Comparison of Three Science Fiction Films - Essay Example

The three movies X-files: fight the future, X-files: I want to believe and bear resemblance in their genre category i.e. science fiction, actionthrillers and that is so far as their likeness go. The heavy use of close-ups and extreme close-up shots to show tension and the characteristic use of various diegetic sounds and lighting that is common in science fiction is replete in these three movies. The trio’s premises are on the borderline of what is true or could happen and what is ultimately entirely fiction. The premise of X-files: fight the future is typical of its origins from the great TV series as it wonderfully dwells on FBI agents Fox Mulder’s and Dana Scully’s virtues of uncovering the extraterrestrial elements among us. This 1998 release begins in 35000 BC when a deadly secret gets buried in a cave in North Texas. Then we are quickly zoomed to the present where we see that the deadly secret has been let loose. The X-files has been closed but FBI Agents Mulder and Scully who have now been assigned to mundane tasks soon uncover a dangerous conspiracy when a terrorist bomb destroys a building in Dallas, Texas. Alvin Kurtzweil, a paranoid doctor fuels Mulder’s belief of a cover up by informing him that the bomb was meant to destroy evidence. This sets Mulder and Scully to risk their lives and careers in pursuit of the truth that leads them from a cave in Texas, to the mysterious Syndicate organization and eventually to the clandestine base in Antarctica that bears the greatest secret of all. In the sequel, X-files: I want to believe the premise somewhat shifts focus from the normal extraterrestrial base theme to a thriller horror theme. Scully is now a staff physician at a Catholic hospital while Mulder is a recluse who clips newspaper articles about the paranormal and throws pencils into his ceiling. These ex-FBI agents are reunited by agent Dakota Whitney who needs their help to resolve the disappearances of several women including a female FBI agent. A return to the familiar paranormal domain of the X-files is somewhat regained when the services of a defrocked, pedophile priest who claims that he is having psychic visions regarding the whereabouts of a missing FBI agent are required. The unfamiliar territory that this sequel seems to have been aiming to capture could have worked against it at the box office. The X-files: I want to believe had a lower production budget than the prequel and had a likewise poor performance at the box office. It grossed US $68M worldwide and was ranked 114 among domestic releases for 2008. The prequel, X-files: fight the future’s production budget was double that, while its worldwide gross was triple that of its sequel, at US$189M. Among domestic releases in 1998, X-files: fight the future was ranked at number 23. Unlike the two X-files, the movie 2012 banks on the premise of a ‘biblical flood movie’. A natural disaster that cannot be stopped kind of theme. It begins in 2009 when Dr. Adrian Helmsley discovers that the earths core is heating up, and dutifully informs U.S. President Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that the worlds population is doomed. In 2010 President Wilson and other international leaders, secretly begin a massive project intended to ensure humankind continuity by building arks that shall carry approximately 400,000 selected people. In 2012, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on this information and seeks how to save his family. Next follows scenes of cataclysmic earthquakes and volcanoes that wreak havoc around the world. All three movies communicated their premises lucidly though cinema is often guided by the film techniques applied to embellish it. With a huge budget of US$200M the movie 2012 thrived on its visual thrills to draw in the crowds at the box office who did not disappoint by making it the 32nd highest grossing film of all time at a figure of US$768M worldwide. When it comes down to script depth the 1998 X-files release got the best reviews of all three according to film review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of six out of ten while its sequel, X-files: I want to believe coming in a distant third at 4.9 out of ten. X-files: fight the future’s script goes beyond good and evil and seeks answers to actual questions about morality, it is about choices (rottentomatoes n.pag). Mulder’s and Scully’s characters in X-files: fight the future were to the experienced fans preserved to the familiar. In fact one can argue that most scenes in this feature film were intended to introduce these two characters and their state of affairs to inexperienced fans. Mulder accurately depicts the man on a solo quest while Scully remains the obstinate sceptical rationalist. This film revolves almost wholly on where Mulder and Scully stand in relation to each other so much so that the mythology-heavy plot becomes an almost minor concern.  In spite of the poor critic ratings, for an ardent and experienced X-file fan like me, the 2008 X-file film sequel also manifests deep characterization. Though both Mulder and Scully have left the FBI we can still see that darkness has not left them. In X-files: I want to believe we may not witness humor or banter between the two major characters but we can recognize from their interactions that these two were destined to be soul mates like two worn out halves of a decrepit whole. The characters, Mulder and Scully, convincingly act that like they are meant to be together but destined to be apart. This tension seamlessly merges with the plot of the story. In overall, both X-files movies out do 2012 insofar as characterization is concerned. The movie 2012 seems focused more on the special effects and use of technology to produce the visually compelling story of catastrophe surrounding that year. This is not the only movie to have alluded to the impending calamities for 2012. The movie I Am Legend is set in 2012; Indiana Jones latest movie theorized that the world would end if all the crystal skulls were not collected by 2012 and in the new movie Death Race, 2012 is the year that the economy collapses. When it comes down to which movie I would go for if I had to choose only one, I would settle for the subtle, suspense filled and thick plotted X-files: fight the future. But then again that is me. Cinema of late has seen an upsurge in the demand for huge budget, special effects filled visual offerings. In a case of give the public what they want, 2012 satisfies the ordinary movie goers. As for die-hard X-files fans, a twist from the mythology plot that has been the backbone of the series while delving deeper into the complex relationship between Mulder and Scully should be a surplus motivation to watch the 2008 release, X-files: I want to believe. Works Cited Rottentomatoes website. The X Files: Fight the Future (1998).Web. 08 May 2010 Read More