The X Files 1998

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Conspiracy theorists, consider this: What if the hush-hush atmosphere and Internet mania surrounding the first X-Files feature film were part of a giant plot to hide the uneventfulness of one more summertime sci-fi fizzle? Read more

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader: Only two scenes in this spin-off are worth the time of followers of the TV series. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The director, Rob Bowman, is not some TV hack; his work is thrillingly kinetic. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Who hasn't walked into a movie late and tried desperately to catch up with the plot, to make sense of what's on the screen? Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Dark, funny, paranoid, arbitrary, humming with tamped-down eroticism and in love with all things weird: That's the good news. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Had the creator of The X-Files set out to prove that tiny theorem, he couldn't have done a better job. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: One of the season's more lightly enjoyable mainstream offerings. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: As pure movie, The X-Files more or less works. As a story, it needs a sequel, a prequel, and Cliff Notes. Read more

Joyce Millman, Salon.com: It's a two-hour episode of the show, except with better production values and a nicer wardrobe for Scully. Read more

Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are enormously sympathetic heroes. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: The truth may be out there, but it's certainly not in here. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: As it is, pic serves up set-pieces and a measure of scope that are beyond TV size but remain rather underwhelming by feature standards. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: The X-Files movie is really just a two-hour teaser for the series's sixth season. And little else. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Stylish, scary, sardonically funny and at times just plain gross. Read more