i think that saying that the x-files is one of this summer's most anticipated films is safe . for five years , " the x-files " television show has developed a dedicated fan culture , whose rabid devotion to the series rivals that of " star trek " fans . the premise of both the movie and the television series is two fbi agents who investigate the paranormal ; fox mulder ( david duchovny ) is the avid believer whose quest to find the truth about extraterrestrial life borders on the paranoid , and dana scully ( gillian anderson ) is the scientific skeptic trying to find a rational explanation to mulder's flights of fancy . outlining the plot of the x-files movie is virtually impossible , since to be general would result in confusion , yet to be specific would give too much away . nevertheless , i will try . " the black ooze , " and extraterrestrial , virus-like substance is threatening earth . a " shadow government " is aware of this , but tries to cover-up the alien existence . mulder and scully know " the truth is out there , " and so try to expose both the invasion and the cover-up . there are three central questions i have heard asked about this movie : 1 . will those who don't watch the series be able to understand the movie ? yes . isolated as an individual text , the x-files can stand alone . they have given enough background for anyone , familiar with the show or not , to understand the movie . although some of the secondary characters' histories may confuse the uninitiated , those characters are not essential to the film . this is a major problem : they trot out token secondary characters from the series out for an appearance and then disappear just as quickly . why bring superintendent skinner into the picture in the first place , and then have him sat silently on an fbi internal affairs committee ? why bring in " the lone gunmen , " three computer geek conspiracy theorists , for an even briefer appearance ? these characters are recurrent on the series , and their appearance in the film was met with whoops from the audience ( suggesting their popularity among fans - actually most of the audience could pass for " the lone gunmen " ) . still , then they vanish just as quickly . 2 . the television show never gives us any answers . will the movie actually explain some things ? yes . in the x-files we get a fairly complete history of " the black ooze , " what it is and what it wants . we finally get some understanding of the motivations behind the " shadow government . " there are even some subtle tie-ins with contemporary ufo-ology , including the " greys " and the roswell crash of 1947 . 3 . is the movie any good ? no . the x-files is a dreadful movie and shows some fundamental problems with writer/creator chris carter's talents and the relationship between cinema and television . first off , the screenplay by series creator chris carter is sloppy and cliched . after approximately forty-five minutes ( the length of a television episode minus the commercials ) , the pace drops to a snail's crawl . not long after that point , when carter attempts to answer some questions we have had about the series , we wish he had not . the explanations are so trite and ridiculous that one would have preferred it had carter not explained quite so much . i am willing to suspend my disbelief a fair bit , but the absurdity carter wants me to swallow was just too much . breaking the suspension of disbelief destroys the movie - and listening to other fans leave the cinema , maybe the series too . the explanations are not only absurd , they are tired and unoriginal . the extraterrestrials breed and gestate like those from the alien series , and their craft looks like a leftover set piece from independence day . note that the alien movies , id4 , and the x-files are all from 20thcentury fox - a studio that is beginning to cannibalize itself i think . the x-files is noteworthy for being the only movie based on a television series to be produced while the series was still running . in comparing the movie and television series certain aspects of the respective media emerge . the avoidance of the series to answer the questions it raised annoyed and frustrated many people . however , i rather liked that about the series . television allows you to impose as much , or as little , meaning on a show as you want . it is the proverbial " blank screen " which we project our minds on . meaning on television is open and ambiguous ; it is the nature of the medium . cinema , on the other hand , is the opposite . it projects onto us the filmmakers mind . we can , in some films , fill the textual gaps ourselves , but that almost never happens in an american film . meaning , in cinema , needs to be self-contained and determined . so , when the x-files made that jump from small to big screen , carter needed to take into consideration the differences in the medium as well . he did not . by making explicit , what the television show left implicit , carter reveals the limits of his creativity and skill . when they say that " fans " make a tv show , it is not far from the truth . on television , fan culture must impose its meanings on the text because there is nothing there . how true that is when we see the " explicit " x-files - there is nothing there . the following was printed in the st . john's express , st . john's , newfoundland , canada . all views are the authors , but copyright is held by robinson-blackmore , 1998 . ; movie review by mikel j . koven .
