The X Files (1998)

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers (WGA):

Chris Carter (story) and
Frank Spotnitz (story) ...

Release Date:

19 June 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Fight the Future

Plot:

Mulder and Scully must fight the government in a conspiracy and find the truth about an alien colonization of Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Agent | FBI | Texas | Bomb | Government

Awards:

3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Special Agent Dana Scully
John Neville	...	The Well-Manicured Man
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
Martin Landau	...	Alvin Kurtzweil, MD
Mitch Pileggi	...	Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Jeffrey DeMunn	...	Ben Bronschweig, M.D. (as Jeffrey De Munn)
Blythe Danner	...	Jana Cassidy
Terry O'Quinn	...	Darius Michaud
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Conrad Strughold
Lucas Black	...	Stevie
Christopher Fennell	...	Boy #2 (as Chris Fennell)
Cody Newton	...	Boy #3
Blake Stokes	...	Boy #4
Dean Haglund	...	Richard 'Ringo' Langly

Also Known As:

Aux frontières du réel (Canada: French title)
Blackwood (USA) (working title)
Fight the Future (USA) (working title)
The X Files Movie (Australia)
The X Files: Fight the Future (USA) (working title)
The X-Files (USA) (closing credits title)
X-Files: Blackwood (USA) (working title)
X-Files: The Movie (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some intense violence and gore.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Alberta) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Poland:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Conrad Strughold (Armin Mueller-Stahl) was named for the real Strughold, a Nazi scientist who conducted experiments on prisoners during World War II.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mulder frees Scully from the aliens she is naked, yet she is fully clothed when they get to the surface. Moreover, Mulder doesn't seem to have prepared any spare clothes for her prior to the rescue.

Quotes:

Scully: I saw your face Mulder. There was a definite moment of panic.
Mulder: You've never seen me panic. When I panic, I make this face.
[remains impassive]

Movie Connections:

Featured in 2nd Annual Mystery Science Theater 3000 Summer Blockbuster Review (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Hunter

So worried about satisfying an audience it forgets to function as a film

The first scene we see Mulder and Scully in involves a building being blown up. This is the first of many scenes where it becomes evident that Chris Carter wrote this film around the budget instead of using the big budget to improve the film. The script is also problematic for other reasons, not that Chris Carter was ever the most talented X-Files writer in terms of dialogue (see Vince Gilligan or Darin Morgan) but some of this movie seems extraordinarily cheap and speed-written (Carter essentially had to write this film and his season 5 episodes roughly at the same time), and the result is some really embarrassing moments.

The whole movie has a sort of 'greatest hits' feel, cramming the Lone Gunmen in just for the sake of having them there, revisiting questions but not answering them, and bringing back stuff we remember from mythology episodes just for the fun of it. This was the first step into REALLY muddling the mythology arc the series became famous for, although I for one thought season 6 was exceptionally strong, but the show's mytharc dwindled fast in quality and by seasons 7 and 9 it was the standalone episodes that remained memorable and entertaining.

To its credit, this film is well-made and excellently scored, and the acting is generally solid. There are good parts here and there but mostly it feels like a sellout. The mythology arc was seriously harmed by this film and there's no telling if it would've played out better without it. Ultimately, this movie was so worried about satisfying an audience (Mulder & Scully nearly kiss! Oh the excitement! [ /sarcasm ]) it forgot to function as a film.

5/10