The X-Files: I Want To Believe is exactly what it promised to be, a supernatural stand-alone thriller. Anyone expecting more than this will probably be disappointed. The plot was kept under wraps until I finally saw it for the first time. The story deals with a Russian scientist who specializes in reanimating organisms. An organ transporter whose employer/lover has cancer, join forces with this Dr. Frankenstein in order to find a new body onto which the man's head can be grafted. The realization of this fact for the first time was very disturbing indeed. It ranks up there with other disturbing stand-alone episodes such as Home and Irresistible. There are so many elements of the movie that stay true to MOTW's from the series. One such scene is in the public pool when Janz is sitting underwater watching his next victim. He watches them from underneath the water because he is only interested in their bodies and not their heads. Like a crocodile stalking its victim he raises his eyes above the water and sinks back under with a creepy smile. There are other elements of the movie that would be taken away from a TV episode due to censorship. I don't think this story could have been told quite as effectively. One being the scene at the ax post with the decapitated woman's body. Another being the head in the organ cooler. This scene I am sure was inspired by the similar scene in Se7en which Chris Carter has mentioned before as one of his inspirations for many of the stories he's told through television including the entire premise behind the show Millennium. There are other items that should be addressed in this review that I have listed in the sections that follow.
Mulder's search for Samantha
Mulder keeps a picture of his sister Samantha pinned to his door, surrounded by clippings of stories about UFOs and the like. It is this picture that gives Mulder his final inspiration to give in to the FBI's request to help them in the case. Scully's persuasion was not enough apparently but when he sees the picture of his sister it awakens that old sense of duty that kept him searching and working on the X-Files for so many years. So Mulder begins to help on the case and is soon back to his old self. He quickly gets wrapped up in the case and begins to obsess over the case like old times. Scully recognizes the old obsessive behavior and calls him on it at one of the scenes telling him to stop looking for his sister. Even when Mulder defensively proclaims that his sister is dead, Scully is able to call him on it by telling him that it hasn't kept him from looking for her. It turns out to be more than just the search for Samantha that bothers Scully. She apparently has more unpleasant memories than happy ones from FBI days.
William
Scully faces some of her own demons in this movie. She has taken up work at a catholic hospital working with terminally ill children. One of her patients, Christian Fearon is suffering from an untreatable disease. At least according to the experts. However, Scully is insistent on helping this child because of something said to her by Father Joe at the same crime scene after she lectures Mulder and searching for his sister. He says "don't give up". The meaning of this phrase for Scully can best be summed up in a parallel I thought of during one of the scenes. The scene when Christian's parents confront Scully and tell her that they've decided not to go forward with the treatment and to instead put their faith in God. Scully speaks to them about their decision and Mrs. Fearon says to her "if you were a mother you'd understand." At this moment we see an expression on Scully's face that makes us realize that she is a mother and she understands all too well. She made a similar decision before in giving up William for adoption. It is a decision that has haunted her and she sees her son in Christian as Mulder points out to her in the bed scene. The parallel between Scully giving up William and Scully not wanting to give up on Christian is very powerful to me.
Mulder and Scully's Relationship
All speculation about whether or not Mulder and Scully are together still has been solved. It takes a little while into the movie to be sure just how strong their relationship has continued but it is evident early on that they have at least stayed in contact. The bed scene is the clincher for me that they have been living together the whole time but are not married obviously because Mulder had to remain in hiding. Scully worries about the effects of long term isolation on Mulder, but soon begins to worry about what the case is doing to Mulder in that he is turning back into what he was before. She says that he looks into the darkness and brings it home with him and that it scares her. She has gotten used to a normal life and doesn't want to return to monsters and aliens. I guess its understandable but Mulder points something out that is more important for Scully to understand in my opinion and that is that this is who he is. He can't be anything else even if Scully should selfishly ask him to. Luckily, in the final scene we see that Mulder and Scully are together for the long haul no matter what. Mulder tells Scully that he will take her away from the darkness and for those who stayed until the end of the credits know, they do make it away for a while until the darkness finds them in a row boat heading to a desert island. I thought the relationship was wonderfully handled. I always felt somewhat awkward throughout the show when it was addressed but there was nothing awkward about it in the movie at all.
Lingering Mysteries
There a couple items in the movie that linger in my mind as questions that could be addressed in another movie. Actually it mostly has to do with two characters who act the same and look alike. One being the red headed SAIC Agent Fossa played by Sarah-Jane Redmond and the other being the blond haired doctor at Scully's hospital. Both of these characters have few lines but they seem to be keeping tallies on the Mulder and Scully. Always kind of standing in the corner looking as though they know something they're not sharing. I don't know what can be said for these characters. Are they super soldiers? I doubt it. But there seems to be something else there to me. Who knows?
I loved the movie. It worked as a better finale to the characters of Mulder and Scully than the series finale if it comes to that and another movie is not made. If it does not come to that then I greatly look forward to more of the same including a look into the mythology once again. The central message and even of the movie for me was Don't Give Up. This works on a number of levels. Don't give up on the sick boy, don't give up on Mulder and Scully, don't give up on finding the missing women, I think the message applies to fans as well. The movie may not be doing as well as some of us may have hoped but we shouldn't give up. Chris Carter didn't give up, Frank Spotnitz didn't give up, David Duchovny didn't give up, Gillian Anderson didn't give up, so many other didn't give up. And because of this we got another movie. I'll never give up on this show. 10 out of 10.
