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The X-Files
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X-FILES | PAGE 1, 2
But, in the "X-Files" scheme of things, these are really only clarifying points. None of the answers Mulder has been chasing for five years are addressed. You won't find out what really happened to his sister Samantha, whom he believes was abducted by aliens. You won't find out whether Cancer Man is Samantha's real father (or Mulder's). You won't find out who's directing the conspiracy and allowing Mulder to see little pieces of it at a time. And you won't find out the answer to the biggest question of all -- why Mulder? "X-Files" creator Chris Carter (who wrote the screenplay, from a story by Carter and co-producer Frank Spotnitz) has said that he wanted to make the movie accessible for people who've wandered into the multiplex cold, while not insulting the intelligence of fans who've been with the show since its 1993 premiere. If only. Fans must endure "X-Files for Beginners" scenes like the one where a drunken Mulder pours out his back story to an incredulous bartender, rehashing all the "my sister was abducted by aliens, I chase little green men, the other agents call me 'Spooky'" stuff we've heard many, many times before. Mulder and Scully are asked to explain themselves to yet another FBI investigative committee, which handily provides more opportunities for "the story so far." Déjà vu plot points include Scully being subjected to alien infection and Mulder slogging through the frozen north like Commander Peary. And the truth, or at least a part of it, slips through the duo's fingers (again). But at least X-Philes won't be the only ones leaving the theater empty-handed. What nonfans won't get from the movie are the many cumulative pleasures of the show. The very things that make "The X-Files" such great TV -- the carefully nurtured vision, the underplayed terror, the intimacy between characters and fans, the slow buildup toward a tantalizing promise of revelation -- are exactly what make it unsuited to the movies. First, there's Mulder and Scully's platonic yet wholehearted partnership. They're so intuitive, they barely need dialogue. And they seem to transcend sex, connecting on a whole 'nother level. But moviegoers who've never seen the show aren't going to understand why everybody else in the audience finds their brief tender moment so funny. (The best thing that could come of the movie is that it jump-starts the film career of Anderson, whose soulful, brave Scully loses nothing in translation. As for Duchovny, his finest moments are, as usual, his deadpan comic ones -- and there aren't enough.) The movie also gives only the tiniest taste of what is often the most ingenious part of the series -- over the years, Carter and his co-writers have posited terrifying alternative explanations for such disparate events and phenomena as Kreutzfeld-Jakob, or "mad cow," disease (cannibalism at the processing plant), toxic fumes from a hospital patient's blood (aliens among us) and workplace violence (the boss is a brain-sucking monster and must be stopped). And this intelligently woven web of "extreme possibilities" elevates "The X-Files" above mere creep show. In the movie, Carter and Spotnitz come up with a pretty good conspiracy-related explanation for the hantavirus outbreak a couple of years ago, and Kurtzweil's theory about the Federal Emergency Management Agency belongs in the paranoiac's Top 10. But these are overshadowed by the Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster business of the main story -- and that evil alien parasite stuff just looks like reheated "Alien" and "Independence Day." Until last season or so, it's been masochistic fun watching Mulder and Scully (and, by extension, ourselves) continually denied answers and closure. The show went deeper into abject pessimism and paranoia than any other TV series before it, acknowledging that discriminating viewers like to indulge their (in a phrase from the show) "American appetite for bogus revelations," too. "The X-Files" came along at precisely the right cultural moment; free-floating millennial worries and anti-government suspicions seemed to coalesce around the show and multiply. With each new reported conspiracy story (from CIA crack in the ghetto to cigarette company confessions to Friends of Bill/Enemies of Bill shenanigans), it's harder to figure whether "The X-Files" is driving that appetite for the sinister and shady, or if it's the other way around. Recently, though, Carter has been dragging the "mythology" episodes (the ones that advance the central story line of Mulder's quest for the truth about a government coverup of the existence of aliens) on and on. They're often brought out as sweeps-period events, months apart; lately, keeping all the twists and turns straight is like trying to hold a snowflake in your palm long enough to study it. There's a fine line between prolonging exquisite tension and yanking the collective chain, and while "The X-Files" series is currently right up at the edge, the movie crosses it. Being strung along for free by a TV show is one thing, but when you leave your house and pay money for the privilege it's quite another. Frankly, the movie's denouement -- Mulder finds evidence, evidence is erased -- feels like a rip-off. We were teased with the promise of answers and what we get for our loyalty is just another cliffhanger. That, and "Alien" wannabe monsters, a cameo glimpse of the Lone Gunmen and a couple of actual swear words. I want to believe. But I see now that my quest for the truth is destined
to continue, through numerous movie sequels and
soundtrack/software/book tie-ins. I've been used, duped by powerful men
whose interests lie only in doing boffo bottom line. And worst of all, the
unthinkable has come to pass: Krycek isn't even in the movie.
Discuss "The X-Files," big screen and small, in the Television area of Table Talk. Table Talk is now open for guest access, so you can read the conversation before registering as a member.
X-rated Agents Mulder and Scully bare all.
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