benh911

I cannot think of any kind of a twisted sense of humor in Home.

Michael Corvin

The point still stands though. There were episodes of the X-files that did not deal with supernatural phenomena.

Shannon Nutt

The Johnny Mathis song didn't do it for you?

benh911

I thought that song fit perfectly, but in a creepy way, not in a comical way...To each his own, though.

Seantn

There was slight humor sprinkled into the film (not in the least bit twisted, though).

Mulder says he'll kiss the priests ass and hop in his bed, or something to that effect, and then they tell him that the priest is a child molester, and Mulder says that perhaps he'll stay out of his bed.

The whole scene where they showed George Bush's picture and played the X-Files theme (which wasn't funny, but a definite attempt at it!)

Mulder's ceiling being full of pencils because of how bored he is. (Now that I type all these out, I realize they are VERY small attempts at humor, but it's there nevertheless)


Other than that, you're right, the movie was definitely not rich in the humor department as some of the episodes were.

Shannon Nutt

That was more of a homage to the show than an attempt at humor...at least I ASSUME most fans know that the "pencils in the ceiling" were used in an episode.

BTW, I'm surprised no one in this thread has brought up yet the fact that FOX is apparantly seriously considering a direct-to-video X-FILES 3. Presumingly for 2012.

Seantn

I read about the 2012 idea before this movie came out and bombed...I wasn't sure they'd be so gung-ho on making it new. Did you read that news recently? The direct-to-DVD part does make sense, because I think it'd probably do well on DVD, as i'm sure this movie will as well.

Shannon Nutt

Yes, Frank Spotnitz mentioned it in his online blog a week or two after the movie was released (when it was apparant the movie was DOA at the box office).

BullGooseLoony

I just watched this yesterday, and if I had to use any word to describe it, that word would be "sad." Not that the movie had any heart-wrenching moments, but overall, the movie was just kind of depressing. I was never a hardcore fan, but when the X-Files was at its peak ('95-'98, I'd guess), I watched pretty regularly. The conspiracy stuff definitely got old, but I actually enjoyed the first movie, even though it doesn't stand on its own.

When I first heard they were making this movie, I thought "why?" It wasn't a sequel to the first movie, would follow no real plot threads, and was clearly more of a thriller than a sci-fi movie, which I was guess was okay.

The beginning was great. Really suspensful opener, good music, nice reintroductions to Mulder and Scully, and then...nothing. The psychic was a pretty lame device to add in the supernatural, the movie was not all that suspensful, and it was kind of a sad sight to see Mulder and Scully look like second bananas.

Some of the dialogue was awkward, and the movie was just not exciting. Any time the big climax involvs the hero barging into an operating room with a wrench to yell "stop," you know the movie was lacking. I'm not saying it had to be disgusting like Saw or action-packed like Transformers, but there could have been more of anything.

Overall, it was just weak. And the sight of this reunion delivering so little of what made the series great, and failing miserably at the box-office, just made me feel bad. I'd love to see them get back on course with another movie, but it is doubtful. Just a shame.

*1/2 (out of 4)

riley_dude

The scenes during the end credits had them in a boat. Have them end up on the Lost Island.

buckee1

I watched it last night with my expectations bar set way too high and was thoroughly disappointed. this felt more like a two-part mediocre episode rather than a feature film to be sure. 1/2 star out of four and I think I'm being really generous there.

riley_dude

It was more worthy of at least 2 stars. Come on. The performances not to mention just seeing Scully and Mulder and even Skinner was worth more than a half star.

Mercury&Solace

THis will be in the mailbox today via Netflix, can't wait to check it out.
Though with the loathing happening in here, I am a little scared to watch this

Mercury&Solace

Man there is some real dislike for this film in here.

I just got done with it ant it wasn't that bad, Jesus some in here are making it sound like its absolute garbage. Ya the movie had its issues, but god damn David and Gillian did a great job with the material they had.

Not the greatest film in the world, but not horrible either.

stingermck

I went in low based off the board, and I liked it. It was a nice low key movie, which sometimes is a nice change of pace from big action stuff.

Pointyskull

I didn't see this in the theaters, but on DVD it was very enjoyable. Played like an extended episode of the series from the "good" years.

LiquidSky

I rented/watched last weekend. Grade: 2/4

Michael Corvin

I enjoyed it well enough, but there is a different perception for a movie like this in theater vs. watching it at home. When you go to the theater you want more than just another tv episode. If you are watching it for the first time at home, than it's no different than watching the way X-files has always been enjoyed.

For a movie that's supposed to re-launch the franchise it needed to be more grand.

metaridley

I saw the trailers, knew what Chris Carter wanted to make (a low-key "monster of the week" type story without aliens) and was not disappointed after I saw it theatrically. I'll be checking it out on DVD eventually as well.

The horrifically overblown criticism here is way off.

BullGooseLoony

People are entitled to their opinions, and this movie clearly has some people divided. I don't think anyone's saying that it's an awful movie, it's just not a good one at all. It's very subdued, unambitious, and minor. When you read enough negative reviews of a movie, of course your expections are going to be lowered enough to possibly enjoy it.

This did something like 35% on RottenTomatoes, so I was expecting a two-star movie, and what I got was a little bit less than that.

The fact is, Carter's "movie of the week" approach was not a good idea for a summer blockbuster, and late July is not the ideal time to release "quiet" supernatural thriller. Approaching the first X-Files movie in ten years as "movie of the week" just made it seem like another run-of-the-mill thriller, and that's what it was.

They were right to avoid making Fight the Future 2, but they definitely could have aimed higher.

Josh-da-man

I think that people were going into this expecting something more than a good third season episode. The final episode of the television series introduced a pretty huge plotline that was left unresolved (apparently) in anticipation of future feature films. And the first feature film after the finale did nothing to address it, let alone resolve it.

This movie was a very low-key way to relaunch the franchise after nearly a decade of inactivity. It shouldn't be surprising that many were disappointed.

metaridley

What I do agree with you on is that they picked one of the worst possible debuts this year: a week after The Dark Knight. In fact, anytime in the summer was a miscalculation. It might've done more business and gone over a little bit better had it been a mid-spring or mid-autumn release.

lamphorn

I've still only seen it once, but I thought it was dreadful. I loved the series and enjoyed the first movie.. but I really wanted to walk out of this after about a half hour. It was just so gratuitously depressing, clunky, poorly edited, and the main thrust of the story was uninteresting. I didn't care what the outcome of the "mystery" was... it was just boring as piss.

The lame thing is it could have been great, even keeping with the intention to make it a low-key "standalone" to reintroduce the franchise to a new audience, but if you're going to do that it had better be a damn good script... good enough to produce without the familiar characters and brand name.

The problem is Chris Carter is not a film artist, he's a one-hit-wonder television producer, but he unwisely chose to write and direct. A good script in the hands of a decent director could have worked wonders with these characters.

While this is a secondary issue, I was bugged by what appeared to me to be obvious and excessive plastic surgery on Gillian Anderson. She's starting to resemble Cher. Scully would not look that way.

I really really hope they make a third film and get back to the mythology that served the series so well and was left hanging. But they need to avoid the Star Trek syndrome of only hiring in-house writer/directors who have no film experience or sense of cinema.

Michael Corvin

There's nothing wrong with low-key, the problem was it was too low-key. Mulder and Scully didn't even have guns.

chuckd21

I was superhyped for the film over the summer, but when the reviews came in I waited. So I had low expectations when I watched it on Blu Ray and enjoyed it.

It would have made a great TV movie, ala the 24 movie, but there was no reason for this particular story to have been told in theaters. So while I liked it, I thought it was the wrong move to reboot the franchise. The character stuff was great, but that stuff works on a TV screen.