The X Files (1998) Movie Review

Little more than an expensive, flashy, and painfully drawn-out season finale, The X Files has little chance to draw any new fans to the TV show, if this is the best that can be done.

The movie opens with Agents Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully (Anderson) finding themselves on a new assignment after the closing of the X-files. Of course, through a bizarre coincidence, their very first assignment leads them to uncover a conspiracy involving the hiding of bodies of some would-be aliens. The plot turns alternately confusing and ridiculous after that.

It’s surprising that a TV show which leaves so much to the imagination does so little for it in feature film version. At two hours, The X Files is really pretty boring. I found myself falling asleep in the especially dull first half, only to be revived later by one thing after another that just didn’t make any sense!

For example, if the bad guys went to so much trouble to blow up a building in order to hide four bodies, why were the bodies recovered in perfect condition? Why does the road the agents follow on gut instinct alone lead directly to the bad guys? Why did a bee wait 24 hours in Scully’s coat before stinging her? Why does the Syndicate want to destroy the world – and if it has the power (eminently displayed in the film), then why don’t they just do it!? Then again, if a vaccine to this destruction exists (again, displayed in the film), then why don’t the good guys just release that into the world?

Well, you won’t find any answers to questions like these in the film. In fact, the movie goes a long way toward undoing the mysteries that the TV show has built up over the last five years. If this is a portent for the way things are going to go next season, I’m not sure I’m interested.

Still, I am a fan, and there’s enough juice to sustain a fan’s interest for awhile. It ain’t much, but watching Scully and Mulder inch closer romantically, and seeing some cool special effects is worth the price of admission.

Okay, a matinee.

(Recommended only for fans of the show; casual viewers needn’t bother.)

Aka The X Files: Fight the Future.

To confuse the hell out of you.