Film Review: 'The X-Files: I Want to Believe'

THE MAKERS OF the new "X-Files" movie have done themselves a disservice in coming up with the elongated title, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe."

Really, it just invites a whole bunch of bad jokes which, unfortunately, are justified.

It's easy to imagine how they might go: I want to believe another "X-Files" movie is necessary, 10 years after the first one came out and six years after the pioneering sci-fi series went off the air. I want to believe it's worth my time and money, even if I wasn't a fervent devotee of the TV show. And I want to believe that Mulder and Scully still have the same chemistry they once did — a big reason the series developed a cult fan base.

Well, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson do slip comfortably back into the roles that made them superstars in the 1990s, but the movie itself from director and "X-Files" series creator Chris Carter never feels like anything more than an extended episode.

In deference to the show's many mysteries and twists, we won't give anything away here. We'll just say the plot involves a missing persons case, severed body parts and some creepy hunts and chases through the snow.

In writing the script, Carter and longtime collaborator Frank Spotnitz have come up with a stand-alone story, one that doesn't require expertise in "X-Files" minutiae to follow, although they've also left some nuggets for loyal fans along the way.

Amanda Peet and rapper Xzibit co-star as FBI agents on the case, with Billy Connolly as a fallen priest who may or may not be experiencing psychic visions.

» PG-13 for violent and disturbing content and thematic material. 104 min. Two stars out of four.

Written by Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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