X Movie Reviews

Viewers complained that the 1998 feature X: 1999 failed to capture the complexities of the apocalyptic manga series. The TV series offers more details, but director Yoshiaki Kawajiri indulges in too many flashbacks, dreams, visions, and montages that don't advance the plot. These self-conscious devices may pay off eventually, but some viewers will wish Kawajiri spent more time introducing the nearly two-dozen characters a little more slowly and coherently. Astrological shifts announce that the battle between the Seven Dragons of the Heavens and the Seven Dragons of Earth is about to take place, with the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance. The incipient conflict is presented in the familiar visual style of the Clamp collective: there are lots of pretty boys with long hair and skinny legs, elaborate art nouveau curves, and veritable blizzards of flower petals and feathers. Rated 16 Up: Violence, minor profanity, grotesque imagery. --Charles Solomon

Viewers complained that the 1998 feature X: 1999 failed to capture the complexities of the apocalyptic manga series. The TV series offers more details, but director Yoshiaki Kawajiri indulges in too many flashbacks, dreams, visions, and montages that don't advance the plot. These self-conscious devices may pay off eventually, but some viewers will wish Kawajiri spent more time introducing the nearly two-dozen characters a little more slowly and coherently. Astrological shifts announce that the battle between the Seven Dragons of the Heavens and the Seven Dragons of Earth is about to take place, with the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance. The incipient conflict is presented in the familiar visual style of the Clamp collective: there are lots of pretty boys with long hair and skinny legs, elaborate art nouveau curves, and veritable blizzards of flower petals and feathers. Rated 16 Up: Violence, minor profanity, grotesque imagery. --Charles Solomon

As the conflict between the Dragons of Heaven and Earth escalates, the fate of the planet rests on who is right: "Dreamseer" Princess Hinoto, who insists the future is already determined and unchangeable, or Kamui, who defiantly proclaims he can mold the future to his will. Subaru kills Seishiro, fulfilling another prophecy and leaving each team with only six members; a romance begins between Yozoriha and Kusanagi, although they're on opposite sides. But the struggles and sorrows of Subaru, Yozoriha, Kusanagi and the rest of the cast are little more than distractions. The crux of the story is the imminent duel between Fuma, who would destroy the Earth so it can be reborn in a purer form, and Kamui, who will protect the Earth and who has sworn to restore the Fuma he loved. (Rated 16 and older: violence, minor profanity, grotesque imagery, brief nudity, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

By its third season, The X-Files had grown from a cult hit to a global phenomenon, becoming the most popular show in many countries outside the U.S. Armed with the knowledge that the show was here to stay, series creator Chris Carter expanded its mythology, and the 24 episodes in this boxed set represent arguably the strongest of all the X-Files seasons. As usual, stand-alone episodes explored the paranormal and sometimes terrifying possibilities in mythology, pop culture, and religion. Darin Morgan helps the show to mature by expanding its use of humor, directing classic episodes such as "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" (featuring a fabulous performance from Peter Boyle) and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space.'" Meanwhile, two-part episodes continue to delve into the X-Files own mythology, introducing the alien black oil, the implant in Scully's neck, the mysterious Agent X, and the shape-shifting Jeremiah Smith. But following the complex mythology is not crucial to enjoying the show. The strength of the X-Files lies not in resolution but in feeding the paranoia of its rabid audience by revealing conspiracies that linger in the mind as unanswered questions. Series creator Carter realized wisely that fans did not look to the X-Files to explain the unexplained, but to question that which they thought they understood. The third season was effective because it hinted that while the truth was out there, it was more complex, sinister, and amazing than even Mulder had imagined.

Commentaries and deleted scenes are available for some of the 24 episodes, and the last disc in the set contains numerous TV spots and interviews with the creators about the filming of the third season. --Eugene Wei

In season four, The X-Files continued to expand the breadth and complexity of the mythology established in the previous two seasons while developing a deeper, romantically ambiguous relationship between its photogenic leads, FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). New players such as United Nations official Marita Covarrubias and virus-carrying bees joined familiar faces like Cigarette Smoking Man, Alex Krycek, the blockheaded Alien Bounty Hunters, and the Consortium in the growing cast of a global struggle involving multiple factions of alien forces. It was a season in which Mulder and Scully seemed to lose ground to the global forces surrounding them, in which Mulder was infected with the black oil and Scully discovered she had cancer. With even the loyalties of Assistant Director Skinner and Mulder's mother in doubt, Mulder and Scully learned to trust only each other in their pursuit of the truth.

The show also continued to take breaks from the dizzying, heavy mythology to serve up standalone episodes with the show's unusual blend of sophisticated humor and creepy paranormal explorations. In "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man," the show parodied the scope of the public's conspiracy paranoia, implying that Cigarette Smoking Man was involved in everything from JFK's assassination to the Buffalo Bills' four straight losses in the Super Bowl. The three previous seasons had not exhausted the list of popular paranormal phenomena to tackle, and season four covered a wide range of topics from invisibility ("Unrequited"), past lives ("The Field Where I Died"), and inbreeding ("Home") to shape-shifting ("Small Potatoes") and golems ("Kaddish"). The X-Files proved, again, to be that rare science-fiction show that could both frighten and touch its audience, telling intelligent stories that resonated with the skeptic in each of us, all the while sprinkling in a few laughs. --Eugene Wei