Ages after the series was on TV, the famed Mystery Investigations of X-Files are out on the big screen. Six years after the series, former agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) practices in a hospital. FBI approaches her again seeking help in finding former Chief of X-Files Division Fox Mulder, for his assistance to investigate weird circumstances leading to an FBI agent going missing. In exchange, FBI drops charges against him.Since an episode worth of story had to be stretched over 105 minutes, obviously, the writers had to add complications to lengthen the film. So, you have Doctor Scully worried about treating a young boy with a terminal brain condition. Then, there is Mulder himself, a bearded recluse now who is shown clipping newspaper articles on paranormal stuff. For the plot, there is a Russian Frankenstein and a pedophile priest who helps them.
To begin with, an agent driving into her house has gone missing. While searching for her body, FBI team finds a severed hand of a man. Something seriously seems amiss leading them to resort to Mulder. The lead duo though resorts to the visions of Father Joe (Billy Connolly) who claims divine connections. While Mulder wants to believe it, Scully doesn’t, especially going by his past. The first half drags on in a slow pace.
It is only in the second half that the movie shows some pace and action. Mulder chases a trail of animal tranquilizer called Acepromazine found in the severed hand leading him to the hideout of a Russian organ transporter and illegal dealer who finds body parts to keep his friend alive by grafting organs. On a parallel, non believer Scully too gets her tidbit from Father Joe ‘don't give up’ that helps her find a cure for the boy.
Lead stars Duchovny and Gillian Anderson do too well in roles that they have always been doing. Well, the film though ends with a happy note with Mulder and Scully coming together after ages. Although they end happy, you can’t really count on yours especially if you are still asleep as credits roll on. If you stayed awake, you would feel it was actually a decent film that somehow loses track into tales that are just there to fill time.
Rating: 5/10 – Feels like one episode stretched for two hours!
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