Mulder and Scully make their big screen debut in 'The X-Files'

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): After its premiere in 1993, the award-winning television series The X-Files finally makes its debut on the big screen. The movie revolves around the series' ongoing storyline and some regular characters.

Just like the series, the heart and soul of the film centers around the search for extraterrestrial life-forms and government conspiracy, with FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) trapped in the middle.

The movie opens in 3,500 B.C., in northern Texas where two cavemen make an incredible but deadly discovery when they encounter a bug-eyed alien, the creation of special make-up effects by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. (Alien Resurrection, Jumanji).

The scene later moves to the present day, when a boy, Stevie (Lucas Black) falls into a cave only to discover a human skull. Whilst in the cave, a mysterious oil-like black liquid enters Stevie's body.

The viewers are introduced to The X-Files' two main characters, Mulder and Scully, who are investigating the mysterious bombing of a skyscraper in Dallas.

The X-Files movie then explores the series' mythology and Mulder and Scully's close relationship and determination to expose the truth behind the bombing, which led them to a project that threatens to permanently alter the future of mankind.

The movie's storyline will excite its core fans, or X-philes, who have become familiar with the series' characters and mysteries over the past five years.

But many new viewers, unfamiliar with the series, might feel excluded and be left pondering about the real identities of some important characters in the movie, such as The Cigarette-Smoking Man (William B. Davis) and The Well-Manicured Man (John Neville).

Fans of the series will recognize these characters as key members of a powerful global conspiracy of government insiders and businessmen known as The Syndicate.

The new viewers might also wonder about Scully and Mulder's odd determination to keep digging up unsolvable FBI cases.

Again, the X-philes will have the advantage of having seen the characters in the series. They know that Fox 'Spooky' Mulder is a believer after witnessing his sister's abduction by an alien. He believes there is a world which cannot be explained by rational thought and that the government is conspiring to keep the truth about extraterrestrials from the people.

Mulder's partner Scully, a doctor turned agent, remains the skeptic of the two and is determined to prove that science can explain everything, amid her own possible experience of being abducted by aliens.

Despite their differences and personal involvement, the chemistry between Duchovny and Anderson is one of the main attractions in both the series and its big-screen version.

The tight-lipped Duchovny (Playing God), who won the 1997 Golden Globe award for best actor in the series, is excellent in his role as the agent who couldn't care less about what anybody else thinks about his beliefs and his work.

Anderson, also a Golden Globe winner plays the role of the skeptical, intelligent doctor and agent -- Scully and is equally convincingly.

But in the movie, director Rob Bowman and the series' creator Chris Carter give the viewers a chance to see a hint of something different, as Mulder and Scully's relationship gets a little closer than viewers have seen on television.

The appearance of regular characters of the series in its big screen version are not new for the X-philes either.

Among the regulars are Mitch Pillegi (Basic Instinct) as Mulder and Scully's superior Walter Skinner. If in the series it's difficult to work out whose side he is on, in the movie, Skinner makes his priorities clear, supporting his agents.

John Neville (Little Women, The Fifth Element) as The Well- Manicured Man and William B. Davis (Unforgettable) as The Cigarette-Smoking Man, or better known as Cancer Man by X-philes, might be the most popular characters in the movie after Mulder and Scully. Davis' trademark is a Morley cigarette dangling from his lips or clutched in his wrinkled fingers.

Some new characters are also introduced in the movie.

Oscar winning actor Martin Landau of Tim Burton's Ed Wood plays a former friend of Mulder's father, who is also the author of some books on conspiracy theories and the new world order.

In The X-Files, he convincingly plays his role as the crazy but credible Alvin Kurtzweil, who gives Mulder information about the existence of aliens planning to take over the Earth.

Another new character is German actor and Oscar nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl (The Game, the Peacemaker) as the suave but imposing leader of The Syndicate, Strughold, who plans to create and command a terrifying new world.

Despite the advantages of having watched the series, The X- Files also touches new viewers because it offers something different, a new adventure and excellent special effects.

The movie is bigger, more dynamic and thrilling than the series on the tube. However, some things are intentionally left unresolved, leaving mystery as its trademark and certainly, a possibility for the production of sequels.