FTF or IWTB?

[ex_rustingwil400]

Which X-Files movie do you prefer...Fight The Future or I Want To Believe? How many times did you see them in the theater?

I like both of them, but if I had to pick one over the other, I would choose I Want To Believe. I was disappointed to read so many negative reviews and comments on message boards after the movie's release. I liked the look of the film, and the snow and shadows were beautiful. I liked the story, even though there were a few lines of dialogue that seemed pretty hokey. (All the stuff about looking into the darkness...) I got to see it four times before it got yanked.

I saw FTF twice, I think. By comparison, it seems really bright and colorful and exciting, but I can never keep the story straight.

Comments

[yvi]

I... haven't even seen the second one yet...

[yvi]

Oh, but watched the first about a dozen times. Only once in the theater, though.

[ex_rustingwil400]

Ah, well, I was making an assumption there. I know lots of people who were fans of the series who haven't seen it...and don't really care to.

[amalnahurriyeh]

SACRELIGE!

(Ahem...what's your internet speed like? Because...you know...The Truth Is Out There...and could be made available...

[amalnahurriyeh]

OK, I'm going to say it: they're both kinda crap movies, in their own special ways. Neither plot got beyond semi-coherent. And, oy, some dialogue clunkers.

But they are both amazing comfort movies. I love Big Exciting Action Movies That Go Boom! and FTF is absolutely that, in a nutshell. And IWTB is like a meh MoTW but with TONS of shippy goodness, which makes my little mushy heart sing. And I find the IWTB-verse really interesting, as evidences that I keep writing in it.

IWTB I saw twice in the theater, and would have seen more but my family is lose. I've seen it twice on DVD since I bought it. FTF I must have seen in the theater, but probably only once; apart from that, I've seen it a few times on cable, but haven't actually ever popped the DVD in just to see it. I'm sure I will at some point...

[ex_rustingwil400]

Yes, that's it...they're comfort movies. I can never make it all the way through the FTF dvd in one sitting. I've watched IWTB a few times, but it's not as good on a tiny tv screen.

[wendelah1]

I have never seen Fight the Future in a theater, as I was not even watching the show in 1997(?) when it was released. I have seen it on DVD a couple of times. It has some nice explosions and few shippy moments that I personally could have done without and an utterly incoherent plot. I do prefer it over I Want to Believe which has even more Mulder/Scully romance and a plot line that makes FTF look brilliant by comparison. Despite that, I saw it three times in the theater. I guess I kept thinking I would like it better, that I would see what so many fans saw and loved.

I don't think I have looked forward more eagerly to a movie since I was a child waiting for the Sound of Music to open in my neighborhood theater. IWTB was a horrible disappointment to me. To be honest, I nearly left the fandom over it, and I don't think I've felt the same about the show since. They had so many years to come up with a good script, and they failed. What I wanted from the movie was what I loved about the show: watching Mulder and Scully's partnership. I wanted to see them work together, and solve a crime or x-file together. I have not bought the DVD nor do I plan to do so. What is sad is how indifferent I am now to the idea of a third movie.

My retreat into denial is complete: in my personal canon, nothing past Je Souhaiteever occurred.

[ex_rustingwil400]

I went to see IWTB mostly unspoiled and with low expectations because people who had seen it before me had said it was crap. If I had spent anytime at all thinking about what kind of movie I wanted it to be or what I wanted to happen, I probably would have been disappointed as well.

[my_daroga]

I share a lot of these feelings, though I had already "left" fandom by the time it came out (the last few years of XF drove me away). I think we feel differently about their relationship--that is, that's what I've gathered from the other thread, here--in the sense that they're being together doesn't bother if I feel it's done right. But I don't trust them to, and regardless I'm interested in them as a partnership. I felt that even when they were on screen together, they didn't make sense, and didn't have that chemistry that was the reason I loved the show.

After my disillusionment several years ago, I went into this film thinking it wouldn't be that good but at least I'd try to enjoy my Mulder and Scully. And that usually works to keep my more cynical instincts at bay. It didn't, this time.

[chrissytng]

I saw FTF back when I was like 8 years old in the theater (parents were big XF fans at the time and I'd been allowed to watch it the entire time it was on) and it scared the crap out of me for various reasons (I was 8, so I sincerely believed Scully was in danger of dying, then again I also really thought Mulder died all those times on the show, but that's beside the point; also the theater I saw FTF in was run down and crawling with icky bugs, one which decided to crawl up my leg during the climatic 'Scully is in Antarctica and Mulder might fall off the ledge getting down there to her' scene -not cool when you're 8 years old!), so I only saw it the one time. But I've got it on dvd and watch it fairly often.

IWTB...well, now I saw this twice. The first time, bc obviously I was a fan and had high hopes for it. The second time...because I was guilty that I found myself loving The Dark Knight more and since the first time I saw TDK was right after I saw IWTB, I ended up seeing IWTB again the same day I decided to see TDK a second time. I also was hoping that maybe a second viewing would improve it, since I had been completely unspoiled for IWTB, and so now that I'd already seen it and knew the weak/bad parts, I would be better prepared. But I hate to say it...I really didn't like IWTB. I loved the shippy parts sure, but it really wasn't an enjoyable film for me, which is sad, bc I think I like movies of even less quality and yet I stupidly expect more out of XF!

(And it's bc I was unspoiled for IWTB that I went in to the new Trek completely spoiled...but until IWTB, I came out satisfied, each time, so yeah....)

[ex_rustingwil400]

LOL I was plenty old and parts of it still scared me, especially the alien creature attacking the scientist down in that hole. Yikes.

I refused to go see TDK because it was up against X-Files. I watched it later on dvd and really didn't like it much, maybe because everyone hyped it up so much.

[chrissytng]

I've seen FTF tons of times (now that I have it on dvd and all) and I still get scared in parts of it, lol!

Yeah I felt the same way at first about TDK. That's another reason I went to see IWTB twice, bc I wasn't comfortable with liking TDK over IWTB. But I think a big factor in my liking TDK was bc I went into it thinking it was going to suck. I just couldn't believe that it was as good as everyone said it was. That's the thing about being pessimistic about stuff, lol, I'm either going to be validated or pleasantly surprised.

I think part of my problem with IWTB might have been that I was too optimistic about it going in, so I was sort of built up to be let down on some level. But I didn't entirely hated it, and I think it improved on second viewing, bc I had gotten over what I didn't like and could just enjoy the parts that I did. And as a Star Trek fan, I can say that no movie in the history of movies, ever disappointed me like the last one, Nemesis did, so in comparison to that and other disappointing movies, IWTB actually holds up overall. I mean I didn't think it was great, but I sure as heck know it could've been worse.

[my_daroga]

I'm one of the very negative about IWTB people. I tried not to harsh anyone's squee, because yeah, I guess it was pretty special to get anything after all those years. But I hated it. I thought the plotlines were even stupider than usual, and I still don't understand how Scully googling "stem cell research" resulted in the page about the two-headed dogs or whatever that clued Mulder in. I don't even know. And I personally thought every scene between them was awkward and stilted, as if they hadn't met in five years. It just didn't work for me, though I did like the ambiguity around the priest. I only saw it once, and it reminded me why I'd left the show before the end.

I don't think FTF is a particularly good movie, but on the other hand it occurred while I personally was at the height of my fannishness, and hell, it was great to get that on the big screen while I was young and passionate. ;) The shippiness was kept to a minimum I thought, which was nice because I'm of the UST persuasion so it was there but not ruined. Also Martin Landau.

[ex_rustingwil400]

I'm not very smart, so I only pick apart plotlines if I'm bored by what's happening onscreen at that moment, and if the actors aren't really doing anything for me, I'm more likely to pay attention to the lighting or camera movement or music before I pick apart the plot. At the time I just assumed the google search was on a restricted medical database, but that still doesn't help the fact that it was a Catholic hospital, and Catholics don't believe in stem cell research.

I actually prefer the UST as well, but them being together didn't bother me too much. I guess I was just happy to see them at all after all this time.

[chrissytng]

Just wanted to chime in to say that while I agree with the plot being very weak, I was actually fine with the two-headed dog coming up in her google search (though how it came up with stem cells I don't know), bc ironically enough I read a story about a week or so before IWTB came out that dealt with some wacky Soviet scientist that experimented with creating two-headed dogs and other things. So even though I'm sure Chris Carter and co. was just on the crack like normal here, it was kinda strange (to me at least) to have read that and then see it in the movie.

[my_daroga]

I think it's one of those things that, in a movie I enjoyed better, I might have been more inclined to overlook. I'm sure you're familiar. But I've gotten ever-more-sensitive to the shortcuts that writers take, the "enhance!" buttons on computers, the really really shoddy science. It's not so much that I need everything to be true/accurate/doable, but that when it's so obviously wrong it feels like they either 1) assume I'm not going to notice or 2) assume that if I do, I won't care. And then I feel condescended to.

I have no doubt that it's possible to find a two-headed dog experiment using Google. But that they want me to believe that has anything to do with stem cell research--that any of this did--seems insulting. Not the least in a political climate where stem cell research is being vilified and debated.

Which isn't to deny that was probably a really funny circumstance, for you. And doubtless, I expect too much from my entertainment. I am often told so.

[chrissytng]

Oh I completely agree that it's a stretch for it to be in the movie, let alone trying to connect it to the plot (which yeah I'd forgive too if it had been more enjoyable), I just found it ironic for me to have read something similar so soon before seeing the movie. Though unlike Scully I wasn't googling for stem cells, lol (and um, yeah, I was a bit miffed at the 'stem cells are wrong' vibes I was getting from it, probably didn't help also that Scully's co-workers were strongly against it as well).

But yeah I understand expecting too much from entertainment, it's why I stopped watching Heroes and other shows. It's just sad for me to think of IWTB as the last we'll see Mulder and Scully on screen. I think about how long we waited for this movie...and just feel, depressed.

[bravenewcentury]

To be honest, neither is a great film on its own, but then they're really made to be super-long episodes of an ongoing storyline, rather than being self-contained.

I'd have to say FTF over IWTB because:

- Mytharc! Yay! Even if it makes no effing sense!
- They're still in the FBI and thus drive around looking hot in business suits.
- HALLWAY SCENE OMFG.
- The Syndicate are in it, and I love to hate them.
- The Gunmen are in it, even if it's only for about ten seconds.

I do like IWTB too, despite my misgivings about the last couple of years of canon. However I feel I should qualify this by saying that I would happily pay to watch two hours of Mulder and Scully going to the supermarket and arguing about the laundry, so you know.

I never saw either at the cinema because I am still in the juvenile stage of Philedom, having never watched a single episode before last November.

[ex_rustingwil400]

The consensus seems to be FTF here.

I just realized that I haven't seen it since I saw IWTB, and a rewatching might change my mind for reason #2. Their wardrobes were a little homely in IWTB, and Scully could have done with a cut and color, although I loved Mulder's beard. I wish he'd kept it the whole movie.

[my_daroga]

I think I'd rather pay for two hours of Mulder and Scully going to the supermarket. This isn't meant to be a dig at IWTB, not really. What I mean is that I'm interested in their relationship primarily, and I'd sort of relish the opportunity to see them really explore the emotional/psychological angle of their relationship without the other stuff. Probably be a terrible movie for most people, but I think it'd be fun. Whether or not they're "together."

[my_daroga]

I understand that. We all watch for different things, and it doesn't take intelligence or a lack thereof to be bothered by different things. I have no problem with other people enjoying the film--it just means that X-Files is a lot of things to a lot of people, and this film just didn't happen to capture the stuff I wanted it to. Sometimes, though, I feel insulted by the shortcuts taken in films, though I'm less likely to object if I like other aspects of the film.

It didn't bother me that they were together. What bothered me was that it just didn't "play" right for me. *shrug* That may have just been my attitude going in, you know? It just wasn't XF for me. Which is fine, because we still have the DVDs, right?

[my_daroga]

I'm sorry. DW is still screwing up my email replies--this was obviously meant to be attached to the thread above.

[scarletbaldy]

YAY! *waves* Hi guys!

FTF without a doubt. I saw it in London when it was first released in the theatre back in 1998. we were ten fans in Leicester square back then and there was no premiere. *iz nostalgeek*

I like IWTB like I like an average X-F episode. But FTF for all its flaws still makes my heart beat when I watch it on telly. The plot is utterly preposterous but the picture itself is gorgeous, lots of shots in there are icon worthy. And Mulder and Scully are so very pretty, with their awesome suits and Scully got those amazing shoes and I'm not even a shoe person! In FTF they don't look like something the cat dragged in and I'm so shallow I'm gonna stop talking right now....

And two words really: HALLWAY SCENE.

I rest my case. *nods firmly*