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I have seen the X-Files movie
While I'm happy with a few things in the movie, I came away unsatisfied.
So, overall, a thumbs down from me. If you're a big fan of the show, go see it, but be forewarned it's not perfect. If you weren't a regular viewer of the show, I don't think this is a good introduction to the characters. Go rent seasons 1-5 instead.
The good
It was really great to see Mulder and Scully again and to find out what became of them as individuals and as a couple because the series had left them snuggling in bed in a motel.
In a sort of fanfiction I'd thought up during season 7, I had imagined if they had to go on the run, Scully would return to being a doctor and Mulder would be living in a cabin in the woods of Canada with long hair and some sexy facial hair. That mostly came true in this movie! OK, in the story of the film, Mulder lived in a cabin in the US, but it was filmed in Canada, so I sort of got my wish, which was really funny. Sadly, his facial hair was NOT sexy, LOL! I was so glad he shaved it.
SPOILER that I really liked: (Drag your mouse over the text to read it) It's not clear right away but they've been a couple living together in the intervening years. Seeing them in bed makes that evident. They're like an old married couple. You also need to stay to the end of the credits for one last shot of our heroes in bathing suits.
The next best thing is that the settings felt like the old X-files because they shot this in BC. The show lost a lot of natural spookiness when it moved to LA to shoot. The sets seemed more real than what they put together in the last few years of the show.
There are a couple of cute call-outs to the show and Mulder's old office. For some reason, he's got the same sound proofing boards on his ceiling and the pencils embedded in it, just like the old days. There's also a scene where Scully is lying in bed, unable to sleep, which looks like the set up of many similar scenes on the show. I was disappointed not to see a shot of a clock showing "11:22" and the phone ringing.
The bad
Unfortunately, overall, the film was rather blah. The mystery was too real, unlike on the show. It had a gross factor but not a creepy chill-up-your-spine factor like the classic (mostly early) episodes of the X-Files had. Had it a weird case like Ice, Tooms or Firewalker, that would really have been something, but the case was too run-of-the-mill compared to all the procedural shows on TV these days. Nothing said it was truly an X-File.
The other big problem for me was poor connection to the show itself. I didn't necessarily want to see the whole conspiracy/syndicate story back again, but I would have liked some of the shows supporting characters to be in the movie. Of course, the problem was they killed just about everyone in season 9 -- the CSM, Krycek, the Lone Gunmen -- so there was little to draw on. The only other show character in the movie was Skinner and his appearance was little more than a cameo late in the film. How I wish TLG or Krycek had survived to be in this film! They could at least have used Doggett and Reyes instead of the new characters played by Amanda Peet and Xzibit which did nothing for me at all. Some might argue they were cast to sell tickets, but I don't think they're that popular.
Next problem -- and maybe this was just that I saw the film in a shoebox-sized theater -- the cinematography was not worthy of being played in a movie theater. This could have been a TV movie/special and it would have shown just as well.
And lastly, the whole Scully side-story was too earnest and heavy-handed and made little sense, given that on the show, Scully stopped her daughter Emily's suffering when it was clear she was really sick.
It was really great to see Mulder and Scully again and to find out what became of them as individuals and as a couple because the series had left them snuggling in bed in a motel.
In a sort of fanfiction I'd thought up during season 7, I had imagined if they had to go on the run, Scully would return to being a doctor and Mulder would be living in a cabin in the woods of Canada with long hair and some sexy facial hair. That mostly came true in this movie! OK, in the story of the film, Mulder lived in a cabin in the US, but it was filmed in Canada, so I sort of got my wish, which was really funny. Sadly, his facial hair was NOT sexy, LOL! I was so glad he shaved it.
SPOILER that I really liked: (Drag your mouse over the text to read it) It's not clear right away but they've been a couple living together in the intervening years. Seeing them in bed makes that evident. They're like an old married couple. You also need to stay to the end of the credits for one last shot of our heroes in bathing suits.
The next best thing is that the settings felt like the old X-files because they shot this in BC. The show lost a lot of natural spookiness when it moved to LA to shoot. The sets seemed more real than what they put together in the last few years of the show.
There are a couple of cute call-outs to the show and Mulder's old office. For some reason, he's got the same sound proofing boards on his ceiling and the pencils embedded in it, just like the old days. There's also a scene where Scully is lying in bed, unable to sleep, which looks like the set up of many similar scenes on the show. I was disappointed not to see a shot of a clock showing "11:22" and the phone ringing.
The bad
Unfortunately, overall, the film was rather blah. The mystery was too real, unlike on the show. It had a gross factor but not a creepy chill-up-your-spine factor like the classic (mostly early) episodes of the X-Files had. Had it a weird case like Ice, Tooms or Firewalker, that would really have been something, but the case was too run-of-the-mill compared to all the procedural shows on TV these days. Nothing said it was truly an X-File.
The other big problem for me was poor connection to the show itself. I didn't necessarily want to see the whole conspiracy/syndicate story back again, but I would have liked some of the shows supporting characters to be in the movie. Of course, the problem was they killed just about everyone in season 9 -- the CSM, Krycek, the Lone Gunmen -- so there was little to draw on. The only other show character in the movie was Skinner and his appearance was little more than a cameo late in the film. How I wish TLG or Krycek had survived to be in this film! They could at least have used Doggett and Reyes instead of the new characters played by Amanda Peet and Xzibit which did nothing for me at all. Some might argue they were cast to sell tickets, but I don't think they're that popular.
Next problem -- and maybe this was just that I saw the film in a shoebox-sized theater -- the cinematography was not worthy of being played in a movie theater. This could have been a TV movie/special and it would have shown just as well.
And lastly, the whole Scully side-story was too earnest and heavy-handed and made little sense, given that on the show, Scully stopped her daughter Emily's suffering when it was clear she was really sick.
So, overall, a thumbs down from me. If you're a big fan of the show, go see it, but be forewarned it's not perfect. If you weren't a regular viewer of the show, I don't think this is a good introduction to the characters. Go rent seasons 1-5 instead.
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Chris Carter always said (before he did what the "fans" wanted) that it would be the demise of the show if Mulder and Scully ever got together. And so it was.
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We get a sense of what attracts Mulder and Scully to each other. I've never understood what Grissom sees in Sara and the show has never shown us other than her trying to be the "most perfect CSI he ever knew", which is no explanation.
The problem with the X-Files is that given all the UST they built up between Scully and Mulder in the early years, by the time Chris Carter decided to make it apparent they'd gotten together they were already acting like some of the passion had gone out of the relationship.