Film reviews: The X-Files (1998)

Was the X-Files movie more than a little unprecedented? A movie based on a TV show which is still on the air, set after a season which was filmed after the movie had wrapped. Ordinarily big-screen updates of classic TV shows are shot long after the series folds, or 'updated' decades later a la Charlie's Angels or Dukes of Hazzard. But I guess what makes the X-Files movie even weirder is the fact that moving to a bigger screen and working on a bigger budget doesn't actually inspire a whole lot of 'new'. What we have here is essentially a two-part X-Files conspiracy episode, which would likely be unappreciated by new audiences, and underwhelming for long-term fans. While there are obviously a lot of fun moments, the one reaction that stems from the movie is a resounding 'blah'.

The inauspicious storyline is pretty rote, with a freshly demoted Mulder and Scully stumbling onto an elaborate conspiracy with ties to the Syndicate and colonization, running into assassinations, bees, experiments, aliens and oil along the way. The movie unfolds nicely this way, the two agents on the fringe of the FBI and attempting to fly beneath the radar again, and there's a lot of suspense. But there's definitely that feeling of 'and...?'

The only major success is with the visuals. The movie looks gorgeous, the camerawork interesting, the bigger and richer sets pretty drool-worthy. I loved the vast landscapes of desert and, later, of the Antarctic. The enormous underground body farm at the end is ridiculously Alien-ish. The chase through the cornfield is crazy exciting. The shot of Dr. Bronschweig being locked beneath the ground and watching as his fellow scientists cover up the top of the door with dirt is really, really chilling. But outside of those moments, the movie is riddled with plotholes (why blow up an entire building to divert attention from the corpses inside?) and feels generally uninspired.

Apart from Mulder and Scully's near-kiss, there isn't a whole lot new or revelatory about anything that occurs here. And while that wouldn't be surprising in a season opener or a particularly weak finale, it's seriously disappointing considering this is a major movie release. You're left with the feeling that this entire project existed for box office purposes. And while every summer blockbuster exists for that reason, it's disappointing that Chris Carter didn't feel anything truly groundbreaking should even happen. The X-Files looks great, but beneath the surface it's absolutely ordinary. C

Credits
Starring David Duchovny (Fox Mulder); Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully); Martin Landau (Dr. Alvin Kurzweil); Blythe Danner (Jana Cassidy); William B. Davis (The Cigarette-Smoking Man); John Neville (The Well-Manicured Man); Mitch Pileggi (A.D. Walter Skinner); Jeffrey De Munn (Dr. Ben Bronschweig); Terry O'Quinn (Darius Michaud); Armin Mueller-Stahl (Conrad Strughold)
Screenplay Chris Carter Story Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz Director Rob Bowman