Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic X Files: I Want To Believe (SPOILERS)

Out today, I hear.

So...anyone seen it?

What did you think?

LabRat

My husband disliked it a fair bit, not enough action for his taste.

My daughter (a recent X-Files convert) liked it but then she's a shipper like myself. I'd call this movie basically an extension of the series, more of a longish episode rather than an adventure like the first X-Files movie was. It's a look into where Mulder and Scully are at six years after the tv show ended; it's more about their relationship is standing and how that affects their lives/work,etc than anything else. The story that it's set around is very murky and not really as compelling as it should be. That being said, David and Gillian looked great and their performances were good, it's just that I never really bought the drama they get dragged into.

Overall, not a bad movie but the first one was more fun and worked better I thought for any audience members who were not a fan of the series. I did love the answer to "Someone in the FBI who has enough balls" though!



Oh and it didn't help that the projection unit died just as the credits began to roll, I know there is an amusing little bit sandwiched into the credits!

X-files? Isn't that an old, long-dead TV series? Who would have any interest in an old TV series?

Tank (who never was a fan of the TV series, but did make an appearance in an X-files comic book once)

I'm going to show my ignorance: What is a "Shipper"?

As for the movie - don't plan to see it, didn't see the first. I was a big fan during the first season but during the second or third season hated the direction of unbelievability they took the series and quit watching forever.

Someone who enjoys watching (and rooting for) a relationship between characters in a show. (Or indeed other mediums, like novels). It was actually coined by X Files fans (from Relationshipper), AFAIK, and spread to other fandoms.

So you can be a Gil/Sarah (G/S) shipper if you're a CSI fan. Or a Jack/Carter (J/C) shipper for SG1. Or a Seven/Chakotay (S/C) shipper for Voyager...and so on.

I'm very definitely a M/S shipper, so I'll be more than delighted if there's a lot of ship in the movie. You can keep your SFX and explosions.

You can check out more on Shipping on Wiki- I'd give the url here, but the mbs won't accept it because it includes paranthesis. The article tends to wander off topic towards the end, although the bit about the Xena 'shipping wars' was fascinating.

LabRat

Tank wrote:

You had me with that one!

LabRat

Thanks for the explanation.

I went and saw it tonight. I had read some really horrible reviews of it, so I went into the movie with no expectations whatsoever. I think that helped me greatly, versus many fans who went to see it with high expectations. The budget for the movie was low, so there really aren't any special effects or major action sequences. I can live with that. It's really more like a two-hour monster-of-the-week episode, which worked fine with me. But those who were expecting to see buildings being blown up or UFO's rising out of the ground like in the first movie - I can understand why they were sorely disappointed.

The only problem that I really had with the movie was that the storyline just didn't seem very paranormal to me. It wasn't "spooky" enough. Creepy? Absolutely. Paranormal and spooky? I couldn't buy into that. As a stand-alone movie, I think it was fine. As an X-files movie that should have directly dealt with something really paranormal, I think it failed to deliver there. I also think they crammed every possible reminder about the series into it that they could have (such as, Mulder is eating sunflower seeds within the first thirty seconds you see him for the first time), just to kind of jog fans' memories - some of which I could have done without.

The movie is definitely shipper-friendly, although not overtly so (but much more so than you ever would have seen in the series). I was always a closet shipper, so a part of me enjoyed that aspect very much. And there was someone from the series in the movie that I didn't think would be, which made me excited when I first saw them on the screen.

Overall, it wasn't the best effort I think they could have mustered, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be, based on the reviews I had read.

The box office numbers were about 10 million for opening weekend. Guess it depends on how many folks are seeing Dark Knight more than once, maybe it will pick up sales.

I agree, it was definitely one long episode, which I enjoyed. A non-fan can go into the movie and not get lost by not knowing the show's mythology. The important bits they mention in the movie. I had a few issues with the movie, specifically glossing over a few things which they say are clues, but never expand on. And the one season, I thought to myself, "And thousands of shippers world wide scream out in glee." Heck, I almost shouted towards the end. It wasn't a *great* movie, but it was decent.

I'm a new X-files convert and a shipper all the way! I wasn't that impressed with the A plot but it was entertaining enough.

Pros:
* Mulder & Scully are together officially
* Mulder in a red swimsuit (not a speedo but the joke was not lost on me)
* Skinner showed up! (I actually whooped in the theater)
* I loved seeing Scully so emotionally wrapped up in something. For once, she was kind of like the Mulder of the conservative hospital she was at. Willing to try an experimental procedure because 'she wants to believe.'
* I also loved seeing Scully so passionate about her faith... kind of how Mulder had been so passionate in the past about his beliefs.
* And I also loved Scully standing up to Mulder and not just dropping everything that was important to her just to chase after him and help him with his case.

Cons:
* The whole main story line was pretty blah to me. It never really seemed to get off the ground. And I was really hoping for something a little more paranormal.
* They didn't really develop any of the other characters very well. I could care less when Amanda Peet's character fell to her death... but maybe that's because she stroked Mulder's face after he shaved. (keep your hands off!)

So, yes, it could have been a little more entertaining as far as action, etc. go but the shippiness made my day. I can't wait to buy it and find some good nfic written about it!

I haven't read these posts yet, because I haven't had time to go see the movie. I loved the X-Files when it was running, and watched the first movie. However, none of my friends around here seem to know jack about it.

So, here's the question, would someone who knows nothing about X-Files be lost in this movie? And, if my sister-in-law is afraid of aliens (but not crime or murders go figure), would she be afraid while watching this movie?

This can work as a stand-alone mystery, albeit not a very great one. There are certainly some nuances regarding Mulder + Scully (and their current situation) that would be completely over the head of a non-viewer of the series but rest assured, there is no real SF/extra-terrestial element to this movie at all, though some scenes are pretty gruesome in a serial-killer kind of sense. Does that make sense?? It's not near as much of a roller coaster ride as the first movie was and there is no Mythology in it either but you might want to let your sis know the basics behind the series if she wants to get a better handle on why we might be interested in seeing these two FBI agents six years after the tv series ended,perhaps??

I described the movie to my mother as a crime drama with a psychic. I think they explained some of the canon mythology during the show, but not a lot of it.