I want to believe this was better
The first X-Files movie, X-Files: Fight the Future was a semi-hit. Mostly driven by the show, which provided almost no real explanation of the ‘black oil’ that was found in the episodes prior to the movie, it provided quite a bit of information and entertainment. Of course, if you hadn’t followed the show, you would be thoroughly confused on what was going on. Therefore, the movie did well, but wasn’t a huge blockbuster. It left more questions than it answered, but it did re-open the X-Files which helped to continue the series.
Fast forward ten years. When fans caught wind that a new movie from the series was being developed by creator Chris Carter, there was a large amount of buzz. The old crew was coming back, Mulder and Scully (Dave Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and some new faces to boot. Here’s where the movie failed, and I hate to start out like this, but this was a total bust for an idea. Instead of continuing where the last episode of the series left off, the idea that aliens were going to attack in 2012, Carter and his crew completely went a different direction. Basically, the created a two-hour independent episode. Is that bad? No, that’s not bad.
Carter and his team have proven time and time again that their creativity is up to the task of putting together a fabulous story that is disconnected from the original basis of the show (aliens and Mulder’s sister). Some of the best episodes in the series don’t involve the main storyline (Bad Blood for example, priceless!). No, the problem with this is that they created a movie about a blind pedophile who is trying to help the FBI solve a case where one of their own turns up missing. This would be fantastic in a one-hour format, but doesn’t work one bit in two-hours. I think that somewhere along the way someone noticed that there wasn’t enough interesting material here to cover a feature length time-span. So, regretfully, they filled the rest of the movie with bringing Mulder back from hiding, doing a two-sentence explanation of the death of their son William, and having Skinner return for what looked like three minutes of screen time. Add all of this to a very confusing, yet pointless, story that lays the groundwork for the entire film. I don’t like giving shit to The X-Files series because I absolutely love the show, but this was just extremely disjointed and junky writing.
Now, with that said, I understand maybe where they were shooting for. There was a question of God and human connections. You have our blind pedophile who is trying to repent for his sins by connecting with the children he molested that are causing the disturbance (sorry, I should have warned you on that one). By stopping them, he is being forgiven in some sort of the sense. On the flip-side, you have Scully trying to help what appears to be a helpless kid from dying of a very rare disease. She tries to understand why God isn’t helping her save this child, but helping to keep the pedophile alive. On the other side of this, Mulder is just trying to be Mulder. I’m not really sure where he fits in, other than trying to get everyone to believe in the pedophile’s powers. Simple, yet confusing. Together, yet very disjointed. It’s not a very compelling story, but I think I understand what was trying to happen here.
Don’t be Blu, there’s some good stuff here
First, let me just say that the presentation value of this Blu-ray is above outstanding. The blend of blacks and whites in the majority of the shots really makes the picture stand out. There are a lot of snow scenes, because it’s winter and based in the mountains of West Virginia, and most of the scary scenes are at night, which make the dark shots stand out. Anyway, the HD is superb and makes the experience a bit better. As for the audio, which is remastered in DTS HD in 5.1, makes the experience even that much scarier. There are scary parts in the film, freaky parts too. The audio make sit all worth while.
As for the features, here’s what you get:
· Includes both the Theatrical Version and Unrated Extended Cut of the film
· Audio commentary by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
· Body Parts: Special Make-up Effects featurette
· Chris Carter: Statements on Green Production featurette
· Deleted Scenes
· Gag Reel
· Music Slideshow – “Dying 2 Live” by Xzibit
· Theatrical Trailers
· Still Galleries
· Trust No One: Can The X-Files Remain A Secret? feature-length documentary
· BD-Live web-enabled content
· BonusView mode
· In-Movie Features via BD remote direct access*
· Isolated Score track
· Enhanced for D-Box Motion Code systems
· Digital Copy of the film for portable media players
There’s enough here to keep your attention. The documentary, Trust No One: Can the X-Files Remain A Secret? is wonderful and interesting. It’s a shame that the features are better than the actual feature itself. Anyway, you’ll love what you get here.