Dir. Chris Carter, US/Canada, 2008, 104 mins
Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly
Review by Carol Allen
When the first X Files movie came out ten years ago, the series was still at the height of its popularity. Now six years after that same series finished, this new movie feels not only rather late in the day, but more importantly has lost the magic.
The plot, which has been a big secret up until the film’s release, is frankly no big deal. If you’re hoping that the now not so dynamic duo of Mulder and Scully will be continuing their investigations into the aliens that are among us, you’ll be disappointed. There are also no government conspiracies to fight, no sign of John Neville’s Well Manicured Man or of William B. Davis’s Cigarette Smoking Man and a mere cameo appearance near the end by the team’s former boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). This is a more a made for tv murder-mystery plot, whose only element of spookiness is a supposed psychic, Father Joseph Crissman (Connolly).
When the story begins the X Files have been long closed. Scully (Anderson) has returned to her original job as a doctor, working with sick children. Mulder (Duchovny) has become an isolated and bearded recluse, not actually doing a lot. They are persuaded to team up again by FBI officer Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peat) to look into a case where are a number of women have gone missing in the snowbound hills of West Virginia, including one of her agents. Her only lead is Crissman, who has so far led them to some gruesome human remains, but is that coincidence or is he a genuine psychic, something that it appears is in doubt because he’s a convicted paedophile, defrocked of his priestly garb and living in a hostel. Oh, and he smokes – a sure sign of perfidy. Only one cigarette in the course of the film, as it happens, but enough to give him lung cancer.
As a murder thriller plot it’s not bad. The motive behind the murders is ingenious, there are a few shock moments and Peat and Connolly give interesting enough performances. Duchovny and Anderson still ignite the occasional spark between them, while Scully’s Catholic faith gives her character a bit of an extra layer. But the film lacks the imagination and flair that made the series such compulsive viewing for millions. In this case the truth isn’t out there at all. This is very much a tale of this world. Director Chris Carter has said he “wants to scare the pants off everyone in the audience” with the film. I rather fear everyone’s pants will remain firmly in place.
