Dana Doggett’s Blog

I Want To Believe

July 26th, 2008

So I’m hovering between giving XF2 two stars or three stars (of five), to be certain I’d have to go see it again.

Overall the movie was just a movie, not the best thing in the world, not the worst thing in the world. I do think that this movie would have been better if Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz had written a story within the mytharc since I believe that their mytharc episodes are stronger than their stand alone stories. I was disappointed there wasn’t a whole lot being done about the bad guys and why they were doing the things they were doing. But maybe I missed something at some point because early on and maybe into half way through the movie I found my eyes wandering around the theatre looking at the funny shaped lights on the side of the wall.

There were things in the beginning of the movie that I thought were corny… the pencils in the ceiling… waiting so long to reveal to us that Mulder has a beard… the XF theme over Bush’s headshot… Mulder saying “what’s up doc?”… these little things I just feel in my gut were Carter trying to be funny and it came off annoying, which I expected. Yes, I expected Carter to do stupid things like that in the film that wasted up precious seconds that could have been used to get into either the casefile of the movie and the new characters (which I feel went sorely under developed).

I really, honestly felt that the Mulder/Scully bed scene and the kiss at the end of the movie when they made up were completely out of character. I felt awkward sitting there watching that because it was like suddenly I was watching two characters that had just been introduced. It isn’t like Mulder and Scully to be like that with each other, it doesn’t feel right.

Which brings me to a comment about how some reviews that came out about this movie praise the chemistry between David and Gillian. I don’t see it. Back in the first four or five seasons of “The X-Files” series I saw it, but now I just don’t even see a sliver of it between them. I found the scenes with them interacting together the most boring of the movie. But then again my opinion of honest to God brilliant on screen chemistry is that of Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in “It’s A Wonderful Life”, when they’re talking on the phone… if I could find a clip on YouTube I’d post it. Look what I found…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6e6dY1F0E

Yeah, just try to beat that Dave and Gill. I’m sorry, that’s mean… I can’t compare your “chemistry” to that of Jimmy and Donna. I just think that this here with Jimmy and Donna is the best chemistry I’ve ever seen between two actors… and this scene here is what I compare all on-screen couples to when it comes to chemistry.

Ok so now that I’ve gotten just a little bit of commentary out about the things that I don’t like… how about spending some time on what I did like.

My favorite scenes of the movie were all of the Gillian/Scully scenes, she had improved immensely in her portrayal of Dana Scully in the six years since the series ended. She did better in the role than I had expected and that was a pleasant surprise, ok, not really a surprise since I know she’s a great actress, but you know what I mean. She really played this character and her inner turmoil over her current relationship and the life she lives outside that with Mulder.

This movie confirmed my stance on the Mulder/Scully relationship. I went into the theatre just going to accept that MSR is going to be what it is and that I would try to enjoy the MSR scenes, but I found myself finding confirmation in that I still cannot support this relationship. So in an odd way I enjoyed the relationship stuff because it backs up my view of it. I found it frustrating that when Scully couldn’t sleep at night and tried to talk about it that Mulder’s response to her wasn’t listening to her and helping her work through the emotions in her head, but instead he offered up sex and told her to try to get some sleep. I was appauled by that. I seriously expected him to help her with what she was going through, and he did to some extent but only to the extent in which he played a personal role in things… when she brought up her son, William. I was just very displeased with the way he treats her, again it wasn’t about her, it was about him.

My favorite scene in the movie for both Mulder and Scully was the scene where Scully breaks up with Mulder. In my head I was thinking how happy I am to see that Scully has grown within herself to realize that she’s not in a good place with Mulder. Yes, she loves him and she always will, but leaving him proved to me what I’ve been saying all these years, that eventually Scully would realize that what she wants will not be found in a relationship with Mulder. And then when she’s telling Mulder that she doesn’t like what this does to her or to him and he’s ok with that… he’s not listening to her, or maybe he is and he’s just letting her know that this is who he is take it or leave it and she decides to leave it. I was so proud of Scully in that scene, it was great to see her finally take hold of her own life and do what she wants when it comes to her relationship with Mulder. In my head I was screaming at the screen “You go girl!”, but at the same time I felt bad for Scully because she has invested so much of herself and her life in Mulder and it must have hurt her to leave him after all they’ve been through.

I felt the movie really picked up after that scene because finally something interesting had happened.

I enjoyed the scenes where Mulder was helping the FBI, it was like he had finally returned to where he belongs. I loved seeing him work with Dakota Whitney, they had good FBI partnershipping thing going on. It also didn’t hurt that Dakota liked Mulder and flirted with him, and I think somewhere inside him (though socially isolated he wasn’t sure what to do with it) he liked her too, maybe just professionally and maybe more, it would have been nice if more had been done with them. I was disappointed that Dakota got killed. To me it felt like she had only been created to come onto Mulder, flirt with him, piss off the shippers and then get killed in a silly (albeit predictable way) just because women in the series who came onto Mulder and had similar personality and a potential with him were always the ones that the shippers hated most and wanted to be killed off. That’s what I feel the point of Dakota was, to piss off the shippers and get killed off, nothing more and nothing less. That was disappointing as her death didn’t really progress the story or do anything in terms of developing any of the characters.

Which brings me to question why Doggett and Reyes were not included in this movie. I read that Carter and Spotnitz contemplated writing Doggett and Reyes into this movie but couldn’t find a way to make it work. Umm… hello *waves* Replace Dakota Whitney with Monica Reyes, and replace Drummy with John Doggett. Ta da! Easy as that. The characters were somewhat similar to the Doggett and Reyes characters so there shouldn’t have been a problem. I honestly think though that Doggett and Reyes were not included just because a lot of fans of “The X-Files” hate them without reason, and Carter and Spotnitz, in this second go of a movie, wanted to please one portion of the fanbase and who cares really about the other fans (the noromos, though I have a comment about that later, and the seasons 8 and 9 fans). I also think that if Reyes had been Dakota in this that she wouldn’t have been killed and there wouldn’t have been that pointless death.

I did like Amanda Peet and Xzibit though, I thought they were great XF on-screen presences. I would have liked to have seen more with Xzibit though he had an intensity to him that I felt was underused. I’ve already begun to build backstories for them LOL Go figure, eh? I just love the minor characters that get created for the world of “The X-Files”.

Billy Connelly did very well in his role as Father Joe, I was impressed by him. It was annoying that they made him a pedophile simply because the whole priest/child molester thing is so common in the real world news, but then if he wasn’t a pedophile Carter wouldn’t have been able to make jokes about the subject. I found that disgusting. The first joke was better than the activities room joke, you know the one, before Mulder knew he was a pedophile… about sleeping next to him in bed and then Mulder changes his mind. But dear Lord! Scully is obviously upset about this priest/pedophile and Mulder is there, he knows this and still cracks jokes about it in front of her. Way to be sensitive Mulder, really. I guess I can’t blame Mulder for that one even though the writer(s?) thought it to be in character for Mulder to joke about pedophilia. I didn’t find that funny at all, I found that insensitive and inappropriate.

I like that the climax of the movie brought Skinner back. I was so excited about seeing that beautiful man on a big screen. I think they could have used him more, but I’ll take what I can get. Seeing him and Scully together brought back memories of my time before Doggett when I ’shipped him and Scully wholeheartedly. I liked that Scully called upon the man with balls! I got a great kick out of that. I love everything about Skinner scenes in this movie, and especially the scene where he takes off his coat and covers Mulder and then holds Mulder in his arms. I had a slash squee moment in the theatre during that scene, I loved it for the slash implications that went through my head (though I do know that wasn’t in the very least the intentions of the scene) and for what it means in the history of Skinner’s involvement in Mulder and Scully’s lives. It was a very good scene, one of the movie’s best.

I like the end of the movie too for the fact that the relationship between Mulder and Scully is unresolved, it can be perceived that they made up but are no longer a couple, and for the shippers it can be perceived as they kiss, made up, and forgot all about the issues that Scully has with the relationship and are a couple again. I think there’s enough there at the end of the movie to suggest that Mulder and Scully are no longer a couple. He casted his doubt of her and told her if she doesn’t go to help that boy that she’d stay with him and they’d go off somewhere away from the darkness that Scully doesn’t want in her life. Then the next scene she’s at the hospital being a doctor, staying there where she’s been, going to cure that boy and save his life.

I believe that they made up and she made the decision for them to just be friends from here on out. Mulder even told her that he is who he is, and that he’s all right with what this kind of work does to him. Scully recognized that this isn’t what she wants in a relationship and ended it, and I think that the end of this movie confirms that as well. And since the FBI has cleared Mulder and he’s all right to come out of hiding that he will return to the FBI, be a profiler and continue to help find bad guys, help victims and will always be trying to help his sister through his work in law enforcement. Mulder’s good at what he does, I can’t imagine him doing anything else. He and Scully will remain friends, but I don’t think that he’ll call on her for help in the future as she has expressed no desire to return to that life again.

And for what it’s worth… the comment about darkness always finding them… the way I see it, Mulder is the one with darkness following him and it only finds Scully through his relationship with her (be it professional or personal). I’m not sure if the characters realize this, but it’s what I know to be true. If Scully doesn’t want darkness to find her then she has to understand that the darkness that haunts her is because of her friendship with Mulder. And since they are friends I think it’s possible that the darkness will continue to find her and haunt her for the rest of her life. But thankfully since their romantic relationship is over maybe the darkness will visit her less and less.

I know I’ve forgotten some points that I wanted to make, but the comments made here are the ones that come to me easily after just one viewing. I do plan on seeing this movie at least one more time while it’s in theatres. I did enjoy it overall, it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, it was just like watching a new XF episode on a big screen, nothing epic about it, nothing like FTF (which I think was a better movie). I’m glad that the movie was better than I thought it would be and I’m glad that I went to see it in theatres. I hope that this movie does well enough for us to get a third movie where Carter and Spotnitz will be able to tie up the story of the alien conspiracy mytharc, and if that happens I hope that they bring aboard Rob Bowman to direct it. Rob was missed in this XF outing.

~Cassie

Oh and… I loved the David and Gillian in a row boat at the end of the movie. I had read that on set the joke became about how when they do the third movie that they should shoot in Hawaii since the weather was so cold up in Vancouver LOL I thought that was a really funny in joke to stick in there with D&G rowing to a tropical island LOL

Entry Filed under: X-Files