I finally saw the new X-Files movie today. I’ve been in a Reiki class all weekend, so today was the first day I could get out to see it. It wasn’t what I expected. I was hoping for the old wonderful feel I would get from quick witted, funny dialog and the intrigue of bizarre cases. What they gave us was a movie about grief.
To start, I should mention that I’d forgotten about the abomination that were seasons 8 & 9. I saw them when they originally aired, but while they were on, I mostly raged at the TV (maybe even threw a few things at it too). I hated them so much that I did my best to ignore that they ever existed.
This movie picks up years after season 9 ended. Mulder is still wanted by the FBI and while in hiding, sits in a room clipping stories from newspapers and taping them to the wall. He mourns the loss of his quest. Scully is a doctor at a Catholic hospital. She mourns the loss of her son (having given him up for adoption).
In a rather illogical fashion, the FBI needs Mulder to help them find one missing agent. They are willing to forgive everything that’s happened basically to get him on the case. I mean really, people, one agent goes missing and that’s reason enough for Mulder to come on board? It was a flimsy attempt at giving him purpose and a connection to the FBI again. And the agent, played by Amanda Peet, seemed to really only want him on board because of the hint of a school girl crush. *eye roll*
Meanwhile over in the land of doctors, Scully is obsessing over the care of a boy, who happens to be around the age her son, William, is. She aims to find a treatment for him, even through radical methods. She does continue to help Mulder on the case some too though.
The FBI case itself was a dull attempt at Frankenstein testing being done on dogs and humans. Even the snowy setting upstaged that plotline. The plot was really more about the grieving process Scully and Mulder are going through. They’ve lost so much. They question if their relationship works and if they will be able to make it together. It’s unsettling seeing them so broken.
From the bleak, snow covered setting to the to the sadness that permeated from the characters, I really can see this movie as nothing more than a look at grief. If this is what they intend to keep bringing us with future X-Files movies, I would ask that they just stop. It’s breaking my heart. I miss the fun of X-Files. The gloom isn’t working. I think the entire franchise would have been better suited by ending with Season 7. Mulder is abducted. Scully finds out she’s pregnant. The Lone Gunmen and all my favorite characters are still alive. Tra la la. It’s over. It would have been a great ending indeed. Where they’ve since taken things… I choose to disbelieve…failed saving throw, please.
