I am one of those people who didn’t become a fan of the X – Files until a couple of years ago, when I started watching the series on DVD. In all honesty, I still haven’t watched all nine seasons yet. That being said, I guess I was a good person to test the theory about whether the first X – Files movie can be enjoyable for someone who hasn’t seen every episode up to its original release date in 1998, and isn’t aware of every plot twist and turn. After watching Fight the Future for the first time on Blu-ray, the answer is an unqualified yes.
Because Fight the Future is based on a very popular television series, the filmmakers faced the tough task of satisfying hardcore fans of the series, but creating a story that would be palatable to audience members who may not be familiar with it. The movie does a good job at reaching out to both segments of the audience, and I admire writer Chris Carter and director Rob Bowman for being able to do that.
The film begins in Texas, with a boy falling into a pit and being attacked by hundreds of small, slug-like creatures that crawl into his eye sockets and over his eyes. More people enter into the pit in an ill-fated attempt to rescue the boy, and they wind up being knocked unconscious (or put into a deep sleep) like the boy. The bodies are all transported to a hospital, and that same hospital later blows up after F.B.I. Special Agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) are unable to stop an implanted terrorist bomb from detonating inside a soda vending machine. Later they learn that four people who were supposedly killed in the bombing were long dead by the time of the explosion–killed in a nasty way Scully could not identify. With help from his latest “mysterious informant,” played by Martin Landau, they wind up in the middle of “nowhere”, Texas at a facility they shouldn’t be seeing.
They find themselves in a massive cornfield and then they’re attacked by a giant beehive. As it turns out, the bees are infected with an alien virus. The bees pollinate the corn; the aliens make things with the corn, infect people, use them as hosts for their new species and so forth. I don’t want to say much more about that, so it doesn’t ruin the plot for folks who might not have seen the film yet. Suffice to say, Scully’s life is in danger and Mulder races against time to save her. Of course, he sees more than he should (as we all do but that doesn’t make it any easier to understand), and they retrieve just enough evidence to not be thrown out of the FBI as complete nut jobs.
So far, I’ve watched the first four seasons of The X-Files on DVD, and as far as I can tell, the only major difference between the film and the television series is the production values. With a bigger budget than television allows, the special effects are bigger and Scully and Mulder’s clothes are much more fashionable.
Fight the Future is an intriguing film that kept my interest throughout. I imagine X-Files fans that saw this film at the time of its theatrical release in 1998 were eager to see season six, the following year. Now with its release on Blu-ray, those fans will finally get to see the film in HD. For those of us who weren’t a part of the phenomena during the series original run, can experience what the fuss was about.
The X-Files: Fight the Future has come to Blu-ray in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio presentation that has been encoded onto the disc with the AVC codec. Both the original Theatrical Version and the Extended Cut of the film are present on the disc. The 1080p presentations are really quite good, but reveal a stylistic penchant for the application of smoke and diffusion to the original cinematography. Someone expecting the film to appear extremely crisp in high definition may come away disappointed. The image is sharper, better defined and more dimensional than it appeared in standard definition, but doesn’t come across as demonstration material. There is a certain level of visual consistency here, with the movie looking like episodes of the television series, except for the proportions being widened out to a CinemaScope framing. Colors are rendered at a realistic level of saturation and the flesh tones appear true to life. Blacks are accurate, as are the whites. Contrast is relatively smooth and shadow detail is good. Visual imperfections are minimal. There is some grain throughout, which adds a fitting grittiness to the presentation.
The X-Files: Fight the Future has a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. While the video may disappoint, the audio is where this release really shines. The sound design is aggressive and makes excellent use of all the discrete channels. Channel separation is excellent across the front, plus cohesive integration with the rear channels, which quite active and highly effective- even when it comes to small sounds like chirping crickets. Sound effects pan effortlessly across the soundstage and draw one into the unfolding events on the screen. The bottom end of the track is highly effective and delivers a great deal of rumble. Voices have a warm, natural quality, plus the film’s dialogue is easily understood. French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 channel tracks are also encoded onto the disc. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese.
The X-Files: Fight the Future offers an impressive set of special features. Starting things off are two running Audio Commentaries; the first is with creator Chris Carter, director Rob Bowman, co-producer/writer Frank Spotnitz and producer Daniel Sackheim, while the second is the original DVD commentary with Chris Carter and Rob Bowman. There is also a Bonus View picture-in-picture Video Commentary with Carter, Bowman, Spotnitz and Sackheim (requires a Profile 1.1 player). Other Bonus View options include Real-time Index (Red Button) [alerts], Behind The Camera (Blue Button) [making of clips] and Storyboards And Concept Art (Yellow Button). Newly produced HD Featurettes include the following : Blackwood: The Making Of The X-Files: Fight The Future, Visual Effects and Scoring. The original Making Of The X-Files Movie featurette is also provided, as are a Gag Reel, Alternate Bee Sting Scene, Still Galleries and three Theatrical Trailers for Fight the Future and one for The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
