Review: The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)

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The X-Files: Fight the Future

Rating

Director

Rob Bowman

Screenplay

Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz

Length

2h 01m

Starring

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, John Neville, William B. Davis, Martin Landau, Mitch Pileggi, Jeffrey De Munn, Blythe Danner, Terry O’Quinn, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Lucas Black

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Basic Plot

Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully embark on a mission to uncover the truth behind a covered-up dig in North Texas and a bomb explosion in Dallas.

Review

Fans will go wild, but the average audience may think, “What are they talking about?”

The film opens thousands of years ago during the last ice age on a barren wilderness of snow and ice. Two Neanderthal men stomp their way across the snow to a cave where they encounter a creature that eventually rips them both to shreds.

Warp into the present and you find a kid (Lucas Black) whom falls through a weakened ceiling of a cave. He finds black ooze that soon engulfs him and FBI agents and trucks swamp the area quickly with heavy oil tankers and trucks. What is this material and why does the government want it?

Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) has climbed the stairs to the top of a very large building across the street from a bomb threat. Mulder’s (David Duchovny) thought is that why expect the obvious and Scully tries to convince him that he’s wrong. Later Mulder discovers the bomb and while trying to flee finds he is trapped inside. He’s rescued by the FBI whose top man stays to disarm the bomb.

Scully and Mulder have stumbled onto a very secret mission that reaches the highest areas of power around the world. Only they don’t know exactly what it is. The film plays very similar to the television series and if it weren’t for the terrific surround sound, you wouldn’t be able to tell that you weren’t watching it on TV.

That may pose a problem to non-fans of the series. There are numerous instances where your mind is hit with references to previous episodes and unless you’ve seen them they won’t make much sense. However the film lays out a plot structure that begins and ends easily within the movie allowing the casual observer to enjoy it, but not necessarily understand the great scheme of things.

Typical in many respects to summer movies, “X-Files” has one slight difference, the acting is, as always, top notch and the screenplay is well written.

However there are points at which the film fails to appeal to the general audience and focuses on the stuff “X-Files” fans love. It’s sometimes hard to get by this and might cause the average moviegoer to stay away. My suggestion is that if you’re going to see it, catch up on some episodes. You can rent some of them on video and watch re-runs during the summer.

Even for the average “X-Files” fan, like myself, there are some incongruencies that make the film more difficult to like. While it was an exciting film and one that stirs the imagination, it’s not very memorable or one that will last outside of the series.

So if you’re free on Sunday nights, tune into the show and catch up on a fascinating journey into paranormal disturbances and government conspiracies. It’s a wild ride and more exciting when you see it on the small screen.