For the record, I’m an X-Files fan. I’ve seen every episode multiple times (well, perhaps not the handful of episodes I consider just plain bad - such as the William Gibson episodes). I very much liked the first feature film, and I definitely liked this second very much as well.
Writing: This second film is actually not much like the first film at all. When most people hear the name X-Files, they immediately associate the intricate government conspiracies and mythologies. They don’t realize that the series got away with doing pretty much anything and everything. Some of the most unusual and atypical episodes of TV you are likely to ever see were on this series. That being said, the mythology and conspiracy episodes of the show were never my favorites. I’m a major fan of the stand-alone, quirky and strange episodes of the show. I’m also a big fan of the more dramatic character episodes. When it comes to the feature films, the first one is very much steeped in the mythology arcs and government conspiracies, and is very action driven. Still, I think it works quite well. This second film is a very low key, dark drama. It’s deceptively creepy, and features some great dramatic character writing. It also takes on the tough challenge of bringing the franchise back to life, working in the time since the series ended into the plot of the story. Writer/director Chris Carter knows these characters through and through, and he pulls off a very nice, delicate job of bringing them back to life. Interestingly, the character writing takes center stage, and the creepy macguffin that drives the plot plays out almost as a B story arc. Though if you spend some time considering what’s going on in that story arc, it’s really quite twisted and stark. I’ve seen the movie multiple times as of this writing, and the medical story arc actually holds up rather well as an X-File kind of case, and it’s actually kind of brilliant to keep it a bit mysterious and in the background of the main focus of the script.
Production: Since this movie doesn’t have the big action of the first film, it can get away with a considerably smaller budget. The first film had a budget of roughly $65 million, and it returned roughly $190 million worldwide, not to mention pretty strong home video performance. A full 10 years later, this second film clocks in with a budget of roughly $30 million, and has so far pulled down only $65 million or so worldwide. I think Fox knew that they weren’t going to get the same returns from this film, but it was a worthwhile move to approve a lower budget film. And Chris Carter does a fantastic job with the budget he’s got. The story allows things to be far more low key in nature, with very few big set pieces to drive the budget up. And the production quality is still absolutely fantastic. The film looks fantastic, with some marvelous cinematography from veteran Bill Roe, who did a great job for the latter half of the series run. In an amusing twist of fate, cinematographer John Bartley, who shot the first seasons of the show and very much defined the look of the franchise, happened to be a second unit director of photography for this film. Bartley shot the show when it was filming in Vancouver, but when it moved to LA during the second half of the show, Bill Roe took over the job. Well, this film actually ended up back in Vancouver for the shoot, and Bartley was available due to the writers strike, so he ironically ended up working on the film as well. Anyway, aside from the great cinematography, all the other departments come through wonderfully. The wintry location shooting is fantastic (with some very impressive looking exterior snow scenes), and the production design is very gritty and realistic. And a fan like me got some chuckles spotting the numerous references to the many writers/producers of the series that weren’t working on this film. I’ll assume I haven’t spotted all the references yet, but I spotted a good half dozen references to the likes of David Nutter, Michelle MacLaren, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Kim Manners and others.
Cast: It goes without saying that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are great in their roles. They should know these roles inside and out by now, and they do manage to slip back into the roles with apparent ease. There’s a little bit of a different dynamic for their characters by this point in their story, but the two of them still manage to make it all work beautifully. The story is a bit more geared towards Gillian Anderson’s dramatic strengths than Duchovny’s dry wit and sense of timing, but both of them equally carry things along quite well. Returning for a few scenes is the great Mitch Pileggi, who aside from Duchovny & Anderson has surely logged the most on-screen time in the franchise history. Joining the fun for this film are some great supporting actors. Amanda Peet, one of my favorite actresses, plays an FBI agent slightly sympathetic to Duchovny’s expertice and plight, and she does great in the role. Battlestar’s Callum Keith Rennie is a nice choice for the primary bad guy. And the criminally under appreciated Billy Connolly is flat out fantastic as a psychic who happens to be a repentative, former child molesting priest. Heck, even rap star Xzibit even does a pretty good job with his smaller role.
Music: It wouldn’t be The X-Files without Mark Snow doing the score (Snow has scored every single episode of the show, and both films), and he does a brilliant job with his score for this film. Since the film is pretty sparce on action, his score plays to the characters and the ambiance, and does so perfectly. From his gorgeous, warm theme for Scully’s character arc to the cold and harsh textures of the mystery, Snow nails all the beats. And he does so with very little use of his previous X-Files thematic materials.
Will there be a third X-Files film? I hope so. Given the low budget and the already decent return on their money even before video sales, I would think that Fox would certainly be open to the idea.
