When Fight the Future came out in 1998, director Rob Bowman and creator Chris Carter said they believed they had succeeded in making a movie that not only would advance the plot of the television series, but also appeal to people who had never watched The X-Files before. I had no way of testing that theory back then because I was a regular viewer of the series and pretty much knew everything that was going on with it.
Now that The X-Files has been off the air for so long, I figured this would be a good time to test Bowman and Carter’s claims. I didn’t remember anything about the whole “mythology” story arc or the government conspiracy, so I was basically just going to watch Fight the Future as a stand-alone movie.
I have to say that Bowman and Carter were right! The movie is fantastic on its own and is definitely worth watching even without the benefit of having seen the TV show. I didn’t realize how much I missed the Mulder and Scully banter (I was a total shipper!) and I just loved seeing them together again. The beginning of the movie was a bit slow, but then it picked up the pace and got interesting. Plus, I spotted Terry O’Quinn (whom I now know as John Locke from Lost) — with hair!!! That was a treat in itself.
If you haven’t seen this movie yet, go ahead and watch it. It’s definitely worth your time!