THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE
Generally, I enjoy the X-Files. I am not cult-ish about it but I think, if you have read my blog more than twice, you know that I like very weird metaphors, odd stories and finding any hint of light in complete darkness.
It’s just how I roll.
This movie was really an episode that went too long. It was like the script was made for television’s 41 minutes (a usual hour show has around 20 minutes of commercials … so I hear.) I am saying that because at one point I was thinking, “this is the longest hour and 40 minutes ever!” Then I thought, “Just think of it as an episode, not comparing it to the last major film.”
Then I was cool. I actually got into it. Then it …
… did have all of it’s classic Scully/Moulder tension even though they are shacking up this time around. You would think that two intelligent people would have figured out some of their “stuff” by now. It was still oddly nostalgic to watch them emotionally squirm through intellectual rhetoric and sentimental love.
The plot itself was just … crrreeeeeeepppy on so many levels. I wonder why the gay groups are not having a fit. The one reference to Massachusetts gay marriage in reference to a *freaky* homicidal apparently gay couple was … awful.
That wasn’t the only attempt by the writers to tick someone off. The flippant jokes about a ex?-pedophile commune was … awful. Having an ex-pedophile commune in the story itself was … awful. Having the pivot point of the plot centering around a convicted psychic ex?-pedophile priest was … awful. I think the writers were trying to make a redemptive element for the Psychic ex-pedophile priest but while I believe that is noble and in real life possible … it was incomplete, confusing and highly charged for a major element of the story. There was also this strange sub-plot involving radical stem cell procedures. All of these controversial modern issues being brought into the movie was interesting but distracting (to me at least.)
Sidenote: like any subplot, the stem cell angle was a parallel story to the main plot. Someone who is paid to critique movies might want to explore that further in a compare/contrast for the ethics involved. I have a feeling if I start writing that part out it would turn into a book and I would end up not liking the movie even more :-).
The tagline of the movie says “I want to believe.” The main theme of the movie is “don’t give up.” Which is obvious almost immediately. That is the ray of light in the midst of this movie. It does revolve around faith. Of course Christianity, specifically the Catholic denomination, isn’t portrayed well in the movie. But seeking God with an honest heart and having “ears to hear”, brief as it was, does make an appearance.
So, it’s a mixed bag for me leaning more toward the negative.
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