THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE

rated PG13

Art--->*1/2
Heart->**
Mind-->***
Fun--->*

Six years after the X-Files series ended, Mulder and Scully return to the pop culture transom to solve a mystery surrounding a missing FBI agent.

Scully has been working as a doctor in a Catholic hospital, while Mulder has been in seclusion, toiling over the experiences he can’t shake. Along for the ride this time are actors Amanda Peet and Alvin Joiner as the agents heading up the case.

Dr. Scully is preoccupied with a terminally ill boy in her care. The head priest and hospital administrator wants to cease medical treatment and transfer the boy to a hospice facility, essentially preparing him to die. Scully still holds out hope that a treatment can be found.

Meanwhile, a female FBI agent is captured and her only hope comes from an ex-priest with supposed psychic powers who leads them to the crime scene. The FBI tells Mulder that “all will be forgiven” if he helps them with this case. Scully is skeptical of the priest’s powers, not just because of her scientific perspective, but also because he is a convicted pedophile. The goings-on are all quite freaky and strange, making this perfect fodder for the X-Files.

It’s a very methodical, deliberately paced film (it's slow). There are a couple flashy edited sequences, but only the first one is effective. The focus is on Mulder and Scully and their relationship. I’m not really sure what the film achieves, other than frustrating fans of the show by leaving out the mythology threads or boring the rest of the sci-fi audience by making it a character piece.

Director Chris Carter has spoken publicly that the X-Files series is really a search for God, but the whole movie seems bent on pitting us against Him, with a little spookiness and macabre gore thrown in. THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE does have a quiet integrity to it, but that doesn’t make it a good movie-going experience.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

NERD NOTES
The film takes several jabs at religion and God, with a couple political points inserted as well. Scully is harshly judgmental of the ex-priest, even going so far as to ask him if he actually thinks God hears his prayers.

We should rightly be disgusted by such a man, but the film challenges our concept of grace and forgiveness. Could God forgive someone of an act so despicable? What if this act was committed several times? Is there a limit to God’s forgiveness?

Scully researches experimental options for her young patient, eventually choosing stem cell treatments. It’s never fully explained where these cells are from, leaving it morally ambiguous. But the fact that the religious order is opposed to it and Scully is for it seems to suggest the more controversial option.

Frustrated over the lack of progress, Scully admits to Mulder that she can’t sleep because she’s too busy cursing God. Mulder suggests that she rest and she should “Let me curse God for a while."

In a truly bizarre twist that I can’t go into here lest I spoil the revelation, even gay marriage is referenced to create some funky sort of sympathy.