The X Files: I Want to Believe

An entertaining but pedestrian feature-film follow-up that plays like an elongated episode from the original TV series, The X Files: I Want to Believe almost completely ignores the show's mythology, avoiding any hint of extraterrestrial life. Instead, we meet Father Joe (Scottish comedian Billy Connolly in a rare dramatic role), a guilt-ridden pedophile priest whose psychic powers lead FBI investigators to the body of a missing agent. The paranormal aspect of the case is enough to bring former agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dr. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) out of retirement for one more journey to the dark side of humanity. A subplot involving one of physician Scully's dying young patients is only tenuously connected to the principal storyline, while a more interesting thread featuring Amanda Peet as an FBI operative ends up truncated, and the sudden third-act appearance of FBI assistant director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) comes across as a last-minute addition made as a sop to longtime X Files fans. Director and co-writer Chris Carter gives his two leads several nice scenes that flesh out the Mulder-Scully relationship, but there's very little suspense or excitement in I Want to Believe until the final reel, and even the climax is staged perfunctorily. Likely to please diehard fans, but unlikely to win any new converts, this is a strong optional purchase. (E. Hulse)