Tags: David Duchovny | Gillian Anderson | John Neville | Martin Landau | Rob Bowman | William B. Davis

SUMMARY: The Answer is a Question. The Truth is a Lie.

Who lied to us? Steven Spielberg. Forget ET, extraterrestrials have their own agenda. Men in Black are not hipsters disguised as postal agents here to protect us, they are Them, and work for the Ebes (unknown biological entities) to either enslave us or take over our planet (is it really ours? Watch The Day the Earth Stood Still and tell me your answer).

What is the alien agenda? To bring Armageddon or maybe to save the whales like Spock? Maybe. Maybe not.

And within this grey amorphous mass we find The X-Files - Fight the Future (check out the Widescreen Edition).This is the tale of poor FBI Agent Fox "I Believe " Mulder (David Duchovny), ridiculed by his colleagues for his relentless search to find out who abducted his sister. Partnered up in the 'will you two please just get it on' vein is Dr. Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who, despite seeing every weird manner of abnormality, continues to insist upon scientifically debunking his theories. The pair worked in the secret FBI "X-Files" division, which was shut down at the TV series end, and they now find themselves on bomb detail in Dallas, Texas, coz, you know, of all the terrorism an' stuff.

I know there are many who were turned off by the repetitive broodiness and lack of the protagonist's successes in the TV series, but for the non-fanboys out there, just ignore the paranoiac rants and conspiracy nonsense, and just enjoy the story, for The X-Files is a visually captivating, absolute humdinger of a mystery adventure. You will find yourself fully focused from the moment the lights dim.

The pair of mismatched FBI agents, together and apart have investigated hundreds of cases which has taken them all over the world from prehistoric snow caves to seemingly abandoned industrial complexes and even the north pole! As you watch, you wonder if this tale of alien invasion might just be a reality, and if it was, why would they let this film get made? Maybe The X-files IS part of the conspiracy?!

I think what I like best about The X-Files, besides all the investigative paranoia, is ultimately the camaraderie, caring and friendship between the two agents. Rejoining them in Texas, this time investigating something black and oily, and mysteriously alive, you can feel the comfort these two actors obviously have in working together.

But back to the plot. It turns out this goo is of unearthly origin, necrotising human flesh into a jelly which incubates an advanced alien life form. Now the mystery begins, as these aliens seem to have some very high powered, very rich and ultra-clandestine human buddies, but even there, to fuel the paranoia, you can't quite tell to whom these guys pledge allegiance to... Not a single X-Philiac friend of mine knows which side these rich, white, chain-smoking guys are on, but they all have their theories...

Visually, The X-Files masterfully plays out some of the most awesome special effects, filling the screen with dramatic visuals, believable weirdness, the requisite big explosions, and in a manner which a television episode's budget could not support. The man who makes it all happen is Production Designer Christopher Nowak, working together with Director Rob Bowen to keep the tension high and the story quickly moving along, as per the brief from creator Chris Carter with Frank Spotnitz.

In The X-Files, mystery is always more mysterious. I've always felt when watching The X-Files, that if he were alive today, this is the type of TV Hitchcock himself would have come up with, with main characters facing danger of their own finding, sacrificing their personal lives in disasters which knock the heroes back two steps for every step forward they battle to make... so rivitingly, you will not want to leave your seat. The X-Files story, being freed from the serial format, takes us all around the world: From DC to Dallas, London to the Antarctic and a even Africa, a Tunisian town by the name of Tataouine, (ala StarWars, just one of many silent nods to many SciFi classics).