Trailer Review: The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Posted by Paul Clark


I was a regular, but not obsessive, viewer of The X-Files for years, up until the time Mulder disappeared from the scene. But what attracted me to the show wasn’t so much the complicated mythology or the genre elements, but how low-key and even quiet it often was. That’s why most of this trailer feels wrong to me- whoever cut this is hard-selling this as a big-budget thriller, which has never really been what I’ve found that X-Files is about. There are a few moments here that intrigue me- none more than the initial exchange between Mulder and Scully, which says volumes about their dynamic- but whenever the music pounding at my eardrums and the editing gets more rapid-fire, my heart sinks a bit. Perhaps the film would have been better-served if it was released sometime other than July- had Fox gone with a March/April release for the movie, there would have been less pressure to compete with big, loud blockbusters with a property that doesn’t really lend itself to that kind of treatment. Of course, maybe it’s just a ploy on the studio’s part to get the asses of non-fans in the seats opening weekend. When it comes to this movie’s potential, I want to… well, you know.


Comments

danrimage said:

I agree about the quietness of the series, in its initial  or5 seasons anyway. But it got progressively more bombastic and up itself until it became exactly the show that people who derided it from the start always thought it was: wide-eyed, hysterical/schmaltzy nonsense. I'll go see this movie when it comes out, but as with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I won't expect the old magic: things are too far gone for that now.

And am I the only person who preferred the show when Mulder and Scully were overtly antagonistic to one another? Things began to slide when she stopped being a spy whose primary objective was to discredit him, and he stopped having to watch his ass (metaphorically speaking) around her in case she saw something incriminating. That reltionship dynamic was way more interesting (and frankly, entertaining) than the later series' lame. predictable 'will they/won't they?' meaningful glances and almost-kissing scenes.

May 19, 2008 9:25 PM

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