DVD 37,000 years ago a deadly secret was buried in a cave in Texas. Now that secret has been unleashed and its discovery may mean the end of humanity.
Details
The film opens some 37,000 years ago with a group of prehistoric hunters discovering something rather unpleasant lurking beneath the ice in a cave in Texas. The encounter introduces us to the infamous alien "black oil", a substance which followers of the television series will instantly recognise as one of the key elements of the show's ongoing mythology. Jump forward to the present day and an unfortunate young boy stumbles across the same cave, triggering the interest of certain government officials who would very much prefer that the discovery remains buried.
Meanwhile Mulder and Scully find themselves pulled away from the paranormal and back into more routine FBI work when they are sent to investigate a bomb threat in Dallas. When the building explodes it appears at first to be a tragic terrorist incident, but Mulder soon suspects that the bombing may have been nothing more than a cover-up to destroy something hidden beneath the building. As usual, the further he digs the more suspicious things become.
Mulder's suspicions are reinforced during a chance encounter with a paranoid doctor who claims the bombing concealed evidence of a deadly alien virus that could threaten the future of mankind. Before long Mulder and Scully find themselves once again crossing paths with the shadowy Syndicate - powerful men who will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden. Their investigation eventually leads them across the United States and finally to the frozen wastelands of Antarctica, where the pair uncover disturbing evidence that humanity may have been unknowingly preparing the way for an alien colonisation.
Picture & Sound
The film is basically a two-hour episode with a bigger budget for the special effects and explosions. However, the money is spent wisely with a superb THX soundtrack along with the plentiful use of helicopters, and other flying objects, in the surround channels.
However, there is one annoying thing with the soundtrack. You sit there wondering why the surround is so poor until you realise that it has defaulted to 2.0 and you have to select the 5.1 option from the set-up menu. The picture is very dark at times and can also be very busy (just put on the bit-rate meter if you have one) but to get the THX certification it needs to be - and is - good.
Overall
You don't really need to be a follower of the X-Files series, but it certainly helps, as the story will be a lot more meaningful and you'll appreciate the clever humour between the pair. Chris Carter has been very clever in creating this film. For the die-hard fans it continues from the end of the previous television series and indeed feeds directly into the next, but for the casual viewer it still works as an entertaining science-fiction thriller.
What the film really manages to do well is capture the atmosphere and paranoia that made the television series so successful in the first place. Mulder's obsession with the truth and Scully's sceptical counterbalance remain at the heart of the story, and the larger budget simply allows the show's mythology to be explored on a grander scale. Fans of the series will appreciate the continuation of the conspiracy arc, whilst newcomers should still enjoy the mixture of science fiction, mystery and action.
Special features
- The Making of The X-Files
- Audio Commentary
- Extra Footage
- 8-Page Booklet
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- THX Certified
