The X-Files (1998) Review

"One man alone cannot fight the future."
-Conrad Strughold


After a building is bombed in Dallas, Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate when reports fail to add up.  The two agents delve into a web of conspiracy and discover answers Mulder has been searching for his entire life.


What Works:

I love The X-Files TV show.  I'm watching through it chronologically for the first time.  It's a really fun show and it's great seeing this story with a budget.  We get bigger action and some really cool visuals that couldn't have been done on TV.

We also get a huge payoff to the conspiracy storyline that has been building for five season.  This movie gives us a ton of answers about what the Syndicate is hiding and just how high the stakes are.  It actually adds some nuance to the antagonists and makes their actions much more justifiable.  They aren't evil for the sake of being evil, they are after the greater good.  This makes them much more interesting antagonists without taking anything away from Mulder and Scully.

The 3rd act takes this story from zero to one hundred extremely fast.  I don't know what I expected, but this was a lot.  Mulder infiltrates a massive facility hidden beneath the ice and snow of Antartica and what's inside is extremely disturbing. 

Finally, I appreciate that this movie gets dark.  The catalyst for the movie is a kid being infected and killed by an alien virus.  I love it when movies have the guts to kill off kids and I wasn't expecting a movie adaptation of a network TV show to do this.  It's a great tone setter and establishes that the film is willing to kill off (almost) anyone.


What Sucks:

I'm not gonna lie, parts of this film are very confusing.  Some of the actions of the characters don't make a lot of sense.  Two characters blow themselves up and I'm still not quite sure why.  The whole plot of hiding infected bodies in the Dallas explosion doesn't make a ton of sense either.  Those people had families.  How did they plan on explaining this?  It's a bit baffling and I can't imagine how people who had never seen the show felt while watching this if I was confused.

There is also a ton of exposition.  I'm glad we got a lot of answers, but the way the movie handled it was a bit sloppy.  They pretty much just had one scene where the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville) explains everything.  It could have been done smoother and more gradually.  

Finally, there are a few sequences that go on for too long.  The caveman sequence and cornfield chase drag a bit and could have been trimmed down.


Verdict:

The X-Files makes a solid transition to the big screen with tons of answers, a wild 3rd act, and a dark story.  I wish it had been a bit shorter at times and it was a little confusing, but, for the most part, it's got it going on.

 7/10: Good  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more