting cast is surprisingly good with Amanda Peet delivering a rare good performance and Xzibit decent as well. Billy Connolly is always good as always.

The plot was not bad it was just generic and boring. By the time we reach the climax and Fox Mulder, as usual, is in danger I just didn’t care. Scully is introduced early on as a doctor and that makes her contributions at the end too predictable as well. I liked the appearance of Skinner at the end but the movie was just flat. The end of the movie really failed in the worst way possible. The climactic finale where they find what has happened to the abducted women is rushed and it feels like the creators didn’t even care about this, the main plot. When you watch a film for two hours you want a satisfying conclusion. The conclusion of this movie was complete crap and made everything that came before seem meaningless. Dedicating two hours of my time for that ending is unforgivable. The only redeeming quality was Scully’s eventual road to redemption. This is not a bad movie but it is a failure as an X-Files film.

The Video

The picture quality is great. It is presented in Widescreen 2.40:1 and the colors are vivid, especially against the largely white background of the snowy countryside. I have no complaints whatsoever about the picture quality of this Blu-Ray.

The Audio

The audio is presented in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. There are moments where it seems the dialogue cuts out and it is not one of the better Blu-Ray transfers I have heard. It isn’t horrible but it is not worthy of the Blu-Ray status.

The Packaging

It comes in the typical Blu-Ray case but I hate the cover scan. I didn’t care for any of the posters either, so nothing could have satisfied me. There is a second disc included with the digital download on it. I know most people don’t care about this but I think it is a great addition to Blu-Rays since most people can only afford one Blu-Ray player and this allows you to view it in other places.


The Extras

BD-LIVE Update - When I first inserted the Blu-Ray into my PS3, I was informed there was a BD-LIVE Update. It took up 2 MB of memory, and since I apparently have 42,069 MB free I went ahead and did it.

Extended Cut or Theatrical Version - You have the choice of watching either version of the film.

In-Movie Features - This seems more complicated than it should be. The lowdown is during the movie you can press a key on your remote for carious special features. The Red Button accesses a real-time index that alters you to what is happening with the other three buttons at any time. The Green Button accesses the Bonus View Commentary track. If your Blu-Ray isn’t capable of Bonus-View, it will take you to audio commentary instead. The Blue Button takes you to a Behind the Camera featurette based on the scenes you are watching. The Yellow Button views Concept Art and Storyboards.

Here is my recommendation on how to view this stuff. First turn on the Bonus View Commentary track (Green Button). Then activate the Red Button. At the bottom of the screen, you will see the description of what the different buttons are showing at the time. Every time there is something new to see the description changes, so you can immediately click the appropriate button (Blue or Yellow) for the new material and still listen to the entire PIP commentary throughout the movie. The commentary track is interesting but really just has director Chris Carter and co-writer Frank Spotnitz talking about anything that comes to mind.

Deleted Scenes - There are three deleted scenes. The first is just used to add more humanity to Cheryl, one of the abducted women. In the second, Father Joe (Connolly) visits Scully at the hospital and adds to the story of Scully’s redemption. It is a nice scene but feels like they were trying too hard to pound the idea of her loss of faith home. The final deleted scene just adds to the scene where Mulder escapes from his wrecked car. None of the three added anything further to the story.

Trust No One: Can the X-Files Remain a Secret? (1:26:01) - This is a feature length documentary about the phenomenon of the X-Files history and the return to make this movie. The feature talks to everyone involved and it is comprehensive and interesting. It’s a great look at the film and the show that influenced it.

Chris Carter: Statements on Green Production (06:16) - Chris Carter talks about his work at creating an economically friendly production.

Body Parts: Special Makeup Effects (08:12) - The special effects technicians walk us through the creation of the fake bodies and real life effects they made for the film. It’s nice to see the work of actual effects over CGI. There was some pretty cool stuff in this feature.

Gag Reel (09:49) - Blunders and goofs galore. You can always expect gold from David Duchovny but this is pretty generic for a gag reel filled mostly with accidents.

Audio Commentary with Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz - This is here for those with older Blu-Ray players which don’t support Bonus View. Buy a PlayStation 3. It is cheaper than most and updates every time Blu-Ray comes out with something new. Don’t pay a lot for a Blu-Ray player that will be out of date in six months.

Dying 2 Live by Xzibit (04:03) - It’s a music video by the rapper and actor. Calling this a video is being nice. There are just still photos with the song playing over the background. A video is moving images. This is a photo gallery with Xzibit rapping over it.

The X-Files Complete Timeline (BD-LIVE Only) - This is awesome. I am a nerd so I absolutely loved this feature. Most of the timeline features on DVDs are all read only text files. This one adds video clips and is broken up in two sections. The first section is the timeline by year. It starts with “Pre-History” going back as far as 250,000 years ago. Each of the items on the timeline shows what episode the event was revealed in. An example is “250,000 Years Ago - A meteor crashes into Alaska carrying worm-like extra-terrestrial organisms (see Ice).” The second section is organized by season, starting at the beginning of the series. It has short clips from each episode and a short synopsis as well. You can also click on the character’s names and get a description of them and their place in the lore of The X-Files history. This feature alone makes the Blu-Ray worth buying. It might be the best feature I have ever seen on a Blu-Ray.

Still Galleries - There are four galleries (Collectibles, Concept Art, Storyboards and Unit Photography) full of pictures from the shoot. I prefer galleries with some kind of music playing over them and this one is in complete silence but at least the pictures are not horrible.

Trailers - Both the Domestic Theatrical Trailer and International Theatrical Trailer are included here.

Agent Dakota Whitney’s Files (BD-LIVE Only) - You have the choice here to create a user account or go directly to the Dakota Whitney case files. There are five tabs where you can read Whitney’s files over clairvoyants. The sixth tab is an unsolved X-File case by Agent Mosley Drummy. Here, you get the chance to solve the case yourself. When solving the cases, it is done through actual email correspondence to your email account. The clairvoyants included are both from the television show and the movie. The Drummy files are basically an investigative role playing game where you search for clues on internet sites and work with other fans in solving the case. There is a time limit and then a new case is presented.

The Film:. 5.0/10.0
The Video: 10.0/10.0
The Audio: 7.0/10.0
The Packaging: 7.0/10.0
The Extras: 10.0/10.0

The 411: As an X-Files movie, this is an absolute failure. All they did was take a generic thriller plotline, add some touches of the supernatural and then mix in Mulder and Scully. The pairing of the two is not the reunion fans hoped for and they never really connect as they did on the original show. The thriller itself was generic and the climax was boring and really a letdown for anyone following the film’s main plotline. This movie never attempts to reach any kind of satisfying level and is a disappointment to both X-Files fans and thriller fans alike. There is a lot of stuff on the DVD if you are a fan of the show and that alone makes the Blu-Ray worth the purchase. Don’t bother with this for the movie but if you are a fan this Blu-Ray is well worth the time and effort, especially with the Timeline feature. It’s one of the best special features I have seen in a long time and raises the grade of this Blu-Ray dramatically.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]