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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Absolutely phenomenal - Mulder and Scully at their best!, 6 Oct 2002
I will always consider The X-Files to be the greatest TV programme of the 1990's - maybe of all-time, but that may be pushing it a bit. I have been an avid viewer for years now and think it's a great shame that it's finally ended. Even so, The X-Files is a TV show that will never be forgotten. Repeats will still be shown in decades time. After Season 5 of this amazing TV show, Chris Carter (creator/director) decided to make a big-screen film to tie up a few loose ends that occured in the previous seasons...The film opens in the past - 35,000 BC actually in North Texas. It's a cold and barren place, probably around the time of the Ice Age. Something happens that we know nothing about, but will set the way forward for the rest of the film when two primates are attacked by what seems to be an alien. After this, we move to present day Dallas, Texas where the FBI are investigating a terrorist bomb threat in the Federal Building. We shortly meet our two heroes, agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). In short, we're told that the X-Files have been closed but that Mulder and Scully are still partnered. Scully is somewhat exasperated because her partner is again being unorthodox and searching another building across the street from the one the rest of the Bureau is searching. Mulder and Scully soon learn that the bomb is in the building opposite the one suspected. An FBI agent claims he can defuse the bomb - but he doesn't. The building is evacuated as the FBI Agent just sits there as the seconds tick away. The building does explode, but instead of Mulder and Scully being hailed as heroes, they're hauled in front of an inquiry to explain why five people died instead of the countless number that would have died had the bomb not been discovered. Thinking this to be a cover-up of something much more massive, Mulder and Scully begin going on an undercover hunt for significant clues as to the reasons for the deaths of the three deceased, and Scully concludes that what killed them consists of a new form of life that drains away the nutrients of the human body. Moreover, as they continue their explorations, under the watchful eye of several conspirators that have taken different sides, they find that there is a much larger cover-up, one that holds the key to the destruction of all mankind and the beginning of a new species... Dr. Alvin Kurtzweil (Martin Landau) is supposedly an old friend of Mulder's father - but this is the X-Files, so who can you trust? Kurtzweil supplies Mulder with what he believes to be vital and secret government information that helps Mulder and Scully uncover the truth. Kurtzweil writes books on alien conspiracies, although no one believes him. Mulder and Scully investigate unmarked tanker trucks that supposedly carry an alien virus. They are led to the desert when crop fields are being grown. Scully is stung by a wasp later on and is infected with this alien virus. She is taken away to Antarctica by these alien foes in human form to join the rest of the humans who have been infected with this virus. Mulder doesn't know the whereabouts of Scully, but is helped by an unknown, known only as 'The Well-Manicured Man' in the credits. The Well-Manicured Man works for the FBI and is trying to keep the truth underwraps. He decides to put an end to it by giving Mulder a vaccine to the virus to help Scully, knowing his life will be over once it's found out what he tells Mulder. Until the Dallas incident, the FBI believed that the virus would simply control the entire worldy population - that mass-infection would make them a slave race - imagine their surprise when the aliens began to gestate. Along with the vaccine to the virus, the man gives Mulder the co-ordinates in Antarctica to the location of where Scully is. Mulder has 96 hours to arrive at Wilkes Land, Antarctica to save Scully before it's too late. As the film draws nearer to the end, we learn a lot more about what's going on - not the whole truth, of course (this is the X-Files, don't you know?!). Millions of years ago, aliens arrived on planet Earth. Those that didn't leave have been laying dormant underground since the last Ice Age in the form of an evolved pathogen, waiting to be re-constituted by the alien race when it comes to colonize Earth, using the human race as hosts. Against this, the FBI has no defence but this weak vaccine given to Mulder by the unknown man. With the information and cure in hand, Mulder sets off to Antarctica to rescue Scully from the aliens. This plot to the film may sound incredibly corny, yet it is phenomenally believable and totally absorbing. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson give exceptional performances in the X-Files movie and the plot is intriguing and engrossing to say the least. The film can also be very moving at times, especially the hallway scene where Mulder and Scully almost kiss and the final five minutes in Antarctica. Other co-stars includes X-Files series regulars Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B. Davis) and Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and a special appearance from The Lone Gunmen. Will Mulder save Scully from the alien race? And will the truth finally be revealed to the rest of the world? Watch it and see! OVERALL GRADE: 10/10 Regardless of whether your a viewer of the X-Files or not, the film version is an absolute must-see for everyone. If you've never watched the series, once you've watched the film version of the X-Files, you will, without a shadow of a doubt, want to see more. This is the main source that introduced me to the X-Files phenomenon - and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. The X-Files movie is one of the greatest films of the 1990's as is the TV show - buy this superb film from Amazon now. You will NOT regret it!
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