We want to believe; we do.
But we don’t actually know whether “X-Files” creator Chris Carter’s return to his phenom is good.
Like other moviegoers, we’ll find out when the second sequel, “The X-Files: I Want To Believe,” starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, opens today.
You see, it’s all been very hush- hush. The studio, the filmmakers and the stars have been spoiler-vigilant.
Just this morning, an e-mail from a website posed this query: “Real Life X-Files Conspiracy? The Possible Movie Spoiler Cover-Up.” It alleges the film’s stars gave away a bit too much in an interview, confirming fan suspicions. But when it came time to play the taped interviews, they never arrived.
And with sentences like this: “Months after the shooting had wrapped, Carter remained as circumspect about the story as he was during its development,” the production notes suggest a wanton misuse of trees.
One could argue that all the evasion around the sequel is as it should be for a franchise that featured two FBI agents pulling on the threads of various cases but never fully unraveling the mystery of a governmental conspiracy, alien abductions and other paranormal goings-on.
Calling from Los Angeles, where he’d just made a vegetarian feast for his wife and assistant, Carter was indeed circumspect but also thoughtful about his zeitgeist baby and its sequel (for which, incidentally, the dark, evocative trailer works its magic).
“I don’t think we’ve written down or toward any end, except to tell a great story,” he said, addressing the nagging worry that one must read an ” ‘X-Files’ For Dummies” tome to navigate the movie.
But Carter assured, “This has nothing to do with the ‘X-Files’ mythology. It stands on its own. You can pick it up like a brand new thing.”
Earlier this month, 20th Century Fox released “X-Files Revelations,” a DVD compilation of “X-File” episodes chosen by Carter. It’s a curious but enjoyable refresher course.
This “X-Files” neophyte’s favorites (though all have their charms) include “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” with the late Peter Boyle as a melancholy insurance salesman who can see death (by serial killer) coming. His is a gift that could help business, but mostly seems like a ghastly burden.
The other fave, “The Post-Modern Prometheus,” finds Scully — and more so, Mulder — the main attractions in a star-struck small town. To a Cher soundtrack, the black- and-white treat pays homage to “Mask,” “Frankenstein,” comic books and David Lynch’s “Elephant Man.”
“Revelations” is a refreshing plunge into the morass of inexplicable events that kept rationalist Scully and believer Mulder beautifully on point and tenderly at odds.
“One of the things I realize coming back to the film is that there’s a whole new way of looking at their story,” said Carter. “Maybe it was glossed over in the fun or lost in the scary stuff, but Fox and Dana are on a quest. While it was certainly a quest to shed light on a government conspiracy about aliens, it was also a quest for meaning. You might even say for God.
“This is what sustained them, what bonded them. His wanting to believe in the paranormal and her wanting to believe science explained everything.”
A continuation of that philosophical tango and the stars’ chemistry bode well. The dance of a believer’s doubts and a skeptic’s wish for something akin to faith remain compelling and timely.
The day Carter called, he was going to be showing a rough cut of his film to studio honchos. Hard to fathom, but “I Want To Believe” marks his feature-film directing debut. He helmed series episodes and co-wrote both 1998’s “The X-Files” movie and this “stand-alone” with producer Frank Spotnitz.
“On the big screen, there are lots of things to consider for and to that end,” he said. “But because it was David and Gillian, it didn’t feel all that different to be working with them again. The energy was terrific.”
Of course, there’s another reason not to give the story (or the store) away. The fear factor is central to Carter’s hope that his film will “scare the pants off of people.”
He knows the truth about the movie, good or disappointing, will be up there — onscreen.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com; also: blogs.denverpostcom/ madmoviegoer
