The X-Files - I Want To Believe

Introduction

In the mid-1990s, The X-Files was one of the biggest TV shows on the planet and, for many, unmissable. Over the 9 seasons that it ran it dealt with alien abductions, shape-shifters and government conspiracies. Pairing the sceptical Dr. Dana Scully with conspiracy nut Fox Mulder in order that Scully discredit Mulder's work on the X-Files, a collection of unexplained and unsolved cases saw one of the most enduring screen couples, with a constant 'will they/won't they' sub-plot.

Some of the seasons were brilliant and haven't aged but, when Mulder disappeared and the show introduced Agents Dogget and Reyes, it all fell apart and became nigh on unwatchable, a shadow of its former self. In between seasons 5 and 6, a feature length film was made, known normally as The X-Files but sometimes with the Fight The Future moniker which was fairly successful and very good, made near the show's heyday.

Six years after the show ended, creator Chris Carter and writer Frank Spotnitz penned a screenplay for a new film and, under unprecedented secrecy, the new X-Files movie was made, called I Want To Believe.

Times have changed and Mulder and Scully have moved on: he is almost a mountain man, living on his own and still obsessing over the disappearance of his sister Samantha whereas Scully has gone back to being a physician, in the Catholic hospital of Our Lady of Sorrows. When an FBI agent goes missing, Agent Dakota Whitney contacts Mulder as her only lead is a paedophile priest who appears to have a psychic ability and she wants Mulder's input due to his experience with other clairvoyant cases in the X-Files.

Video

This looks as good as it should, only three months after its theatrical run and benefiting from the picture quality that Blu-ray can deliver. As with the TV show it was shot around Vancouver, with the Canadian countryside doubling for a wintery West Virginia. The contrast is stunning with the whites very white and the blacks suitably inky; skin tones are consistently good and I didn't even notice that one sequence was shot digitally as it doesn't differ at all from the filmed footage.

*The pictures contained in this review are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect the image quality of the disc.*

Audio

There are plenty of soundtracks to choose from and I went with the Dolby TrueHD which is excellent - the surrounds immerse you in the action and the dialogue is crisp. As you'd expect from Mark Snow, the score is brilliant and there's a humorous moment when the camera hovers on a portrait of George W. Bush and the X-Files theme plays.

Extra Features

Perhaps the most notable feature of this disc is the inclusion of both the Theatrical and Director's Cuts. You are asked to choose between them when the disc loads up but it is possible to toggle between the two during playback without losing your place. The Director's Cut is less than four minutes longer but is Chris Carter's preferred version but, as far as I could see, there are no major differences between the two.

This contains an extremely impressive array of features, probably the most I've seen on a single Blu-ray Disc. This disc contains all the special features from the 2-Disc DVD plus a host of BD exclusive material, some of which makes use of BD-Live or the interactive capability of the format.

First up is the commentary by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz which is available either as an audio track or as a picture-in-picture feature. The latter is simply the two speakers together or sometimes a close up of one of them so I turned it off as it didn't add anything and just listened to them speak informatively about the movie.

The three part Trust No One: Can The X-Files Remain A Secret? documentary is a interesting and well made piece, looking at the extraordinary lengths Carter and co. went to in order to keep the story a secret, through misinformation and having the cast read the script under supervision, printing it on red paper and even not providing the crew with detailed information about the shoot. It also covers the shoot and the 'don't give up' theme of the film.

The fascinating Body Parts: Special Make-up Effects featurette looks at the visual effects, particularly the fake corpses which look disconcertingly real. Chris Carter espouses the film's green credentials in another featurette, talking about the use of hybrid vehicles, sourcing food locally and making sure as much of the set was recycled or recyclable as possible.

There are quite a few deleted scenes and a nine minute gag reel which is actually worth a watch, predominately because Duchovny has such a dry wit and is obviously used to things screwing up on set: geese honking, train whistles blowing and people, including him, forgetting their lines.

There is a photo gallery with over 370 images and a slideshow with Xzbit's Dying 2 Live song playing over screenshots from the film.



As for the Blu-ray exclusive content, there is the PiP commentary and then the good stuff: The X-Files Dossier: Agent Dakota Whitney Files enables you to create an avatar of your own Special Agent and browse through five X-Files case files on clairvoyance. This takes you through the psychics featured throughout the series with pages of information on each. On BD-Live users will also be able to participate in several online forensic challenges.

The X-Files Complete Interactive Timeline features a staggering amount of information from all nine seasons, the two movies and from centuries before the show began with data on people and conspiracies, with many video clips. Your thumb will get tired after a while as there's a lot of scrolling to be done but there is plenty for an X-Files fan to wade through.

During the film you can press the coloured buttons to access scene specific features, either clips from the PiP commentary, featurettes or storyboards and artwork. Much of this is duplicated from the Trust No One: Can The X-Files Remain A Secret? documentary but I thought there was some new material and the storyboards show how the film was planned under the veil of secrecy as all the names are different in the artwork. This is an interesting and involving way to present the material as you can flick from one to the other or just leave the storyboards up whilst listening to the commentary.

I really liked the score so the addition of a music only soundtrack is welcome as it enables you to appreciate Mark Snow's work further.

The disc is also enhanced for D-Box Motion Code systems and the retail version will come supplied with a Digital Copy of the film for portable media players.

Conclusion

It would be unrealistic to expect Chris Carter and the X-Files team to reach the dizzy heights of the show's finest seasons so I went into this with fairly low expectations. I wanted to see it at the cinema but it quickly came and went, thanks in no small part to the terrible decision to release it the week after The Dark Knight, a fortnight after WALL-E and whilst Mamma Mia was on course to break box office records. It opened a lowly fourth in the UK and didn't hang around so, unless you saw it during the opening week, this will be your first opportunity to watch it!

I Want To Believe is a very different film from Fight The Future, it is less of an X-Files film, with few of the core cast, aliens or government conspiracies that were such a staple of the TV show. It is very much a generic thriller, with some horror and sci-fi elements but featuring one of televisions finest lead couples, saving on exposition - what there was was done very quickly. Although this wasn't really an X-Files film, some things never change as we first meet Mulder eating sesame seeds, with his I Want To Believe poster and a photograph of Samantha on the wall, pencils in the ceiling and a basketball laid around - it seems old habits die hard.

Casting Amanda Peet and Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner as the 'new' Mulder and Scully doesn't really work; she is supposed to be the believer and him the sceptic, but as Agent Drummy doesn't get much screen time, there isn't much chance for this relationship to develop. Apparently Chris Carter wrote the part of Father Joe with Billy Connolly in mind so what this has to say about Carter's perception of Connolly is possibly unflattering, with his playing a paedophilic priest who may or may not be psychic. Connolly impresses when you expect him not to, just as he did in Mrs Brown, displaying a gravitas far removed from his stand-up persona.

I liked this despite its shortcomings and whilst hardcore X-Files fans will no doubt be disappointed and excited by the new film in equal measure, it is not a bad film, just not the best of The X-Files. Outweighing the film's deficiencies is the excellent Blu-ray package, with hours of material - proof that a great deal of time and effort has gone into this release. It would have been easy to simply duplicate the extra material from the DVD release but they have gone over and above the call of duty to take advantage of the format - especially with the timeline feature - to create a disc that you will go back to time and again.