Arquivo X: O Filme

The X-Files' first movie is great. It has a clever, yet complicated, plot. The movie tackles the alien conspiracy head on, connecting some plot details from the show. But like an episode of the show, only a small piece of the puzzle is explained. The movie is a scary and thrilling sci-fi movie. All that's missing is a sequel.

I've met a LOT of people who whine that this is just a two-hour episode with a big budget. I don't see how that's a complaint. I mean, if one of the best-written, best-directed, most atmospheric shows on television makes a movie-length episode that can stand on its own...what's the problem? That still makes it more intelligent than 90% of the movies put out this summer.

If you remember a little decade called "The '90's", you'll definitely remember that The X-Files was one of the biggest shows of that decade. The X-Files had so many different fans, I have to admit that I was a fan, not so much to the extent as many others were, but I enjoyed the show. However, I think because my friend rubbed it in my face so much of how much this show was the best television show to ever hit the air waves, I steered clear of the movie. But I was renting movies the other day and came across The X-Files, and figured to just give the movie a shot, it's been how many years since the show ended? But I watched it last night and I liked the movie. I think the only thing is, is this was a movie that was definitely made for the fans and no one else, because if you didn't watch the show, you won't get into the movie.

Mulder and Scully are on the case again after they learn of a deadly "virus" that is killing off the planet. Of course the government is covering it up, making it seem like it's more of a terrorist or a horrible flu. Mulder wants to make the truth known, but Scully has just given up, that is until she is attacked by a bug carrying the virus and Mulder will not give up on her. He saves her, but she needs more strength if they are to make it out of this situation alive.

The X-Files the movie is a cool sci fi film, if you are not a fan or didn't watch the series, there is a small chance you'll get into the film. But this was a definite treat for the fans, this is the film they wanted and as much as I hate this saying, The X-Files is just an extended episode with a bigger budget, but it's still a cool film. I liked it, Mulder and Scully always provide perfect entertainment and I just love Mulder going into his infamous speeches of "the truth is out there", so over dramatic, but you gotta love his passion in it. The X-Files is worth the look, it's a fun film and is cool sci-fi.

7/10

There are two types of people in this world: Those that watch "X-Files," and those that do not. I, like many other critics who walked into "The X-Files" movie, fall into the latter category. But it doesn't matter, because I don't believe that there are any real twists in the plot or "revelations" like the extended title implies there may be. In fact, I think that even the strict fans of the television show may be a bit in the dark by the time the credits start to roll. I got lost about 2/3 of the way through, but I still had a fun time.

Scully and Mulder, the two FBI Agents (I think) from the famous television show of the same name, make their big-screen debut in a feature-length, theatrical film release that plays much more like a clever science fiction film than a stupid one. I do not claim to be a huge fan of the science-fiction genre -- I like softer sci-fi such as "The Terminator" -- but I admire the hard sci-fi films that make an effort to reach those of us who many not be the most enthusastic sci-fi geeks. "The X-Files" has a harder task -- it has to reach those who not only have never seen the show, but also those who may not love sci-fi too much, and it does a good job. I admire it above all else for being able to do this.

It strikes a chord that good sci-fi films have struck in the past. It gets down to the meaty bits, although sometimes the plot left me in the dark and the ending started to get a bit crazy, which lowered my overall pleasure regarding the film. It's like a mystery set in the world of UFOs and alien encounters. It is, at times, quite chilling in a subtle way, and at other times quite humorous and fun and thrilling.

It starts off with a boy falling into a pit and being attacked by hundreds of small, slug-like creatures that crawl into his eye sockets and over his eyes (don't bring the kids to this one). More people enter into the pit in an ill-fated attempt to rescue the boy, and they wind up being knocked unconscious (or put into a deep sleep) like the boy. The bodies are all transported to a hospital, and that same hospital later blows up after Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) are unable to stop an implanted terrorist bomb from detonating inside a coke maching.

But then Mulder is told by a mysterious man outside a bar (Martin Landau) that the bomb was never attempted to be defused. It was all an elaborate cover-up to hide the bodies of the pit victims. Mulder shrugs off the old man at first before he realizes that the man used to be a friend of his father's, and that he has some interesting true stories to tell.

"The X-Files" intrigued me, kept me interested for the most part, and gave me a few good chill sequences, and yet I haven't seen a single full-length episode of the FOX TV show (only little tidbits here and there). From what I can tell from my short experiences with the television show, this film carries a much more "mainstream" feel to it. I don't really take an interest in TV shows because I find them pretty corny. But "The X-Files" movie wasn't that corny.

The sight of the aliens themselves is only touched lightly, and the secret promised to be revealed by the trailers and ads isn't. (I assume most people thought it would be in regards to Mulder's alien-abducted sister from his childhood.) But Duchovny is very interesting and often humorous in his role, and I would like to see him in more films than he is in. Gillian Anderson is a bit weak in her role -- in fact, my mother saw her on stage in London and reported back to me that she was so bored by her dull, lifeless performance that she nearly left the theater. But Duchovny carries along the film by himself, and the film has some good sequences. Overall, even people who have never laid eyes on the TV show will be able to appreciate this.

3.5/5 stars.

• John Ulmer

The X-Files movie really is as good a big screen adaptation as you could possibly hope for.

It helps that it's entirely controlled by the people behind the series, and that the programme had cinematic qualities in the first place. On repeat viewings, however, the story is revealed to be thin, and lacking in incident. Its need to tie into events of the series makes it not wholly satisfying as a stand-alone vehicle, though it should still be understandable to those that have never seen an episode.

David Duchovny as Mulder seems surprisingly at ease in his limited way, while Martin Landau is good as far as plot devices go. Gillian Anderson is unfortunately encouraged to overstate her lines, particularly in the beginning, while a cameo by The Lone Gunmen is perhaps the only indulgence that would be lost on non-fans.

There are inevitable concessions to the cinema format, of course. Not the touted mild use of expletives, which happened from time to time on TV anyway. But the alien presence that mutates to owe a debt to Ridley Scott's Alien, or the near-kiss between the two leads. Thankfully, the first point actually makes a logical sense and carries the story forward. The second is something that was also long overdue, and silly that it took so long. For two people who obviously feel about each other the way Mulder and Scully do, to go five years without even kissing is stretching credulity.

Ultimately, though, it lacks any clear focus for a casual film audience, and flits repetitively from action sequence to sloppy exposition and back again throughout its duration. Creator Chris Carter, like Gene Roddenberry with Star Trek before him, is not the smoothest writer of his own series, though he does adequately most of the time. Worst example is the opening Mulder/Scully scene which is laughably trite, and there are plenty more examples of Carter's trademark purple prose. Yet it does have a beginning, middle and end, and can be watched back-to-back with a TV episode with no noticeable jumps in style. In that sense, then, it is a most successful big-screen adaptation of a television series.

Hard-core X-File fans will be inclined to award an extra mark to the total, then. But for a non-committal audience, this is a "6" as they would have no idea from watching this that the frail, fag-smoking pensioner is the series' major villain.