The X-Files: I Want to Believe

"Why has Fox Mulder turned into beardy Good Will Hunting-era Robin Williams? Why is Dana Scully still refusing to accept the existence of 'weird shit' after a decade of staring it in the face? What made Scots comedian Billy Connolly think taking on a role as a paedophile priest was a good idea? Why is this movie even here, seven years after the TV show finished? The truth is out there. But it's not in the film."

"The warming glow of nostalgia only goes so far, with one's level of forgiveness likely dictated by where they reside along the "X-Files" fan continuum."

"never feels like it belongs on the big screen and, worst of all, it ends with Mulder and Scully indulging in a greasy, overly-long Hollywood-style kiss. The only questions X-Files fans will be asking themselves afterwards is, why now? And, why this?"

"The filmmakers insist this movie is a stand-alone, meaning you don't need to have watched a single episode of The X-Files to get it. Ha! Do the names Samantha, William and Skinner mean anything to do? If they don't ring a bell, expect a struggle. In not knowing who it needs to please, I Want to Believe pleases no one."

"If you go as an X-phile, you're likely to be disappointed. If you go as an ex-X-phile - that is, someone who parted company with the once-great sci-fi show about the time of its ambitious last movie in 1998, or hung on until Duchovny's Mulder left a season later - you're likely to be a little confused."

"Even at its stride, "The X-Files" was a load of malarkey. But it was thoughtful malarkey and compulsively watchable. One could say the same about the first two-thirds of The X-Files: I Want to Believe before it spins out of control and into a delirious plane of awfulness."

"An okay paranormal mystery, with solid work from the regulars – but please Mr Carter, next time, could we have liver-eating mutants or post-modern comedy like the really good episodes of The X Files?"

"You've got to wonder why they bothered. The last X Files movie, released 10 years ago, seemed to wrap up things quite nicely, what with the alien spaceship, conspiracy paranoia and the big explosions."