It was better than I expected. They dispensed with the aliens and black oil and bees, and created, essentially, a feature-length, non-mythology episode that has Mulder and Scully investigating a crime with a paranormal twist. An FBI agent has gone missing and body parts are turning up near her home. The FBI wants Mulder's help (our dear friends are no longer FBI. She's a surgeon at a Catholic hospital and he spends a lot of time clipping newspaper articles about UFOs) because a former priest claims to have psychic visions about the crime, and Mulder has a bit of experience with that sort of thing.
The story is a good, effective thriller, complete with grisly severed limbs and teasing shots of a dark laboratory in which you can't quite make out what's happening. It's hard for me to say, but I think the story works pretty well even if you haven't seen the series. Still, there are rich rewards for those who know the back story, and the appearance of one familiar face near the end nearly made me jump out of my seat with joy.
The story is a good, effective thriller, complete with grisly severed limbs and teasing shots of a dark laboratory in which you can't quite make out what's happening. It's hard for me to say, but I think the story works pretty well even if you haven't seen the series. Still, there are rich rewards for those who know the back story, and the appearance of one familiar face near the end nearly made me jump out of my seat with joy.
The most surprising thing to me was how subdued it was. There was no CGI, very little violence (though there was some gore), and no special effects. For Billy Connolly, who plays Father Joe, the former priest, it must have been tempting to chew the scenery to bits, but he didn't. His performance is understated and even moving. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are back in peak form, and the movie maintains the dry humor that kept the series from veering off into terminal seriousness.
And aside from the gross-out factor of the main story, there's a rather sophisticated treatment of belief and loss. Mulder, still not completely at peace with the death of his sister, still wants to believe in things that can't be explained (his poster still hangs in his office). Scully is skeptical as always, trying to poke holes in his outlandish theories. She disparages Father Joe's claims of psychic ability, but it is his ambiguous pronouncement that reinforces her own faith, giving her permission to treat a terminally ill young patient with a risky procedure. Still haunted by the loss of her (and Mulder's) son, Scully struggles with the question of how far is too far to go to save a life, and her dilemma is mirrored perversely in the actions of the killer she's helping Mulder pursue.
It is no longer cool (if it ever was) to like the X-Files, and many critics will dismiss it outright. But in these days of over-the-top resurrections of old franchises, it's good to see beloved characters brought back in a well-told story that emphasizes substance over style, and reminds us why we loved them in the first place.
Oh- and if you do get around to seeing it, hang around till the end of the credits.
