The X-Files: I Want To Believe - Vrach Frankenshteyn Review: A Disappointing Director's Cut
The long-awaited director's cut of The X-Files: I Want To Believe has arrived, but it fails to deliver the promised horror-centric reimagining of Frankenstein. Writer/director Chris Carter's vision, which he claimed would restore the horror elements, turns out to be a mere technicality imposed by the Motion Picture Association's puritanical control of film ratings.
The film's plot remains unchanged, with Mulder and Scully investigating a missing agent and a group of kidnapped women, all while dealing with a disgraced priest with psychic visions. However, the new cut is ten minutes shorter, and the changes are minimal and often arbitrary.
One of the biggest cuts is a scene that teased the supernatural shenanigans that got President George W. Bush elected, which no longer seems funny given the subsequent elections. Another scene, featuring Mulder and Scully's romantic chemistry, is toned down, leaving it more platonic than romantic.
The remaining changes are in the editing of scenes featuring organ-harvesting surgeries, which are trimmed to reduce the film's R-rating to PG-13. The content remains the same, but the order of scenes is slightly altered, and some scenes are removed.
The lack of profanity and gore in the new cut leaves it no more disturbing than an average episode of NCIS or CSI. Chris Carter's promise of restoring horror elements was misleading, and the director's cut is easily one of the most useless revisions of a film ever.
As a lifelong fan of The X-Files, I was disappointed by this review. I wanted the director's cut to redeem the underwhelming sequel, but Carter's work on the revival shows he may not be the best fit for the franchise. With a new take on The X-Files in the works, I hope the iconic duo of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson can return in a more suitable capacity.
The truth is out there, but it's not in this movie.
