(no subject)
Saw the X-files yesterday when it came out, and it was a little sad that there weren't that many people. I mean, we were in the smaller cinema 5, so they weren't expecting hundreds to turn up, but still, it'd've been nice to have *half* the room filled up. *pouts* Who abducted all the fans?
I really like the poster for the movie and it kills me that I can't get it from anywhere. Legal, anyway. Apparently it's illegal to sell them for some reason. O.o Violation of trademark thingy, maybe? Well, if they'd just get their act together and have a merchandise shop, we wouldn't have a problem, would we? It sucks that powerful sci-fi people are so stupid and won't manufacture posters and games and cool trinkets because I *want*.
I know there are going to be a thousand similar posts, but what the hell, I'll read those later and see how many of us picked up on the same things. For now, complete with spoilers and all:
For some reason, the use of the abbreviated X-files theme at the start of the movie was irritating. Label me an unfaithful fan, but it cheapened the movie before it even began. That short piece of music, like, six notes or so, is what other shows play in homage to the X-files when there some sort of plot point relating to aliens, government conspiracies or paranormal phenomena. That’s their shorthand to signify ‘this is an X-files reference’, it’s an auditory cue so that people get the joke and make the connection. It’s quick, cheap and funny, and because it’s another show, that’s fine.
But we were in the cinema to see the X-files movie, we know what’s coming, and while that short burst of music was probably meant to inspire us with awe and excitement, it bugged me. I suppose it maybe stemmed from the fact that in the episodes we get to see something freaky and weird that sets the scene and then the theme music kicks in and off we go- so my irritation was just a protest that well, here’s a celebration of weird without anything having happened yet. It was a victory lap without even having run the race. The music is supposed to be subtle, it underscores the oddness and the freakiness of the show, but here it was being used so overtly and clumsily. No build up. No tension. Just- SPLAT. Throw it up and get it over with. There was no thought behind its execution. And that one moment was kind of a metaphor that describes the entire movie. Lazy and sloppy and it referred to X-files without capturing the essence of X-files, which is sad as we’ve waited so long for this day.
*shrugs* If that makes me finicky and hard-to-please…well, hey, I loved the movie, but I reserve my right to critique it mercilessly. It’s like my reaction to Stargate: The Ark of Truth- it was a sucky script, butchered some characters, underused others, ran on clichés but heck, it was such fun to pay it out the whole way through!
I’ll get my biggest gripe out of the way- it portrayed Scully as a dumbass in one of the most painful scenes ever. She’s supposed to be intelligent, professional, well-trained. It’s accepted that Scully knows everything there is to know about science, just as Mulder knows everything there is to know about paranormal phenomena. So firstly, it was odd that she was shown *not knowing* something scientific, like stem cell research, which is hardly obscure and something I’m sure Scully would devour in her downtime. She reads medical journals for fun, fcol! Then, and more importantly, THEN when she needs to brush up on her knowledge, she FRAKKING GOOGLES IT. Like, I’m just a law student but I have tons of legitimate legal databases to use for case references and legislation and so on. Scully’s a brilliant doctor and she GOOGLES a highly specialized, experimental, not to mention dangerous procedure that she, untrained, will perform on a boy…*jaw drops* OMFG. If they’d shown Scully operating on him without the set-up, I’d’ve believed it. Scully’s an awesome doctor, she can do anything. But to show her being ignorant of the field, then researching it on a search engine that primary school kids use for their homework, then conducting the surgery without having practiced or perfected her technique…*brain explodes* Not. Cool.
Otoh, I love that Scully was the most hardcore character in this movie. She was like, the most violent character too! I cheered so loud when she bashed the dude over the head just before he decapitated Mulder. It’s so awesome when the chick gets to save the guy for a change! And man, she was kickass, going on the offensive, not taking no BS from anyone- ‘you buggered 37 little boys’ *chokes* confrontational, much? *giggles* And then with the black dude refusing to help, ‘Find me someone with the balls to do it then.’ BURN BABY BURN. >:]
Scully is beautiful. I just had to say that. If I didn’t love her so much, I’d hate her for being able to angst so prettily. She’s on the verge of crying a few times- though she holds it back with that enormous mental fortitude- and it just adds to her pretty. Enhances her eyes. And the hair! How does a woman who does so little with her hair look so frakking gorgeous? It’s just straight and loose, and damn, a million times better looking than all the fussy celeb fashion trends. The funny thing is that when Mulder hugged her at the end, the length of her hair was hidden by his arm and it looked like she had her old short crop- what is it called, a bob?- and it reminded me of like, the cancer eps when they hugged. She looks exactly the same as she did way back when. It’s a good thing she grew out her hair just to give a visual impression of time gone by because otherwise it’d be like we went back in time! Mulder, lol, needed no visual aid, he looked aged. Still appealing, but definitely older.
I liked the in-jokes for the long-term fans.
The ceiling of pencils is from what Katherine calls ‘the evil doll’ episode, which I call ‘Chinga’ *ahem* because episode titles are my department, totally. We’ve watched it together about ten times over the past few years, and laugh hysterically every single time. I wanted a pencil to fall on Mulder’s head in the movie, but alas, it was not to be.
Scully saving Mulder from being beheaded is a callback to Mulder saving Scully from being beheaded in ‘Our Town’- good people, good food. [I did an oral presentation on the X-files and referenced this ep; the whole class was entranced]
Skinner cradling Mulder and giving him his body warmth is a callback to, jeez, a few X-files moments. Most notably the first movie, Fight the Future, when Mulder saved Scully from being a goo-covered vegetable for the rest of her life and they were sitting out in the snow and he gave her his jacket and cuddled. Also, I’m thinking…in Detour, was there actual sharing of body warmth? Or just Mulder making that crack about the best way to regenerate body warmth being to hop naked into a sleeping bag with another naked person? ‘Well, when it starts raining sleeping bags, Mulder, maybe you’ll get lucky…’ LMFAO. But I love that in this movie, now that they’re together and they’re physically close and affectionate and demonstrative, the writers are like, ‘well, before we would have manipulated this situation so that we see Mulder and Scully cuddling to highlight the UST but because it’s now all RST, let Scully do some doctoring and Skinner can do the cuddling for a change’…hee!
There was so much girly squealing, from me and Katherine and Jacob, the whole way through the movie at all the sappy romantic parts. Even their breakups were kinda romantic. It was a date movie, even though they kept breaking up, but I knew that one of them would be in jeopardy and the other would race against time to save them- just a pleasant surprise that it was Scully doing the saving, is all- and then all would be well. I loved the first time when they were in bed and Mulder was dropping kisses over Scully’s face and neck and Gillian wriggled and had the CUTEST FACE EVAR with her little Pouty Protest of Scratchy Beard. ADORABLE! :D
Thank god he shaved it off though. How much more insane hermit in the wilds could he look? I snickered at Scully’s dig about being worried at how the isolation was affecting him. I love that Scully’s the one with the high-status job, being the breadwinner of the family, supporting him, the househusband. Gender roles reversed, much?!
But omfg, I hated that Dakota Whitney chick for daring to flirt with him the whole way through the movie- first when Mulder and Scully turn up, she totally ignores Scully and fixates on Mulder. Then when he shaves, she wants to stroke his de-bearded face. I wanted Scully to smack her hand away so bad, damn it. That move kinda made me hardhearted and you know, it was tragic and all that she died, but whatever. I didn’t care enough about her to mourn the loss, although it was a shame that the movie decreased in pretty. She was worth keeping around for her looks, even if she was a terrible FBI agent, just so unconvincing. And her name sounded fake, like no thought was put into it, along with her partner’s, I mean seriously- the paper says its Mosley Drummy? Frakking KIDDING me. Is that for real? He was boring, and not as appealing to look at, so based on that shallow assessment, he should have died instead. Poor Whit- she didn’t deserve that ending. It’s karma for trying to interfere with the awesome of MSR, though. *shrugs*
Skinner should’ve had a bigger role. I mean, yes, he got to wave a gun around, but other than that…oh, he also got to set up one of the best moments in the movie, where he said ‘Mulder wouldn’t do anything crazy’ and Scully just LOOKS at him. The whole cinema erupted into helpless laughter. Classic moment. He should know better though, was that his better angel speaking? *shakes head*
Ahem, plotwise, though- where did all the scientists he was guarding go? Because Skinner went back out to manly bond with Mulder; Scully was inside- ‘I’ve got work to do’! AHAHA- I love that line more than is reasonable. It’s just…I mean- it’s so matter of fact and calm and like, she’s faced with a disembodied head and some mutilated chick but oh, business as usual, just taking care of a few household chores, nothing too major. HA. But so, in the meanwhile…where were the evil Russian people? And what’s with all the hits Russians are taking in the movie world lately? Wait, was Cate Blanchett a Russian in Indiana Jones…? Hmm…
Regarding the Frankensteinian experiments- wtf? I didn’t get what was happening at all. I thought the dude being operated on was some sort of freak mutant with special powers and that’s why he was special and they were expending all these resources on him. But- no, he was married to another guy and they were doing crazy experimental shit on him to save their love. But like, how wrong would putting his head on a female body be? And how the hell was he still alive severed from his own body, before the transfer was accomplished? Just what medical and scientific credentials or research did the writing team possess? And why couldn’t they make it clearer? EXPLAIN IT TO ME IN SIMPLE TERMS.
Damn, how un-X-files was this entire movie? The only thing working for it was the psychic. And even that was shades of ‘Oubliette’- the ep with a more talented Jewel Staite, or at least, a more motivated Jewel, because she did a better job with that frightened kidnapped girl than as Doogette Howser, Barbie Doctor or whatever the anti forces are calling her these days. [Can’t spell Atlantis without ‘anti’! Heh. Best slogan ever, yes?] It was all ‘psychic with dubious history and lack of cred has vague visions and is suspected of being connected to the crime, then ends up dying at the same time the victim does and atoning for sins’ blah blah blah. Except Jewel was revived, but that’s only a minor inconsistency there. *whistles*
I was over the whole ‘Samantha drives Mulder’s quest for the truth’ thing. Although he wasn’t really looking for the truth in this movie, was he? Yeah, they were trying to validate or debunk a so-called psychic but did they even mention the phrase ‘the truth’ at all? How odd. But yes, it was kind of a stretch to say that he was following the word of a pedophile priest in the hunt for a missing FBI agent based on childhood trauma relating to the abduction of his sister by aliens. Like…sure, in the past, the link’s been obvious but I really think he’d buried his sister by now. I mean, he danced with her ghost and all in the seventh season, he found peace, he let her go. This wasn’t about that. Methinks. *shrugs* Could be wrong. But still.
My favorite moment, of all favorite moments, has to be the payoff of waiting a few minutes after the movie ended, while the camera panned over vast expanses of weird black oil, funky kaleidoscope shapes, plain old snow, trees, mountains, babbling brooks… so Sound of Music!...pebbles, beach, clear waters- to a BOAT! With a shirtless Mulder paddling away! And a bikini-clad Scully chilling while the man pulls his weight for a change! And the two of them WAVING at the camera, at the audience, at MEEE! *glees* Awesome, awesome moment. I love how they get away from the darkness and end up in like, this fantasy vacation location by the sea, heading for an island retreat, clear blue skies, cheery sunshine…[and hey, shades of Passion Fish in terms of happy endings with people paddling away in boats and relaxing and all]
Finally, with all our big talk and puffery of dressing in theme as everything from Scully, complete in suits and red wigs [yah right] to the flukeman, complete with toilet bowl…we ended up being normal, lol. But I totally one-upped Katherine, I wore this cross pendant that I named my Scully cross! My grandparents gave it to me a while back and I wore it for a while, though *ahem* not for religious purposes. And Jacob kept getting me into trouble by babbling that it was only because of Scully that I wore it. *scowls* Way to blacken my name with the religious minority at high school…yeahhh, so going to hell for that. >_<
