Subject: Review: X-Files (1998)

From: [email-masked] (Jamahl Epsicokhan)
Date: 8 Jul 1998 05:03:17 GMT

This review contains some minor spoilers for the feature film "The
concerning the plot.

Nutshell: Entertaining and efficient. The plot doesn't really add up,
but the movie works nonetheless.

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The X-Files (USA, 1998)

PG-13, 121 minutes

Cast includes: David Duchovny (Fox Mulder), Gillian Anderson (Dana
Scully), Martin Landau (Alvin Kurtzweil), William B. Davis
(Cigarette-Smoking Man), John Neville (Well-Manicured Man), Mitch
Pileggi (Walter Skinner), Blythe Danner (Jana Cassidy), Armin
Mueller-Stahl (Conrad Strughold), Terry O'Quinn (Darius Michaud)

Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox
Screenplay by Chris Carter
Produced by Chris Carter and Daniel Sackheim
Directed by Rob Bowman

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Rating out of 4: ***
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The new feature-length "The X-Files" provides a good example of what
"The X-Files" television series is all about. To that end, I was
simultaneously intrigued, entertained, bemused, and frustrated--a
perfect example of what the TV show tends to invoke in me these days.

If (heavens forbid) you've never seen "The X-Files" on TV, you'll
still get something out of this movie, which provides slick, efficient
summer escapism and doesn't require you to be an "X-Phile" in order to
understand the plot. On the other hand, even if you *are* an "X-Phile"
who knows all the convoluted plot lines, you're not likely to gain
much of an advantage over anyone else. This is a movie where plot
pieces are based on events from episodes that, really, could've meant
nearly anything a writer wanted them to.

For anyone who doesn't know the general outline of the "X-Files"
premise, the X-Files are bizarre, unsolved FBI cases that usually
feature paranormal circumstances. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson,
who are destined to go down as one of the most famous character pairs
in history, play FBI Special Agents Mulder and Scully, a pair that has
benefited from an intriguing chemistry that isn't defined by a typical
friendship or romance (though the two certainly are close to each
other), but by a need to continue their mission in finding the truth,
whatever that may be.

Like much of "The X-Files" TV series' primary focus, Chris Carter's
story for this film is paranoid, implausible, and without any concrete
answers. And even though the movie tries to address a few questions,
it doesn't actually come to any resolution. Really, anyone expecting
to find believable circumstances or the answers to all their "X-Files"
questions is probably going into this movie with the wrong attitude.
"The X-Files" has proven over and over again that answers are probably
the last thing Mulder and Scully will ever find on their quest. What
they usually find instead are clues that lead only to new questions.

The film brings back a number of elements that have been featured on
the TV series, including pathogen-carrying bees, possible alien
visitation and conspiracy, and bizarre parasites that cause people's
eyes to turn to black.

I must admit that I somewhat wonder why we have been given an
"X-Files" feature at this point. The answer: probably because "The
money. Dramatically, Chris Carter's screenplay covers very little
ground that couldn't be traversed in two or three episodes of the TV
show. The movie, naturally, has better production values and special
effects than any television episode could realistically aspire to
(Gasp!--location shooting on "The X-Files"!), but at the core, this is
a story that could've happened any time on the TV series. It's
interesting: Now TV producers don't even wait for their series to
*end* before launching them into film franchises.

Like a lot of thrillers, this film benefits from the mentality of
cleverly executed set pieces. Scenes like one near the beginning of
the movie where an entire downtown Dallas office building is decimated
by a bomb explosion. Scenes like the one where the discovery of a
mysterious facility somewhere in Texas leads to an attack of the
largest swarm of killer bees I can remember in the movies. Scenes like
the one where a massive underground facility in Antarctica turns out
to be ... ah, but I won't say.

Overall, this movie is a good way to spend a couple hours at the
movies, but one thing that has always annoyed me about "The X-Files,"
and annoyed me in this movie as well, is the ability of a few
all-powerful men to manipulate the story's other characters in ways
that prompt near-complete incredulity and frustration.

Are we, for example, to believe that, when these men decide they want
to take control of Agent Mulder via the extremely roundabout way of
abducting Agent Scully, they have the ability to control or predict a
single bee, which manages to hide in Scully's collar for several hours
so it can sting her at precisely the right time? So much of the
mysterious men's "plan" is determinant on the most spectacular
coincidences that I wondered why they didn't just use their apparently
divine insight to control whatever in the universe they really needed
to take control of.

And who are these men, anyway? They all wear suits and recite vague
dialogue that promises to spell trouble. Trouble for whom, aside from
Mulder and Scully, we're never really sure. These men, of course,
don't have names. (The most important of them are played by William B.
Davis and John Neville, who are known merely as the "Cigarette-Smoking
Man" and the "Well-Manicured Man," respectively). Mulder always talks
about a global conspiracy, but what does that even mean? The
conspiracies of "The X-Files" most often are the conspiracies of comic
books; the stylistics surrounding the actions and dialogue of these
shady men are far more important than what actually happens.

But to that end, I enjoyed the riddles and mysterious dialogue. Martin
Landau turns up in a supporting role as a conspiracy theorist to offer
more mysteries, providing Mulder with ominous warnings of what these
men plan to do. How he knows and what he says I'm not even going to
begin to explain; this is a film that practically defies synopsis.

Yet the plot, surprisingly, is fairly easy to follow, which is a
credit to Carter and director Rob Bowman, who make sure we always know
where we are, what is happening and why. Sure, none of it can possibly
be believed in retrospect, but that's not really the point.

Besides, the questions I have about "The X-Files" are not related to
what various threads this movie will have either tied up or
complicated. Asking such questions is futile; we're not getting the
answers. My questions are a little more practical. Questions like,
just why is it all aliens in the movies are slimy and plastic-looking,
like the aliens in "Alien"? And why is it all aliens feel inclined to
chase people through ventilation ducts and make squealing sounds like
the creatures in "Jurassic Park"? And just how can Mulder and Scully
survive the frigidness of Antarctica without shelter, and who could or
would rescue them? And how did Mulder get to Antarctica in the first
place? Did the FBI fund the trip?

Maybe the plot is a bit ridiculous, but I don't really care. "The
universe, and must be gauged on a different level of realism. "The
the screen, and then wonder if it really makes sense. I urge you not
to spend much time thinking about it, because it's more fun to just go
with the flow.

What I most enjoyed about this film was the relationship between
Mulder and Scully itself. We learn that the X-Files have been recently
closed due to a lack of reasonable progress. Mulder and Scully are
back investigating "normal" matters, like bomb threats. The central
theme of the film is whether or not Scully will choose to leave the
FBI; finding no truth in the X-Files has taken its toll on her.
Naturally, this incredible adventure will convince her to stay, but
the real drama of the film is in the implications of her departure: it
would be tragic, especially for Mulder. These two are symbols of a
hopeless struggle against something--we're not sure exactly whom or
what or whose interests are represented--that lives to perpetuate a
sea of lies. But Mulder simply can't continue the mission alone. The
payoff is in knowing that these two people will continue their
crusades, no matter how insignificant, futile, and painful their
efforts might be.

As a storytelling setting, "The X-Files" is its own paradox. It claims
to have a truth that's supposed to intrigue us, but it probably never
will reveal that truth to its two central characters. The quest itself
is what is supposed to entertain us, not the possibility of solving
the mystery. Some people claim that "The X-Files" takes an infinitely
long attention span to truly understand. I disagree. "The X-Files"
shifts its own perception of the truth so often that it doesn't matter
what is true from one day to the next. What matters is that we have
Mulder and Scully in the middle of it all, trying to make sense of it,
as if they're the sole constant in a twisted universe.

At the same time, it might be nice if, in the event we do get another
"X-Files" movie after the series is over, the filmmakers invest their
time in a complete train of thought that doesn't play like a series of
set pieces for the middle chapter of a story that has no discernible
beginning or end. This "X-Files" film is certainly entertaining, but
not really satisfying on narrative terms.

The taglines for "The X-Files" read, "The truth is revealed." I doubt
it. The truth may still be out there, but a tagline is still a
tagline, and probably, in the most important ways, just a lie.

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Copyright (c) 1998 by Jamahl Epsicokhan, all rights reserved.
Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this article is
prohibited.

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Jamahl Epsicokhan - [email-masked]