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X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
20th Century Fox

X-Files: I Want to Believe, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 47 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.4 out of 10
based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 111 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violent and disturbing content and thematic material

Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Xzibit, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Callum Keith Rennie, and Adam Godley

The supernatural thriller is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show's most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the always-complicated relationship between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder's pursuits. (20th Century Fox)


GENRE(S): Mystery  |  Sci-fi  
WRITTEN BY: Chris Carter
Frank Spotnitz
 
DIRECTED BY: Chris Carter  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: July 25, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA | Canada 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie works like thrillers used to work, before they were required to contain villains the size of buildings.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Knowing nothing about "X-Files" is no impediment to appreciating this for the well-acted, adult piece of work that it is.
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75
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Billy Connolly, as a scurvy priest who may or may not be a visionary, steals the acting honors.
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70
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Duchovny gives a nicely shaped performance here -- he still has the ability to suggest the boyish eagerness beneath Fox's blasé demeanor. But the movie really belongs to Anderson.
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63
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The Carter and Spotnitz's credit, such weighty concerns aren't the stuff of most mainstream genre movies. But they're also not sufficiently gripping to transform a middling thriller into something truly provocative or haunting.
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63
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
I Want to Believe provides a welcome reminder of what made Carter's franchise a pop-culture gem.
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60
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The truth is, the mystery pales next to the best "X-Files" plots. But fans will appreciate sly references to past episodes, an unexpected appearance from an old friend and the still-poignant bond our heroes share.
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60
Film Threat Rory L. Aronsky
Please Chris Carter, bring us X-Files fans back to where we belong. If there is to be another movie, and there damn well better be, return us to our beloved mythology.
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60
Empire Kim Newman
An okay paranormal mystery, with solid work from the regulars – but please Mr Carter, next time, could we have liver-eating mutants or post-modern comedy like the really good episodes of The X Files?
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60
Time Richard Corliss
For the uninitiated, The X Files: I Want to Believe may seem as musty and forbidding as one of those dank secrets that Mulder and Scully were forever digging up from some backyard, or fetid swamp, or their own aching hearts.
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58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Travis Nichols
Does nothing so much as stir up a pining for the show in its prime -- a darkly imaginative and wonderfully weird thing -- though it is always nice to see old friends, however mellowed by age they turn out to be.
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58
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Older and sadder, Mulder and Scully are no longer sure they've got the energy to even ask if the truth is still out there. And it feels as if Carter is skeptical, too.
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50
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The problem is that only a fan would be inclined to tolerate this dunderheaded mystery.
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50
Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Worst of all, not once does Mulder answer his cell phone to hear those immortal lines: "It's Scully. There's been another death."
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50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
In not knowing who it needs to please, I Want to Believe pleases no one.
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50
USA Today Claudia Puig
It feels like a wan version of the show -- one that has lost its otherworldly edge.
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50
Slate Dana Stevens
The problem with the movie's semisupernatural crime plot, though, isn't that the resolution is completely outlandish; it's that the outlandishness is insufficiently grounded in pseudoscience.
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50
Variety Brian Lowry
The warming glow of nostalgia only goes so far, with one's level of forgiveness likely dictated by where they reside along the "X-Files" fan continuum.
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50
Washington Post Hank Stuever
A taut, well-acted, not very scary, not very hard to figure out serial-killer mystery.
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50
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The story is both a muddle and a drag.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Justin Lowe
Overall, the film plays like an improbably skewed but comparatively routine criminal procedural that would have served the original show well as an extended season opener or sweeps-week contender.
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50
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Anderson, who's turned Brit in a number of TV series and films, including "Bleak House" and "The Last King of Scotland," is compelling in her white lab coat and surgical scrubs, and she brings some real tenderness to her tete-a-tetes with Mulder.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
An exercise in mediocrity. It's curious how little of the TV series' charm and appeal can be found in this uneven, plodding excuse for a reunion.
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50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
The story is shockingly ordinary. The movie plays like an extended mediocre episode of the X-Files TV show or, for that matter, even a contemporary crime series such as CSI.
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50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Atmospheric and moves briskly, but it's basically TV writ large.
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50
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The whole enterprise suffers from tired blood.
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42
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Carter and his underachieving cohorts have seldom given cultists less to believe.
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40
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Baggy, draggy, oddly timed and strangely off the mark, The X-Files: I Want to Believe is the generally bad-news follow-up to the show’s first feature-film incarnation, "The X-Files."
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38
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The truth is, indeed, still out there. And when Carter finds it, may he heed its wisdom: Let go.
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38
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
We waited 10 years for a sequel to the movie version of "The X-Files" – and the best Chris Carter could do is The X-Files: I Want to Believe?
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30
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The truth is still out there, like an unsold lawn chair at a garage sale, in this just plain lousy second big-screen outing for erstwhile FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
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30
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Even at its stride, "The X-Files" was a load of malarkey. But it was thoughtful malarkey and compulsively watchable. One could say the same about the first two-thirds of The X-Files: I Want to Believe before it spins out of control and into a delirious plane of awfulness.
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11
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
They've become deadly dull, these two once-keen buckers of bureaucratic BS, and watching them interact on screen is akin to having your pleasure centers removed by knobby little aliens whose only knowledge of mankind comes from Jack Webb's stoically unvarying television incarnations.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 111 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Matt H gave it an8:
Better than the reviews indicate or the returns at the box office. This is a grown up movie at the core ... not a comic book movie. Maybe this is why it didn't meet peoples' expectations.

Ed RM gave it a10:
Very nice movie, but it feels a bit too much as a stretched episode of the series.Maybe be a bit too slow for the popcorn eaters that hungers for non-stop action.

Kayla M. gave it a9:
Okay... let me tell you something...that x files movie was awesome! I didn't want to take my eyes off of the screen the entire time. I've loved the show ever since I first saw it about three years aqo. Even if you haven't seen the show, you could probably still follow the story line. The whole plot centered around a series of abductions and a so- called- psyhic the FBI was depending on to help them out. Although Mulder and Scully's lives had led them away from their former jobs as FBI agents, they get tangled up in the business of the abductions. Real psyhic? Abducties murdered? Who was responsible? ....well, I'll just let you figure that one out for yourself. If you're a fan of the paranormal, unexplained events, or just plain out murder mysteries, I would strongly recommend this movie. It will surely have you on the edge of your seats! I'm really hoping for a sequel!!

Pat C. gave it a0:
I found more pleasure in counting the little lights running up the isle of the theatre. This movie was gruesome and boring. If Molder and Skully had been killed off in this movie, I think we all would have cheered at the end. If this movie was supposed to make us "believe" they were romantically involved, it was more like watching a brother and sister kiss. Sickening and no chemistry between them through out the movie. Keep your money ! ! The story sucks. The most exciting scene was a foot chase for God sake with some hyped up music.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
Excellent beginning... Poor Ending. We saw Skiner only a few minutes at the end of the show. Why so little? And why was so little time spent in the end to more unravel the plot and to show it in more details? Seems like the director was under the pressure to end film quickly. All in all, not a bad movie, worth seeing. However, full potential od this movie was, unfortunately, not met. And the Idea wasn't bad at all... It was quite good actually.

Josh E. gave it a9:
A well acted film including the right actors and actresses, followed by a serious thriller plot whilst bringing a new feel to the X-files, justifying the choice for a movie. There are fitting cameos and star performances blended well into a simple yet engaging adult storyline.

Cindy b gave it a10:
I love them.... And I'm very happy with the movie.

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