Case 09, File 21: I Want To Believe

AKA: Jesus Is That The Plot We're Going With?

It's impossible to really gauge how much Twin Peaks DNA is in The X-Files (it's a lot, but how much exactly is up for debate) but there are some eerie similarities between the initial end of Twin Peaks and the initial end of the The X-Files. Both shows ended on cliffhangers, and both, when presented with the opportunity to resolve that cliffhanger in a movie, elected instead to make a side story refocused on the characters. Unfortunately, someone should have reminded Chris Carter that while Fire Walk With Me eventually got to be known as one of the best movies of David Lynch's career, it began life as a critically disdained box office dud.

Our story opens with a woman (who we later learn is an FBI Agent) arriving home in a remote area of West Virginia, only to get stalked and attacked in her garage by two mysterious men. She wounds one with a rake and tries to run, but she gets captured. A few days later, the FBI are led in a search by a mysterious Scottish man who falls to his knees and finds the man's injured arm in the snow. Dun dun dun.

A day or so later, one Doctor Scully (MD) is at work in a hospital, trying to treat a kid with a terminal brain disease, when an FBI Agent arrives and says that he needs to talk to Mulder and, despite Scully's insistence that they don't work together anymore, he can get Mulder a pardon if he comes back to help out. She then goes to see Mulder, who is hiding out in his room being a weirdo conspiracy nut, because frankly that's where Mulder was always heading.

After a bit of prodding, and some back and forth, Mulder agrees to help the FBI find this missing Agent. When they get to Washington, they find the investigation is being headed by an Agent Whitney, and that their main source of information is Father Joe, a Priest who's claiming visions from god and is also a convicted pedophile. They go and chat with him, but Scully immediately starts yelling at him and then heads back home with the file, while Mulder and co drag Joe out to the crime scene. Or the FAKE crime scene. But he intuits they brought him to the wrong one, and upon finding the right one has a vision including dogs barking and starts bleeding from the eyes. Ick.

"Mulder, you've chang-actually, no, this is just a more concentrated version of how you always were."

After a bit more stuff with the kid (Scully's boss wants to send him to a different hospital), the killer from the opening sees a woman at a swimming pool, runs her off the road in a plow and kidnaps her. While all this is happening, Mulder and Scully are in bed(!!!!!) together, discussing their various cases when Scully gives him a lead; The arm they found had animal tranquilizer in it. So Mulder is back on the case, despite Scully objecting that he's getting obsessive.

Father Joe gives them another lead when he takes them out to a lake from earlier in the film and finds a bunch of human remains in the ice, all of them cut like the arm they found earlier. After a quick check in with our kidnap victim (who is being held by some Russian scientists) and a bit about Scully wanting to cure the kid with stem cells (remember when that was a big controversy?), Father Joe leads them to the car of the second kidnapping victim, and they figure out the kidnapper is an organ transporter.

Scully at this point is desperate for Mulder to stop working on the case but he wants to keep going cause this is what he's good at. She's mad about it but starts to come around when the Priest in charge of her hospital tries to get the kid taken away to another hospital, and then goes to see Father Joe to yell at him some more. She yells at him enough that he has a seizure at which point Mulder shows up. But they have a lead on the kidnapper, and they know that his husband is one of the children Father Joe molested.

They head down to the organ transporting business offices to raid it, but the kidnapper shows up and bolts, with Mulder and Agent Whitney in hot pursuit (although any pursuit Mulder is involved is hot) and after a long chase, Agent Whitney gets thrown down an elevator shaft and dies. They also find the head of the missing FBI Agent in the bag the kidnapper was transporting. Father Joe is also dying and he insists the FBI Agent is still alive.

Oh man, he just watched Jump the Shark again.

Mulder still refuses to drop this and after a bit of investigating he tracks down a shop that sells the dog tranqs Scully found...at which point the kidnapper passes by and Mulder tails him. The kidnapper cottons on pretty quick and uses his plow to run Mulder off the road. Scully, still trying to save the kid, finds some notes on some Russian doctors who could transplant heads, and realizes they're swapping the kidnapper's husband's head onto different bodies to keep him alive. She also can't get ahold of Mulder and calls in one Walter Skinner to help.

Mulder has wandered onto the kidnapper's compound and immediately gets captured, but Scully and Skinner (following some hints dropped by Father Joe) find the place, break in and save Mulder and the second kidnapping victim. A few days later, Scully and Mulder are still shaky (with Mulder noting that Father Joe died the second they killed off the detached head) but eventually they decide that even though the darkness of their lives might find them, they can make it so long as they have each other. And so the movie ends, with Scully still trying to save the kid, and also a post-credits scene of Mulder and Scully on a boat together.

I Want to Believe is a movie of 3 parts; The part consisting of us catching back up with Mulder and Scully, the actual mystery they are trying to solve and the little kid with cancer. Not all of these plots work entirely, and the movie they add up to is less than the sum of its parts. But it works, just often enough in just the right ways, for the plot that works to be worthwhile. If you want my pithy summary, it's not quite the misunderstood masterpiece that Fire Walk With Me was and is, but it's probably better than its reputation suggests.

Hey look, it's every fans favorite shot from this movie.

The plot that works the least is the dying kid, not because it's inherently a bad idea but because in execution, it just does not land ever. The kid is a complete non-entity, the whole plotline is transparently manipulative and it matters so little to the other plots that it grinds the momentum of the movie to a halt. It doesn't even irritate on watching, because it's white noise, barely even registering. The only thing keeping it from being just a buffer between more exciting scenes is that the actual scene buffers they have are much better.

Which brings us to the part of the episode that does really, unambiguously work, which is the catchup with Mulder and Scully. I've said it literally hundreds of times at this point, but the core of the series is Mulder, Scully and their chemistry, and the movie knows it as well as we do. A lot of the movie is devoted to just getting to see Mulder and Scully interact, bounce off each other, get back in the groove of things, and to their credit, they haven't lost a step. Using the extra time afforded by the movie length runtime to let us just get to see Mulder and Scully interact is a good idea, especially since it's been so long since they got to.

It also affords them time to work out some character stuff that the speed of the final season kind of left in the dust. The big one is the question of how Mulder and Scully feel about what happened with William (and tying into that is basically the only justification for the cancer patient kid, even if it doesn't justify how boring those scenes are), which got glossed over in a single line of dialogue in the finale. The idea that it's haunting Scully, that it's a thing she knew she needed to do but that it still weighs on her, is just enough to make the story feel more substantial.

This is a cool visual, leave me alone.

The element where Scully is worried about what looking into the darkness will cost them, and their relationship is a little clumsier, because it resolves itself a little too quickly. It has to resolve itself quickly; There's a 4 year time limit on the alien invasion (and we'll get there, don't worry) and because...well staring into the darkness, confronting monsters and demons is literally the whole plot of The X-Files. They can reconsider that when they're done and walking away from it permanently, and not a moment before.

So then we come to the main plot, the mystery the movie is built around. And on paper, stripped to the bare bones description, I like it. I actually dig the idea of using a film length Monster of the Week to get everyone back on board before wrapping up the Myth Arc in the next movie (and that was the plan, and we'll get there) and the basic outline sounds good; A grim mad scientist story with a morally compromised psychic helping the good guys. It's a solid concept, and indeed it calls back to (literally, by name) several good X-Files episodes, notably Beyond the Sea.

But then you get to the actual plot and so many details are mystifying, starting right with that morally compromised psychic. I get, in the abstract, why they made Father Joe a pedophile. It was a big news item when this movie being written, it makes sense that it would set Scully off (since the reveal of the Church's culpability in the scandal shook the faith of many Catholics), and it gives us a good writing shorthand for why people don't trust him, while still giving him a connection to the kidnappers. In theory, it makes sense.

In practice, making Father Joe a pedophile is ruinous to the film's ability to make him a character we can empathize with, way more than making him a thief or a murderer would. The attempts to build sympathy for him universally fall flat on their face, they would need one of the best writers in the world to land in any real way, and with all due respect to Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, they are not up to that task. It turns what should be a standard part of the story into a massive misstep the movie never recovers from.

Skinner takes seeing a still alive head sitting in the middle of everything better than I would.

The main mystery is a little better, but it still has some decisions that I think were...not great; It's nice and moody, I like that they used the opportunity by moving from network TV to film to make a story a little grimmer and darker than they usually could, and it is clever at times. But there are weird, awkward decisions, that seem to at least partly come from the writer and director mostly having television experience. The plot moves a little fast, some scenes are carved down to the bone, the villains are deeply underdeveloped (who are the scientists who are doing this? How are they getting paid? Are they getting paid?) and yeah, I'm not gonna lie; Making the villains a gay couple, who are trying to transplant one of their heads onto a lady's body is weird and uncomfortable (in a bad way) and it never stops being that.

But, and for the the movie continuation of a TV show that ran for 9 seasons this is important, the movie knows how to play for the fans. Maybe it's cheap and maybe it won't play outside of the fanbase, but what can I say, I'm in the fanbase, I don't know what it's like to not be a fan of The X-Files. The little paired down version of the theme that opens the movie, Mulder getting revealed as being in bed with Scully, the way Skinner is introduced, the look Scully gives Skinner when he says Mulder wouldn't do anything reckless, it works as fanservice. The movie, hell the series as a whole at this point, knows what its fans want and it's willing to meet them halfway.

I said this movie is better than its rock bottom reputation would suggest but does that mean it's any good? I dunno, it's certainly not the worst X-Files thing I've ever seen. It's mostly it's just okay, coasting on fanservice and some grimmer than usual content. Take the mystery plot and slap it into a Season 3, it'd be a weaker episode, but probably not the weakest. But we're not in Season 3 anymore, we are post finale, and the quality requirements have slipped a bit. Maybe I should be harsher, but I don't need to be; The critics were brutal, and fans or no, opening against The Dark Knight's second week meant the movie was doomed at the box office, killing Carter's plans for an immediately follow up to wrap up the Myth Arc. And also doming the eventual (long delayed) followup to take place after 2012. After the supposed end of the world.

And so things were going to have to get a little weird.

Case Notes:

• I get what the hard cuts between the FBI searching for a body and the woman arriving home is going for, but I dunno if it really works. The visual of them all walking across the ice is very striking though.
• The breath coming from the outside of the garage and the footprint in the snow is pretty scary, good stuff.
• The injured arm in the snow is mysterious enough to hook the audience, especially since we don't think that's the victim's arm.
• Wait, so Scully and Mulder bolted at the end of Season 9 and she's just...using her own name? They live in a gated off property with a very long driveway, shouldn't she be incognito? This never made sense to me, frankly.
• Scully being off being a doctor while Mulder sits in a room being a weirdo conspiracy nut makes sense, yeah. Mulder needs Scully to keep him sane.
• The back and forth between Mulder and Scully is still great, Duchovny and Anderson haven't lost a step in half a decade.
• Sunflower seeds, Samantha reference and pencils in the ceiling, all in about 45 seconds. The movie really knows who it's catering to.
• The shot of Bush with the theme playing is...well it's cute. I prefer the shot of them framed by the picture of Bush and the picture of Hoover.
• The movie has decent dialogue (I like Mulder rapidly connecting the pieces) but it also just lets Mulder say they think the Priest is full of shit, basically just to remind us he can swear now.
• The back and forth between Mulder and Scully is the best part about this movie, seeing the emotional fallout of leaving the FBI and spending 6 years away, while still being close to each other, it's the stuff the audience is here for.
• "You believe in this stuff?" "I want to believe." Ha. Ha.
• Hey some name references to some earlier episodes.
• The bit where Joe starts bleeding from his eyes is decently effective.
• The movie bought about a gallon of goodwill from the fans by showing Mulder and Scully in bed together. It actually gets a full reveal that they're in bed together.
• The sudden shift into Mulder and Scully Mode is really good, and I dig the following scene, it feels like vintage X-Files stuff.
• Suddenly bringing Samantha up feels abrupt, but it makes emotional sense given the scene.
• The killer just seeing the FBI digging up the body from the ice feels cheap, but I like the shot it leads to.
• I'd forgotten the attempt to cure the kid involved stem cells. Man, 2008 was weird about stem cells, remember that?
• Mulder goading Joe into giving him more and then piecing together information about the crashed car is good stuff, it's been way too long since we got to see Mulder in action.
• Unfortunately the movie then manufactures an easy answer with Scully seeing Mulder's POV in what she's doing with the kid.
• The killer is going out of his way to act suspicious when he's questioned.
• The scene with Joe and Scully in his apartment is very badly written but is saved by some good acting, especially from Anderson.
• The back half revelations (how Father Joe knows the killers, the killer's relationship and what they're try to accomplish) come so fast and are so gross (and honestly a little mean spirited), they cut a lot of the good will the movie built up.
• Decent big scale chase scene through the construction site, nice and atmospheric.
• I think I get what they're going for, cutting back to the FBI Agents searching the office during the chase, but it just damages the kinetic energy of the scene.
• Whitney gets killed so suddenly it actually hits pretty hard.
• I actually don't mind the scene in the hospital but again, making the Joe a pedophile just makes him very difficult to engage with as a character.
• There's some random awful green screen with Mulder staring down at the ice, dunno why.
• It took way too long for anyone to investigate the dog tranquilizers, seriously, first thing I would've done would be ask around the surrounding area.
• Mulder's phone contacts; Bowman, Gilligan, Scully, Shiban, all of them references to major X-Files directors and producers.
• The movie is clearly enjoying having cars to wreck, the scene where they roll his car is pretty damn good.
• Scully just stumbling on the information needed to connect the dots is some pretty vintage X-Files stuff.
• Scully when told the FBI agent can't help her find Mulder: "Let me talk to someone who has some balls who can."
• The two headed dog is pretty unnecessary and honestly kind of clashes with the episode's otherwise ultra-grim tone.
• Skinner gets a reveal shot too, but the episode then instantly rolls on, which I like.
• I get that Mulder is used to having a gun (honestly two) but he does know he could just like, buy one, right? Doesn't need to be fiddling around with a wrench.
• Skinner's "He wouldn't do anything crazy" getting a full "Are you shitting me?" reaction shot from Scully is honestly excellent. Mulder doesn't consider a day fully lived until he's done 4 crazy things.
• Scully and Skinner putting all of the pieces together, most of which we've known for a while but regardless, is good, it's what you live for in a mystery.
• Scully just decks the guy with a block of wood, I love it.
• There is some nice setup and payoff, with Skinner locking the surgeons in the same dog crate they kept the girls in and Scully's medical expertise paying off to save her.
• There is something sweet and engaging about the final conversation in the movie between Mulder and Scully. This was, for 8 years, the final thing we had from The X-Files and it did that pretty well, if nothing else.
• As always these reviews are supported by my Patreon. Check it out so that I can afford to recreate the post-credits scene from this movie (by which I mean go on vacation).

Current Celebrity Watch:

Agent Whitney is played Amanda Peet, an actress whose work include main roles on Jack and Jill and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I wouldn't mention it (I don't think any show she's been on has ever made it past one season) but I heard some losers have a podcast on Studio 60 that you should check out.

Father Joe, of course, is played by Billy Connolly, an actor and standup comic who has worked consistently since the 70s. I really don't have the space to go into his entire career here, his first standup album was in 1972.

Special Agent Drummy is played by Xzibit, who is hypothetically known as a rapper (I mean, he is a rapper, he has several records that were Gold Certified) but let's be honest; We all mostly know him as the host and creator of Pimp My Ride.

Future Celebrity Watch:

The priest who wants to kick Scully's cancer kid out of the hospital is played by Adam Godley, who kicked around TV and Movies for a bit before finally getting main roles on Umbrella Academy and The Great very recently. I've not really watched either of those, but Elliot Page might make me change my mind.

Audio Observations:

The song playing in the 2nd victim's car when she's kidnapped is Memories Child by an artist named Jamison Young. Never heard of either of those things, but I'd be interested in hearing from people who have.