David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Callum Keith Rennie ...( see more  see more... ) , Xzibit

"The X-Files: I Want to Believe" takes the always-complicated relationship between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully,...( read more  read more... ) the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder's pursuits.

Flixster Users

33% liked it

239,012 ratings

Critics

32% liked it

158 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 44 min.

Directed by: Chris Carter

Release Date: July 24, 2008

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DVD Release Date: December 2, 2008

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Stats: 13,724 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (13,724)


  • February 3, 2010
    So-so two hour tv episode. . the entire plot was even more absurd i think in retrospect. . you def did not need any xfiles knowledge prior to this.
  • December 8, 2009
    After watching the first one I hoped they wouldnt produce a sequel. I rented this one on DVD and like I expected, dissapoiting like the first one. I think sometimes some TV Shows shouldnt be filmed.
  • December 1, 2009
    For both this movie and the first feature-length X-Files film some ten years before, Fight the Future, the claim is made that you need know nothing about the original TV series in order to understand either movie. That's a question -- or rather a claim -- that I ca...( read more)nnot come to terms over. I have seen every episode of the TV series multiple times, so I am in no position, objectively speaking, to argue either for or against that claim. From the moment you see Scully or Mulder on the screen, the entire mythology wells up in your consciousness, so you are absolutely aware of their history, and you cannot help but make connections with the fabled TV show. I would be very curious to meet someone who'd never seen the TV series and find out if that person believes that the two movies stand alone.

    Having said all of this, and if you're still following me, I have to say that as a wholly contained story -- which is what I truly want to believe -- I actually prefer Fight the Future to I Want To Believe. Let me quickly add that my favorite episodes of the TV show have nothing to do with conspiracy theories, Mulder's sister, alien abduction, or creepy black-blood crawly body invasion thingies. I absolutely came to hate those episodes over the full course of the series. What I prefer are the nearly self-contained episodes that present some odd phenomenon, have Mulder and Scully jump on the case, and have the story resolved by the end of the 60-minute episode or the end of a two-episode story. Most of these self-contained episodes are really very well-wrought gems.

    So why, you may very well ask, do I prefer the first movie, the one that deals with all the stuff I like least about the X-Files? This is a question which I cannot actually answer, specifically, but I think it may have something to do with Billy Connolly's character and with Dana Scully's terminally ill little patient. I like the weird Dr. Frankenstein transplant aspect of I Want To Believe, but I have a very strong suspicion, from a writing standpoint, that the whole Billy Connolly character may have been invented near the end of the creative process in order to fill out a story that may have been a little too thin and too short to begin with.

    Ask yourself this: What does Scully's very very very secondary -- almost tertiary -- story about the boy who needs radical stem cell transplant surgery have to do with the overall story? I would submit that if that whole sub-plot disappeared, the movie would be none the weaker for the loss. Just shorter.

    That leaves us with the crazy Russian Frankenstein types. What if Mulder and Scully stumbled across a frozen pile of body parts all by themselves, without any help from pedophile priest psychics? Or let's say an average guy doing a little beer drinking and ice fishing runs across this gruesome stockpile, starts reeling in an arm here and a head there. What would you have then? Well, I think you would have a pretty nifty little 60-minute TV episode.

    So the reason why I like the first movie more is simply this: It reads like a full-length feature story with all of its parts very well integrated. I Want To Believe, on the other hand, reads like a great TV episode that someone wanted to flesh out, by accretion of parts, by hashing stuff together into a full-length feature. You cut out the excess window dressing, and you'd have yet another very good self-contained TV show episode.

  • September 28, 2009
    I'm not sure where the complaints lie.
    This movie was a better than average thriller that stood on its own apart from any knowledge of the characters going in.
    I think this is what made diehard fans upset...we didn't need to be privy to much beforehand to make this movie work. ...( read more)
    It is a hardcore thriller that speaks to the true evil in men's hearts as well as a bit of the supernatural. The performances were solid as was the storyline.
    The movie does not rely on gimmicks or special effects. There aren't big explosions or frenetic gunplay. There is just a story and a lot of tension.
    I think it played quite well.
    Were some of the ways they resolved certain issues unbelievable? Yeah, but...I want to believe (had to do it...sorry for that).
    The movie was taut, dark and sometimes difficult to watch and I challenge the fanboys (which I am one of) to give me a reason that this did not work for you outside you expecting your old pals Mulder and Scully to play to you. They don't.
    This brings me back to the early days when Carter really put his heart and soul into the writing of X-Files and Millennium.
    Far superior to the first X-files movie which only sought to tie up loose ends. This film is a 3.75 solid moving on 4 stars.
  • August 19, 2009
    If you have seen at least one season and know the background to the recent seasons then you will enjoy this film. Otherwise this is a comparitivlely normal movie but worth seeing the same. Thriller/Horror/Drama
  • February 7, 2010
    cool story makes you want to be discovering these things for yourself
  • January 28, 2010
    A good ending to the Mulder-Scully inherent romance inside the series. Great!
  • January 15, 2010
    Take one cancelled cult television hit, simmer 6 years, add a haphazard downer of a story and you get The X Files: I Want to Believe. A huge disappointment that will make any fan angry at the huge missed opportunity. The script barely qualifies as an "X-file" and amounts to nothi...( read more)ng more than a standard police procedural (with a bit of psychic hokum thrown in.) The tawdry inclusion of a pedophile as the psychic is completely unnecessary. But by then, the story is so irretrievably muddy that it doesn't matter. Duchovny and Anderson walk through their roles and collect a paycheck - if only the viewer could collect the ticket price back.
  • January 15, 2010
    feels more like a long episode than a grandios movie like the 1st movie felt
  • January 6, 2010
    It didn't feel like the real X-Files. Watch and you will judge.

Critic Reviews


August 1, 2008
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

A plot dug out of the serial-killer deep freeze. full review

July 25, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

There may be no going back, as much as we might want to believe otherwise. full review

July 25, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

In the end it's all about these very full and rewarding lead characters. full review

July 25, 2008
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Carter doesn't try to meet or exceed fans' expectations so much as create an intimately scaled dramatic universe for his fiercely beloved characters, Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, to inhabit, circa 2008. full review

July 25, 2008
Kurt Loder, MTV

The movie has no real idea what it wants to be... full review

July 25, 2008
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

In not knowing who it needs to please, I Want to Believe pleases no one. full review

July 25, 2008
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Low in budget, inspiration and excitement, the film feels less like a bigger, better, widescreen reworking of the old goblins-and-G-men show than a forgotten script agonizingly stretched to feature le... full review

July 25, 2008
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

The truth is, they're boring now. full review

July 25, 2008
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Though the mood of The X Files: I Want to Believe remains consistently funereal, the storytelling is all over the place. full review

July 24, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

I make it sound a little silly. Well, it is a little silly, but it's also a skillful thriller, giving us just enough cutaways to a sinister laboratory to keep us fascinated. full review

View more The X-Files: I Want to Believe (The X Files 2) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • nerdpanda
    August 30, 2009
    lol@Xzibit in a drama
  • XxmissChachaxX
    July 30, 2008
    i liked it in all
    but it really did lack the true x files feel
    i mean like where were the Aliens like in the series there were Super soilders did they like all just suddenly die or something and scully had a big additude problem in this movie i love her and mulder and that their together and all but idk they just seem so different from the old scully and mulder this movie wasn't what i thought it would be i thought it would answer alot of unanswered questions but it didnt

    the one thing i did love though was that SKINNER was in this movie when i saw him i freaked i thought he was dead or something so it made me so happy to see that he lived
  • Cure
    July 29, 2008
    the weak scully/dying boy plot line aside, it was fun. nice cameo from Skinner too.
  • satyricalmale
    July 27, 2008
    Seriously pedestrian effort. Nobody seems the little bit interested in what they are doing. Bears little resemblance to the trailblazing series and basically forgets what it was all about. If this all that can be produced with six years to prepare then lets leave it at this. Father Joe is very much a cut-rate Clyde Bruckman.
  • hiphop4lyfe
    July 26, 2008
    Pretty weak, Im quite disappointed. This movie is more horror (gore) than it is mystery. I love horror movies, but really dont want to see that in the XFiles. There was no excitement in the movie whatsoever, not like in old times. For old times sake I give the movie 3 stars cuz I love Scully and Mulder and the story itself was not bad, just not in an XFiles movie. If you expect anything like the show you will be as disappointed as I am, I can not recommend the movie sadly enough.
  • whereismynotecard
    July 26, 2008
    NO!! Don't skip it... O_O It's The X-Files!! you have to see it...
  • spiralrayonshorts
    July 25, 2008
    Even worse than Fight The Future..skip it.
  • whereismynotecard
    July 25, 2008
    It was so great guys!! I think that fans will appreciate it more than someone who is just watching it without having seen the show, but either way it was amazing!! I cannot wait to see it again!! ^_^
  • felixleejinsiang90
    July 22, 2008
    lol....i watch this x file series since i was 10years old!! what a nice movie....i cant wait to download it to pc^^
  • thedoctor2k7
    June 2, 2008
    this film looks gd and i'm notr a fan

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