The X Files 1998, Rated PG-13 20th Century Fox

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Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson. Released to DVD on October 13, 1998.

After screening this film, I instantly equated The X Files with another movie: The Empire Strikes Back. Both movies are well-made and quite entertaining, but a dark cloud hangs over your head as you know full well that there was some material predicating the film that you might not have totally grasped, and you also know that there will be more material that follows the film that will put the events of the current movie in a new frame of light. But this isn't to degrade The X Files, because creator, paranoid conspiracy theorist, and XXXXXXXX, Chris Carter, who wrote The X Files' script, and director Rob Bowman have taken great pains to make sure that even the most casual of The X Files' viewers will be able to figure out what is going on during the majority of the movie. Carter gives explanations to almost every event, including the XXXXXXXXXX in the XXXXXXXXXX with Mulder.

The film opens where the '97 - '98 season finale left off; the X files division of the FBI has been shut down, leaving agents Mulder and Scully, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson respectively, to be reassigned into the mainstream FBI. The two are in XXXXXXXX searching for a bomb in the building across the street from where the terrorists have said they placed it. Naturally they find the bomb, but, despite the XXXXXX efforts of the FBI, the bomb goes off, destroying the building and killing three fireman and a child. This is a sticky point for Mulder. Having found the bomb some 12 minutes before it was scheduled to detonate, Mulder felt the people should have had time enough to clear the building. Probing into this, Mulder and Scully find that the fireman and child were dead before the bomb went off, sending them further into a massive XXXXXXXX cover-up of the alien XXXXXXXXX. This in turn sends the two agents to XXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, Texas and Antarctica, to unravel the strange circumstances surrounding the mystery. Once immersed in the uncovering of the cover-up, Mulder learns exactly what did happen to his sister, Scully contracts an extra-terrestrial virus, and both Mulder and Scully learn that they are XXXXXXXXX for each other.

The tension in The X Files is splendid, with the suspense of the occurring paranormal activities and the illegality of what Mulder and Scully are doing for the majority of the film carrying most of the weight in this department. What pleased me most about this film though, was Carter's script. Having watched The X Files on TV more than a few times, I was familiar with the pain and turmoil associated with the multitudes of open endings Carter left on his scripts, in an attempt to suggest that a) the government knows more than it lets on, b) we tune in again next week, for another series of interesting plotlines with few, if any, concrete facts dropped for the viewer to pick up, and c) XXXXXXXXXXX with stalks of rhubarb. And while The X Files movie obviously sets up the new season of The X Files on Fox, it also was a self-contained three act script, including a beginning, a middle, and, most importantly, an end; an end that actually manages to tie up several loose ends.

The special effects in The X Files are far superior to those seen on TV, and Duchovny and Anderson seemed to have a greater chemistry on the silver screen than I felt they did on TV. I enjoyed The X Files movie in a more complete way than I did any of Carter's offerings on TV. The action scenes are excellent, the special effects are inventive and solid, and Bowman's style of direction a perfect fit with the material at hand. I just hope XXXXXXXX in Washington, because XXXXXXXXXX Demi Moore and XXXXXXXXXX with the cockatoo.