The X-Files was one of the more bigger shows of the nineties with even it's theme song being truly iconic. Therefor it did make sense for the makers of the show to the characters and the world to the biggest screen possible and in 1998 that's exactly what they did with the very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about as while i've never seen a single episode of the show or watched any of the movies I felt like watching this one and so then join me as I review the film that really was devised to be the start of a new series of the film with the film in question being called simple just "The X-Files" enjoy.
The plot of this film is FBI agents Mulder and Scully try to uncover a government conspiracy about Alien life on earth. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us inn this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the films plot being something that you might expect to find as the main plot for an episode of the show and while that is something that does work for the show for the movie it doesn't work as this films plot does very much feel like a TV show plot stretched to almost two hours with there being large portions of the film where nothing is happening plot wise. With this having the add of effect of making what could have been seen as being a really cool plot now seem dull and boring as alot of the time we are forced to watch these characters struggle to piece things together and to go to government meetings which is somethings that is never interesting when that's alot of what the film is with the films plot being at best thin as the film doesn't focus all that much on the plot as it rather spends more time on weather or not Mulder and Scully are still going to be partners at the end of the film which is something that would have been great back in 1998 but now almost thirty years later when there have been more seasons to the show and a directors cut of this films sequel it makes that plot point useless and one could even argue that it was pointless back then as there could be a chance that alot of people might not have seen the show and like myself are watching this film to get a good taste of what the show is like with the plot of this film also not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully. Also starring in this film is Martin Landau as Alvin Kurtzweil , Blythe Danner as Jana Cassidy , Armin Mueller-Stahl as Conrad Strughold , Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner , William B. Davis as Cigarette-Smoking Man , John Neville as Well-Manicured Man , Dean Haglund as Richard "Ringo" Langly , Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers , Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike , Jeffrey DeMunn as Ben Bronschweig , Jason Beghe as FBI Man at Bomb Site , Michael Shamus Wiles as Black-Haired Man , Terry O'Quinn as Special Agent in Charge Darius Michaud , Lucas Black as Stevie , Gary Grubbs as Fire Captain Cooles , Don S. Williams as First Elder and George Murdock as Second Elder.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us inn this very film was in all honesty not that bad. The fact that film does have some decent acting in it is something that does make alot of sense as the film does have a few people outside of the main lead actors being carried over from the show with those being the best actors in the film as they understand the tone and feel of the show and can therefor translate that to the big screen whereas alot of the films more newer actors play things so straight that there performances do become boring to watch. With the best actor in the whole entire film being Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully with her getting alot of the films more dramatic scenes which does give her a chance to show us just what it is that she could do as an actor with this being something that does play to the films advantage as it's in those scenes where she gets to truly shine with her for obvious reasons having some truly wonderful chemistry with David Duchovny to the point where you do buy that these two opposites would not only be friends but also be each others love interest with her using her natural likability which is something that really does come through in her performance. With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this script for this film is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
The characters in this film really are about as decent as you'd expect from a film that's based off of a TV show. As while they would have ben fully drawn out on the show in the movie that's not the case and this is something that is going to be true for all films that are based off of a TV show but at the same time tho it does make it hard new people to jump on with this film as this film doesn't a good enough job of making the characters feel accessible enough for newer audiences and to be fair the makers of this film really didn't have to do that as let's be honest here it's going to be the fans that are going to watch this film and they'll already know who the characters are and how they act in certain situations but at the same time tho it would have been nice if the makers of this film did make the characters feel more accessible to new fans. As they could have used this film as a way to get more fans to watch the show as then they they would be seeing the characters that they like in a world that they are familiar with yet they don't do that with the end result being characters that while they do feel as well thought out as they could have done with Mulder being the lovable the goofball who actually knows what he's doing and Skully being the straight man to his funny man but is also willing to believe the impossible and that's all we get out of the characters and while that is fine for an episode of the show as the show has countless episodes to get across parts of there personality in the movie they don't have that privilege and therefor there should have been more of en effort to get across just who these characters are as people rather then just relying on the fans to all the work.
Whilst this show is set inbetween the fifth and sixth seasons of the show this film was meant to serve as the series finale with the idea being to then take the world of the show to the big screen which is a really good idea as that then allows for more bigger and bolder stories that couldn't be told in a TV show on a TV show budget. the issue here being that Fox demanded that the show be carried on and that the movie be used as a bridge between the two seasons with this films writer and producer Chris Carter even saying that he found the task of writing the movie to be very daunting with this being something that explains why the film makes a big deal of the titular X files being closed at the start of the film and then being reopened at the end of the film. Yeah this film would have been much more better as a series finale of sorts as then the makers of this film could just go all out and make the film that they wanted to make whereas with Fox forcing them to make the film as a gap between the fifth and sixth seasons just doesn't work as it then has to shoe horn a reason for the audience to watch the next episode or the next season of the show whereas if this film was allowed to end the show and the series was allowed to continue onward as a series of films then it would have allowed for the makers of this film to tell bigger stories and to go all out with there ideas something which they wouldn't have been able to do on a TV show budget and yet with a film it is something that they would have been able to do whilst still being true to the show and the fans that helped to make such a success in the first place, yet because of the fact that Fox just saw the rating for the show it meant that they lost the chance of making millions of dollars at the box office with several films instead of getting several more seasons on the show which wouldn't have made them that much more money in the long run.
To be frank here this film is so boring to watch as for alot of the films running time there's nothing happening no plot , no characters , no scares and while that is fine for an episode of the show as if one episode is bad it's OK because there's several other great ones just corner. Yet with a film you really do need tot knock it out of the park right a way and this is something that film just doesn't do with the films throwing so many characters and plot lines at you that it is hard to keep up with not only who is who but what there plot in the film is with the film being a slow burner of a film and while being a slow burner can work for a film if you you film isn't that long this film is almost two hours long and there are long portions where there's just nothing going on. All this ended up doing was it resulted in me not only checking how long was left in the film as it was going painfully slow but it also left me to checking my phone alot of the time and that is always a bad sign as you never ever want to be checking your phone when your watching something as you should always want to be hooked and be entertained by what your seeing on screen maybe if I was more of a fan of the show then this wouldn't be an issue as this kind of pacing does seem to be more in line with the show but the issue with that is the fact that the show has several seasons to tell its story where as with a film you have two hours and therefor you can't really afford to take the same approach to storytelling as the two mediums are vastly different and need to be treated as such, however the when the film does get tense and does get exciting that's what it picks up and starts to be this pretty solid but then the film will cut away from the good stuff and spend another thirty to forty minuets on being a slow burner.
Another issue with the film is the editing as the film doesn't give chance to see the thing that you've come to this movie to see that being monster. Due to the fact that when the monster does show up and does kill someone the editing around it is so fast that you can't tell what's happening yet this is meant to be a horror film therefor we want to be see the monster and we want to see the kills and yet we never do the idea for this film seems to be to rush past all of the good stuff and to slow down on the slow and boring stuff when it really did need to be the over away around as no one is going to this film to see the meetings that Skully has to go and yet the film spend alot of time on showing us every single one of them when all this does is eat up time that would have been better saved on showing us the monster and in showing us the kills. Yet when the film is showing us soke really creepy scenes the film does then slow down and let us bathe in the tension to the point where we do feel tense and we want the scare to happen with a good example of this being the films opening scene with the bomb as that scene is so well paced that by the time the police do finally arrived we are on edge wanting to know if the character that is going to obviously make it out OK actually gets to make it out OK yet with the scenes with the monster attacking people we don't get that heck we don't even get a good look at the monster as all of the time that we see it it's shown in the dark when it would have been more effective for show us the audience what this creature granted the makers of this film might not have thought that the monster looked all that good but then one has to wonder why there is a longer cut of the film out there that does show us more of the monster when stuff like that should have been in the main cut of the film and not in a home media cut of the film.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly hour and fifty seven minuets and fifty three seconds. With this film being more based off of the theatrical cut as the extended cut runs for over two hours with neither running time being the right running time for a film like this as this film very easily could have told its entire plot in well under one hours and forty five minuets just by focusing on the main plot and cutting alot of the pointless filler scenes that add nothing to this films plot and are there just to get people to watch the next season of the show as there alot of filler scenes in this film with alot of pointless characters as we didn't need Cigarette-Smoking Man in this film as his scenes add nothing to the plot of the film other then to set up the fact that the X files have been reopened at the end of the film an that's it with this film not even having enough plot to there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Heck the film doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the the film doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot as the film can't fully develop its plot as it's alot more interested in focusing on other things other then it's main plot and yet when the film does focus on its main plot that's when it gets to be most interesting with the makers of this film being alot more interested in setting up the shows sith season then they are in giving us a well developed plot. This is something that does to much more lesser extent effect the films character development as while the films main characters don't get any kind of character development in this film it's more understandable in this case as they would have had several dozen episodes both prior to and after this film to get all of there character development and while yes it would have been nice if this film did give them literally any kind of character development it really wasn't needed with the makers of this film instead giving more thought and effort to all of the pointless side characters then they were into giving the characters some actual character development but I really will admit that this film really does have some really bad pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror film that really does mean that I have to actually talk abut the actual scares that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual scares that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the films scares quiet honestly being the best part of the film as outside of the scenes with the monster attacking a few people we actually get to see alot of the scares and alot of the tension be built up really with the makers of the film really taking as full advantage of the fact that they have this longer running time to build up tension then what they might have done in an episode of the show. With the best scare in the entire film being when Mulder and Skully find themselves in a domed building in the middle of nowhere and suddenly the floors start to open up revealing several dozen bees forcing the duo out into the corn field where they then get chased further by men in black helicopters with this scene being so good because of not only the fact that the we get to see it but also because of the fact that the film got to build up tension by showing the characters first finding this building ad then walking inside it even looking at the floors that are about to open up with the film really taking its time in building up tension for that one scare which does pay off as it is a genuinely creepy moment in the film with it even playing a huge part in the plot of the film later on with the rest of the films scares being just as good as well in my freaking opinion anyways / at least.
Overall this really shouldn't go without saying but your not going to like this film if your not already a fan of the how as it does give more of what the show was only now its in a feature film format but in saying that given the middling reviews that this film got upon release its easy to say that not even fans of the show will find this film to be all that enjoyable to watch in the first place in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this film really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very review from Tenor , Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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