The X-Files: Fight the Future
I did not watch “The X-Files” when this 1998 movie came out- I didn’t after it came out, save for some random episodes. My mom did, but by this point I was invested in catching up with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” so I wasn’t looking to do the catch up it would take to do Chris Carter’s hit show, as well. Now, I am finally going through “The X-Files” from beginning to end, so I’m able to experience this film within the continuity of the franchise, as a whole.
This film takes place after the fifth season of the series, which left the conspiracy Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) were chasing a bit different than the one they started with, as well as The X-Files which they investigated it under being burned to the ground. Now, they are regular FBI agents, and right now they are in Dallas, helping with a bomb threat to a federal building. When they discover that the bomb is in the opposite building- the one they are in- and goes off, killing five people, some questions remain about not only how five people died (including a boy), not just in how they were left in the building, but the actual HOW in their death. A prologue taking place in North Texas gives us some idea.
In 1998, I knew enough about “The X-Files” to not be completely lost, but I think I would have been just as entertained if I had gone in knowing nothing about the series. The screenplay by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz balances the requirements of being a film that works within the continuity of the series with one that newcomers to the film’s mythology can follow pretty well. Sure, that appearance by The Lone Gunman would have been lost on me, but The Well-Manicured Man and The Cigarette-Smoking Man would have be easy to understand simply as part of the shadow government Mulder and Scully are up against in their pursuit of the truth about extra-terrestrials, and a government cover-up. As a stand-alone thriller about a cover-up to a bombing, the film director Rob Bowman has made is a rock-solid one.
The re-watch during this run through of the series and movies (yes, I will also be revisiting 2008’s “I Want to Believe”) was probably the first time I had watched the film in about 20 years, and it holds up really well. The ending in Antarctica still strays a bit into over-zealous spectacle for the big-screen, but it was an important point in getting the series back to a point where The X-Files are opened again. Bowman stages the spectacle well here, and it’s easy to see why he ended up having something of a career in features (“Reign of Fire” and “Elektra”) afterwards. His best work in this is the second act where Mulder and Scully are trying to track down the place where fossilized bones were discovered in North Texas. It captures the suspense and intrigue of the show, and gives us our strongest sense of the bond between Mulder and Scully, as well as giving composer Mark Snow a chance to cut loose and re-purpose his iconic theme in new ways. The truth is out there, and truthfully, I enjoy the way this movie goes about searching for it.
