I saw it at a sneak preview. It was terrible. I thought I was watching one of the TV episodes that never made it to the airwaves. The cinematography was dark and cheap. The story was lackluster and full of self-important religious symbolism. The villains barely even got their due -- once they were caught, we never heard from or about them again. The constant arguing between the two leads was tiresome and bland.

Ugh. Terrible movie. You'd be better off staying home licking a shoe than paying for this giant disappointment.

but I want to believe it's good

"It was [Mulder's] job to spin out the craziest, most nutball theories, and it was Scully's job, as the woman of science, to poke holes in them. The recurring gag of the show was that Mulder, no matter how screwy his ideas were, was usually right -- although I don't think the intent was to suggest that man's intuition trumps that of womankind, but more to affirm that logic can take us only so far."

I cannot begin to describe how much this shits me. An ACTUAL "woman of science" (as opposed to Sculley's straw-woman scientist) accepts obvious evidence when she sees it... and is abducted, infected and artifically impregnated by it. GAH!

...but anyway, enjoy the movie.

I'm hoping that this movie, "I Want to Believe," is the expression of a resumed continuity, and not another extremely rare installment serving only to revive our memories of one of the best TV series ever made. I hope to see a new TV series, and additional movies; or is this hoping for too much? Mulder and Scully can provide another decade, or more, of their seasoned talents for this new series and movie sequels; following which other, carefully sought out, new actors can be brought in to keep the past and future alive.

I'm an old fellow, but have never lost my love for the X FILES. I guess that love will continue till my last breath.

I don't often agree with Stephanie Zacharek's reviews, but on this movie, she summarized my attitude exactly.

I know it's gotten poor reviews elsewhere, but for my money -- and the money I'll pay to see it again -- it was suspenseful, moody, and most of all, true to the characters of Mulder and Scully and their relationship and their own conflicts (well, more Scully's conflicts than Mulder's...). It's not big or flashy or fully explained, but then, the best episodes of the series weren't any of those things either.

Well done, Ms. Zacharek.

Did I just read a positive review from S. Zacharek? Really?

If Ms. Zacharek were able to recall the series premiere episode from 1993, she would have recognized the pencils lodged in the ceiling tiles as being a direct deja-vu reference to the scene in which these two characters first met. Perhaps it's Chris Carter's sly way of saying "Plus ca change..." and perhaps he's indicating that he has nothing new for us and is apologizing in advance. Hopefully it's the former and I can look forward to a cracking good movie.

I've been reading reviews yesterday and today, and many of them, as I'd feared, have called the film a disappointment. (Though, on a positive note, Roger Ebert agrees with SZ that this is a movie worth seeing.)

The negative reaction isn't discouraging me as much as I'd feared, however, because nearly every review I've read commented that Duchovny and Anderson still have that spark between them that made the television show such a pleasure. That's why I watched then, and that's why I'll see this film now. Aliens and mutants aside, XF was always about Mulder and Scully and their prickly, fascinating relationship.

God! Does she look Catholic or what?

Perfect!

Which neatly sums up Stephanie's "work"...

Skellermann, wasn't that a recurring motif? I seem to remember it being used several times throughout the series.

Readers can ignore Xrandadu Hutman's post. Not sure why someone who hated the original series would rush to post first, nor why they would want to make it appear that they liked the series but this movie resembles a sub-par episode. Is it a Batman-retalliation thing?

But an integral part of this suckass of a movie. It's not supernatural -- it's paranormal stuff. And aliens were only mentioned in a passing reference to Muldar's sister.

This lame movie was about salvation. Flannery O'Conner does salvation themes much better -- read her stuff if salvation is what interests you. Scully's Catholicism is central to the movie (at least the part of Catholicism she decides is okay and not the part Carter decides is a waste of time, like, oh, sleeping with someone not your spouse stuff ... ) -- so the mythology is not gone at all.

The story and the plot are interesting enough that this could have been a good movie for X-fans IF Carter could've kept his mitts off it.

The scene where Sculley says she's leaving Muldar if he doesn't stop being himself was really stupid. Very jarring, false notes, false choices that made no sense because there was no reason for them -- didn't need this conflict for the plot. They should've spent more time on the interesting stuff, like what, exactly, was going on in that lab and what happened to the kid (I hate Carter even more for leaving this thread dangling, the coward).

And Vancouver doesn't look much like Virginia.

Don't pay full price to see this -- waste of money.

I avoid any movie she recommends (yes, it's often hard to sift through her obscure and generic commentary) and will usually watch anything she pans.

I loved the first 5 seasons of the X Files. Best show ever, IMHO. But now I'll have to wait for the DVD to come out, and to forget that Salon's reviewer liked it.

who cares about the plot and cinematography and all that stuff

I almost let the Rotten Tomatoes count prevent me from seeing it, and I'm glad I didn't let that happen.

The movie is not what one expects, and I found myself more drawn to the main characters who have changed enough to push the dynamic of "The X-Files" into a new direction. I didn't see the conversations between Mulder and Scully as tiresome or whining, but a reflection of how world-weary they've become and how it's worn them down.

I'm glad it wasn't an alien conspiracy movie because then it would have been savaged as kitschy; it's too bad the more adult, somber approach is being savaged as not kitschy enough to remind us of the series. It's definitely worth a look.