Twentieth Century FoxReview in a Hurry: Fans of the late and lamented show may want to believe that this X marks a glorious return, but this plodding supernatural thriller wouldn't even make a top-10-episodes list.
The Bigger Picture: Here's another letter you may want to investigate: Y. "Why?" is about the only question that lingers after trudging through the long-awaited return of (former) FBI agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson). Why this muddled, dreary story with little resonance, no impact and almost none of the series' gallows humor to lighten things up? Why all the dour, imprecise philosophizing? Why the absolutely limp resolution?
In short: Why did we wait ten years and end up with this?
Director (and cowriter and series creator) Chris Carter starts things off ominously enough. Though it's overlong, the initial scare and the reintroduction of the characters sets a nice tone—but then that tone never varies, turning the rest of the film into one long moody drone.
And when the tediousness just might pay off, it turns out that the man behind the curtain isn't much of a wizard after all.
Carter tries to liven things up by touching on hot-button issues but never engages them in a sensible way. Scully works in a Catholic hospital and faces none of the obvious objections about a stem-cell treatment, the villains of the piece share interesting connections that are completely unexplored, and the film's recurring message about faith is made risible when you consider that the likely viewer is someone who's been waiting a decade, only to be rewarded with this.
The 180—a Second Opinion: People who are still obsessed with the status of the Mulder/Scully relationship (hello? anyone out there?) might get some closure. But don't expect any leftover mysteries from the series to even be mentioned, much less solved.