Mulder: Scully? Why would he say that? "Don't give up." Why would he say such a thing to you?

Mulder: He didn't say it to me. He said it to you. If Father Joe were the devil, why would he say the opposite of what the devil might say? Maybe that's the answer, the larger answer. Don't give up.

Can a summer movie containing no car chases, no explosions, no larger-than-life monsters still succeed? Yes, according to director Chris Carter and writer Frank Spotnitz, if the movie is The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Replacing the special effects-driven drumbeat of the summer blockbuster with the drama of people wanting to believe in something greater than themselves, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are brought together again to find the truth behind strange disappearances in snowbound, rural West Virginia (though actually filmed in Canada). Along the way, they must come to a greater understanding of their own truths: the ones that drive both of them to never give up.

For Mulder, the truth is out there, waiting to be revealed if you keep searching for it. For Scully, the truth is deep inside, waiting for you to see it, even when those around you refuse to believe in its possibilities. For Father Joe, the truth is already known: he loathes it and desperately hopes for a greater one to take its place. For Janke and Franz, they want to believe in something the two of them can share, even if it is freaky enough to open an X-file-styled investigation; for them, the end justifies the means, and those means are gruesome. Who will be saved, damned, or remain indifferent? This is the essential quandary that every X-file poses for us as well as Mulder and Scully.

With qualities usually associated with an independent movie, the low budget X-Files: I Want to Believe flies under the frenetic, sound-blasting action radar to land with the hush of new-fallen snow. Will it be disappointing to X-Files fans looking for more chills and thrills? Probably. Should we castigate it for not delivering a larger-than-life story for a franchise that left us with a larger than average number of loose ends screaming to be tied up? Perhaps. But when you look back at the series, you notice each story, no matter how fantastic, remains focused on the ordinary people caught up in extraordinary and inexplicable circumstances. The action takes place through the characters, rather than simply to them. Carter and company stay true to this formula as they delve deep into the psyches of Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they struggle to keep their faith in spite of the realities that would impede it.