Review of X Files, The: The Movie (Special Edition)

Introduction

First I`ll come clean, I`m a massive X Files fan, I`ve been watching it since day one, and I have all of the episodes on tape.

When I first saw this film at the cinema (on the opening night), I was completely blown away - it was the best film that I`d seen in the cinema in ages.

So I think that you can guess the film part of this review is just going to say that it`s a great film. And in my opinion it is.

Video

An excellent anamorphic transfer is presented here, preserving the film`s original aspect ratio. Colours are excellent, blacks are very black and everything looks very good indeed.

There are some interesting location shots here, from ice floes to corn fields to bee hives to the deserts of Tunisia. These add a new quality to the film, as do some of the excellent special effects which work just as well on the smaller screen.

Audio

An excellent DD5.1 soundtrack to accompany the excellent visuals. There are plenty of sound effects moving around the soundstage, plenty of explosions and good music to move the film along.

In fact, this was probably the last time that Mark Snow wrote a decent X Files score. His work on the series has gone downhill recently, and often sounds like a tired re-hash of earlier work.

There are also some excellent songs used in the film, particularly over the closing credits. It gives you a reason to actually watch the credits in full for once.

Features

Extras consist of a mini documentary which probably doesn`t reveal much to the fan who`s probably seen it all before, and a good writer`s/director`s commentary from Chris Carter and Rob Bowman. There`s plenty of interesting information on offer, but it`s not the best commentary in the world, which is a shame as it`s one that I was really looking forward to.

A deleted scene is restored to the film, but it doesn`t really add too much to the experience. You won`t be able to spot it quality wise as it`s of the same high standard as the main feature. It would have been nice to see other deleted scenes included as extras and maybe some out-takes too (X Files blooper reels are always floating around the web).

Conclusion

This is a very good DVD, which I think that I can recommend to fans and non-fans alike, as you can get into the film without having watched the preceding 120+ episodes.......

You`ll miss out on some of the in-jokes and self-referential scenes, but that doesn`t really spoil the overall effect of the film. A good 2 hours worth of entertainment. Some of the truth is out there, some answers are revealed and more questions are asked of the viewer.

A must-buy DVD for fans, and definitely worth a rental for non-fans.