The X-Files

Rating: ***
Date Seen: 1998-06-19

Like other people I know, I've been anticipating The X-Files movie for several months now. Since I was a little late in getting turned on to the whole X-Files phenominon about a year ago, I don't know all the intricate details of Scully and Mulder's earlier adventures. Just what I've been able to gather of the shows I've seen this season, and the reruns, of course.

The movie is like a really long, involved, extra souped-up tv episode on the giant screen. (Espcially giant for me, since seeing "The X-Files" marks my first visit to one of those über-cool stadium style theaters.) And that was fine with me. Two reviews I read before seeing the movie both lamented that it was too much like the television show -- endless conspiracies, dubiously suspicious informants lurking in the shadows, and the usual banter passed between Scully and Mulder. I wouldn't have had it any other way. That's what the X-Files is all about!

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are right on with their acting game, as is Chris Carter with the screenplay. I came out of the movie feeling freaked out like I do after a really good X-Files episode, but more intensely. Images of white dome-tents, cornfields, and bizzare viruses spun around in my brain. And the antarctica scene... Wow! Even worse, the inescapable idea that unstoppable malevolent forces are plotting, day by day, the demise of millions of unsuspecting people. Waves of nervous shivers made their way down my spine all the way home from the theater.

The one complaint I had about "The X-Files" cinematography job was minor. I think they used too many extreme facial closeups. While it works well for a television screen, seeing 12-foot tall faces in the theater becomes distracting very quickly. Of course, maybe it was only because I was viewing such a big screen for the first time. Overall, Chris Carter & Company have created a movie worthy of the "X-Files" name.