But it's too late – even if, as director Chris Carter claims, this stand-alone story allows non- X Files fans to buy into the concept.

A decade has passed since Fox Mulder and Dana Scully last teamed up to unravel mysterious goings-on in the name of Uncle Sam. Ten years on, Mulder is sequestered in voluntary isolation. Scully has embraced her true calling as a doctor. The days of the X Files are buried in the past. Until, that is, missing women and a grisly array of body parts combine to force the FBI to call on Mulder for help. Scully acts as a go-between and soon the duo are reluctantly reunited to locate a missing agent.

First, they have to accept the assistance of Father Joe (Billy Connolly in blank, straight-faced, dead-eyed mode), a former Catholic priest and paedophile who claims to have psychic visions that could lead the authorities to the missing woman.

Scully wants none of it, preferring instead to concentrate her efforts on curing a young boy suffering from a rare disease. It's a sub-plot that gets in the way of the main story and upsets the balance of the film.

Mulder, however, throws himself into the case with abandon. He wants to believe while Scully recoiling from a world she hoped she had left behind, mutters "I can't look into the darkness with you anymore."

Less a follow-on than a bolt-on, this latest X Files offering stumbles through a landscape scattered with all the elements of the hit TV show but never gets the mood right. It's clear that the partnership that made the series so compelling has been discontinued. This is not a Mulder/Scully buddy movie, but one in which they merely appear. Personal character gets in the way of thrills and chills, even though Connolly is effectively creepy. The film lacks energy and a clear sense of its history.

The X Files was a '90s phenomenon that fed, albeit briefly, into the early 21st century. By the end of its run it was a tired reflection of what it had been. The first film was a confused extended episode that was geared towards aficionados. This new film is aimed at general audiences.