Quick Look: X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)

Being  a fan of the TV series, I made it a point to see this film the opening weekend it came out, and I was not disappointed. X-Files: Fight the Future premiered in the summer of 1998, in between the 5th and 6th seasons of the show.  Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny played their characters Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. Chris Carter, the show's creator, wrote the screenplay, and Rob Bowman one of show's directing vets and produces took the directing reigns for this adaption.  X-Files supporting cast "regulars" Mitch Pileggi, William B Davis, and John Neville reprise their continuing roles.
The movie centers around a conspiracy that an extra-terrestrial virus present on the Earth since the Ice Age is being held and cultivated by a shadowy group of powerful men, some of which have ties to the US government, and some even within the high ranks of the FBI.  Mulder and Scully are FBI field agents who were formerly assigned to the X-Files, an office the FBI that investigated paranormal occurrences, but the X-Files has since been shut down.  The two are currently investigating a bomb threat in the Federal Building in Dallas, which turns out to be legitimate, and the bomb goes off.  In the debris of the building some bodies are discovered which at first are thought to have been victims of the bombing, but upon further examination are discovered to have been dead prior to the bombing and were previously infected with an unidentifiable virus.  Mulder and Scully follow the clues towards this global reaching conspiracy and it puts both of their lives, as well as the balance of humankind in danger.  Settings of the movie include: Washington, DC, in Dallas, Texas, in the countryside of Texas, and in Antarctica.

While some people might think this is purely a 2 hour episode of the show, I would note the movie can stand alone (meaning you can watch this without having seen the TV show), but it does expand on the "alien mythology" story-line of the show, feeding the X-Philes interests, as well.  The story unfolded at a good pace; there was a decent mix of action sequences, and it was unpredictable enough to create a little tension throughout - all without being too overly intense.  It looked and felt like nice big budget summer block-buster, but stayed true to its X-Files story roots.  PG-13 rating is for violence and a little "alien" gore.    

Fun fact: Terry O'Quinn plays an FBI agent killed in the bomb blast in the movie, also played a police Lt. in an X-Files episode in Season 2, and played a shadowy conspirator in Season 9... plus he was a major supporting actor on Chris Carter's TV show Millennium...