For once, oil isn’t valuable
Mulder and Scully have been taken off the X-Files cases. Their new jobs involve them sitting around and helping to sniff out bombs and terroristic threats. When a building in gets blown up, and an FBI agent with it, they grow suspicious of the circumstances (or at least Mulder is) and become rogue agents. What they uncover leads them back to the mysterious black oil and its origins. Because of the new information, they’re not only hunted by the FBI now, but also by the gentlemen who have made a deal to save themselves from what will be an impending alien attack. Can Mulder and Scully stop them and find a cure for the infectious black oil?
There was so much excitement leading into this movie when it first appeared in 1998 (when there were VHS tapes) because the episodes on television led up to this movie. Not many people knew about the origins of the black oil and what it meant for the human race inside the show. The movie ended up answering a bunch of questions, but regretfully brought the series (even in the end of the movie) back to step one, which Mulder admits at the end. The movie was certainly a bit long-winded in a few areas, which probably left a distasteful feeling for some fans. The big problems that critics had with the film was that unless you were a fan of the show you really couldn’t follow what was going on. I can see that now, but still don’t really take that into consideration. I’m happy that Carter and crew put together a very decent film, especially compared to their most recent venture, but regret that it didn’t really solve much other than what the black oil was. They really didn’t get into what happened with Mulder’s sister (not in this movie, in later episodes they did) and they didn’t allow for the love affair between Mulder and Scully to happen (though they did in later episodes), but they did bring about why the organization behind the black oil was doing what it was doing. They never truly stated why, only that they were helping. They didn’t solve a few other questions, but left them. Films generally help to conclude the series, but this one didn’t, it helped drive it further, which makes it nothing more than a two-hour episode.
Anyway, it’s still entertaining after ten years. If you don’t have it already on disc format, this might be the place to start.
So cold, you could turn Blu
The picture looks fantastic in HD. For a film that has some age to it, it looks good, even with the ten year-old effects. The last scene, which is snow covered, is spectacular on HD. I can’t even begin to describe it, it looks good. You can thank really good cinematography with an excellent HD transfer for that scene and pretty much the entire film. As for the audio, much like the newest one, it adds to the atmosphere. Creepy as hell and nothing to sneeze at, you get wonderful DTS HD 5.1. No mystery here, just good eye and ear candy.
As for the features, you’ve got a loaded set of features here. Check them out:
– BonusView picture-in-picture commentary by creator Chris Carter, director Rob Bowman, co-producer/writer Frank Spotnitz and producer Daniel Sackheim (separate audio commentary track also available)
– Blackwood: The Making of The X-Files: Fight the Future featurette (in HD)
– In-Movie Features via BD remote direct access
o Real-time Index (Red Button)
o BonusView Commentary (Green Button)
o Behind The Camera (Blue Button)
o Storyboards and Concept Art (Yellow Button)
– Visual Effects featurette (in HD)
– Scoring featurette (in HD)
– Gag Reel (in HD)
– Alternate Bee Sting Scene (in HD)
– Theatrical Trailers (in HD)
– Still Galleries
– Enhanced for D-Box Motion Code systems
– The Making Of The X-Files Movie featurette (1998)
– Original DVD Commentary by creator Chris Carter and director Rob Bowman (1999)
Nothing but good stuff here. The gag reel is hilarious. There is plenty of entertainment here that makes the feature itself a lot better (it’s still good on its own). You’ll be happy, especially if you’re a fan of the series.