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Television's Cult Hit Leaps to Big Screen

For fans of the television series The X-Files, the advent of The X-Files movie has been like Christmas in June. Aside from the Star Wars movies, I don't know another film to be so eagerly anticipated. But the show's creators have done something unique. They have produced a film for a television series that is still on the air.

The X-Files: Fight the Future
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate a strange farm in The X-Files: Fight the Future. (Twentieth Century Fox, 1998)
Directed by: Rob Bowman
Written by: Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, John Neville, Martin Landau

Rated PG-13 (for some intense violence and gore)
Running time: 121 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 8 out of 10.

So what can fans of the series expect to see when FBI Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) leap to the big screen? A lot of the same, only more so. The X-Files is a bigger, better version of the television show, but it still relies more on human characterization rather than extravagant special effects to carry the story.

The last episode of this season's The X-Files concluded with an end to Agent Mulder's work on the agency's unsolvable X-Files. His office had been torched by the mysterious foe known only as The Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B. Davis). Now Fox Mulder and his partner Dana Scully find themselves working in a new role for the FBI, and unable to adjust to their change in lifestyle.

The movie, briefly, deals with an ongoing sub-plot from the television series, wherein a black oil is discovered that possesses any human who comes in contact with it. The black oil has been described in the television series as a alien agent which will allow extra-terrestrial forces to take over the human population. The truth about this substance, and its impact on humanity, are more far-reaching than even Agent Mulder could conceive. Helping Mulder is a strange doctor named Alvin Kurtzweil (Martin Landau), who gives Mulder reason to question what he has been told by his superiors.

Opposing Mulder at every turn is the Syndicate, mysterious men who appear to work behind the scenes to influence the course of history. Joining the television series' regular cast of The Cigarette-Smoking Man and The Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) is Conrad Strughold (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who appears to be in charge of the Syndicate's operations in Tunisia. Together they decide to stop Agent Mulder by taking away something of value to him.

For fans of the show, there are a number of wonderful inside jokes and light-hearted moments which give real insight to these well-loved characters. Scenes with the series regulars, like Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and The Lone Gunmen -- Langly (Dean Haglund), Byers (Bruce Harwood), and Frohike (Tom Braidwood) -- are a special treat.

The real joy of the movie lies in the numerous twists and turns taken by this conspiracy-minded tale. Like a good horror movie, The X-Files keeps the audience riveted, occasionally tossing a red herring into the mix to throw everyone off track. Still, this movie is as genuinely frightening -- and often gruesome -- as a movie can be while maintaining a PG-13 rating.

While The X-Files has enthralled viewers by answering unanswerable questions, many are asking if the enigmatic film will make sense to anyone who has not been a devoted watcher of the television show. Since I am a fan of the show, the best answer I can give is "maybe." Fans of horror or science fiction should enjoy the creepy, paranoid storyline. Nevertheless, X-Files fans will appreciate the movie on a deeper level.