Stargate starts in 1928 in Giza where an archaeological dig uncovers an alien Stargate used to travel between worlds. Jump forward to the 'Present Day' where Egyptologist Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader) has radical theories that the Pyramids weren't constructed by the Egyptians, he is contacted by Catherine Langford (Viveca Lindfors) & given the opportunity to prove his theories. Langford takes Jackson to an underground Military facility where no-one has been able to work out how to operate the mysterious Stargate, within a couple of weeks Jackson has it all figured out. A mission is undertaken to travel through the Stargate to a distant planet & investigate the alien world on the other side...
This French American co-production was co-written & directed by Roland Emmerich & is a fine sci-fi adventure film that holds up very well even when viewed today nearly fifteen years after it was made which is a feat in itself since a lot of sci-fi dates badly very quickly. Originally the rough cut for Stargate was apparently three hours long, it was eventually released into theatres at two hours long & has subsequently been released in a 'Director's Cut' that adds about ten more minutes to the theatrical cut, having said that I will be basing my comments on the original two hour theatrical version. The script by Emmerich & producer Dean Devlin bases itself on the idea that an alien visited Earth & formed our society & Egypt is a reflection of those aliens, it's a reasonable idea although since the alien planet looks like a desert with Egyptian Pyramids & human beings as it's inhabitants it sometimes feels like Stargate is set on Earth rather than some distant planet on the edge of the known Universe. The story starts off intriguing enough & it's a very watchable & overall enjoyable film but at two hours in length it does drag at times & I wasn't keen on the rebellious slave uprising at the end, it just felt rather clichéd & predictable. The character's are alright & it's refreshing to see an alien planet where the aliens don't speak English, while this maybe authentic you can see why most sci-fi films don't go down this route since lots of alien dialogue without knowing what they are saying does tend to get a bit tedious, I certainly wouldn't want to watch many films where half the dialogue spoken is quite literally alien although having said that towards the end the dialogue starts to be subtitled.
Director Emmerich is no stranger to the big budget special effects laden blockbuster & would go on to make films such as Independence Day (1992), Godzilla (1998) & The Day After Tomrrow (2004). Stargate was his second 'big' film after the rather good Jean-Claude Van Damme action sci-fi film Universal Solider (1992), Stargate certainly looks nice enough from the bright sunshine of the desert planet to the dark grey interiors of the evil aliens spaceship. The special effects are generally very good, made before a time CGI computer effects were used for everything Stargate has a mixture of CGI, model work & on set effects which all blend together to make for a convincing alien world. The huge Pyramid spaceship in particular looks very impressive. Apparently conceived by Emmerich during film school in 1979 both he & Devlin were sued by someone who alleged they stole the story from him, the case was settled out of court.
With a supposed budget of about $55,000,000 Stargate was a well funded film & it show's with a real sense of scope & scale, it also has that polished Hollywood feel although the scene at the end where Daniel & the girl are transported back down into the Pyramid is very poorly edited & it is actually quite difficult to make out what's happening. Apparently filmed in California & Arizona. The acting is good, I have always liked Kurt Russell but don't consider this to be one of his best films as he gives a largely cold & detached performance & only really becomes the action hero for the last fifteen minutes while Spader is likable enough as the geeky hero.
Stargate is a good solid sci-fi film that doesn't quite reach the heights of greatness due to it's length, a lot of pointless dialogue scenes with aliens who you can't understand & I didn't really like the constant bland desert setting that much. Followed by the popular American Canadian TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997 - 2007) which ran for ten seasons & two hundred & thirteen episodes which itself spawned another TV series Stargate: Atlantis (2004) which is still running now & the less than popular Stargate: Infinity (2002) which ran for a single solitary season.
This French American co-production was co-written & directed by Roland Emmerich & is a fine sci-fi adventure film that holds up very well even when viewed today nearly fifteen years after it was made which is a feat in itself since a lot of sci-fi dates badly very quickly. Originally the rough cut for Stargate was apparently three hours long, it was eventually released into theatres at two hours long & has subsequently been released in a 'Director's Cut' that adds about ten more minutes to the theatrical cut, having said that I will be basing my comments on the original two hour theatrical version. The script by Emmerich & producer Dean Devlin bases itself on the idea that an alien visited Earth & formed our society & Egypt is a reflection of those aliens, it's a reasonable idea although since the alien planet looks like a desert with Egyptian Pyramids & human beings as it's inhabitants it sometimes feels like Stargate is set on Earth rather than some distant planet on the edge of the known Universe. The story starts off intriguing enough & it's a very watchable & overall enjoyable film but at two hours in length it does drag at times & I wasn't keen on the rebellious slave uprising at the end, it just felt rather clichéd & predictable. The character's are alright & it's refreshing to see an alien planet where the aliens don't speak English, while this maybe authentic you can see why most sci-fi films don't go down this route since lots of alien dialogue without knowing what they are saying does tend to get a bit tedious, I certainly wouldn't want to watch many films where half the dialogue spoken is quite literally alien although having said that towards the end the dialogue starts to be subtitled.
Director Emmerich is no stranger to the big budget special effects laden blockbuster & would go on to make films such as Independence Day (1992), Godzilla (1998) & The Day After Tomrrow (2004). Stargate was his second 'big' film after the rather good Jean-Claude Van Damme action sci-fi film Universal Solider (1992), Stargate certainly looks nice enough from the bright sunshine of the desert planet to the dark grey interiors of the evil aliens spaceship. The special effects are generally very good, made before a time CGI computer effects were used for everything Stargate has a mixture of CGI, model work & on set effects which all blend together to make for a convincing alien world. The huge Pyramid spaceship in particular looks very impressive. Apparently conceived by Emmerich during film school in 1979 both he & Devlin were sued by someone who alleged they stole the story from him, the case was settled out of court.
With a supposed budget of about $55,000,000 Stargate was a well funded film & it show's with a real sense of scope & scale, it also has that polished Hollywood feel although the scene at the end where Daniel & the girl are transported back down into the Pyramid is very poorly edited & it is actually quite difficult to make out what's happening. Apparently filmed in California & Arizona. The acting is good, I have always liked Kurt Russell but don't consider this to be one of his best films as he gives a largely cold & detached performance & only really becomes the action hero for the last fifteen minutes while Spader is likable enough as the geeky hero.
Stargate is a good solid sci-fi film that doesn't quite reach the heights of greatness due to it's length, a lot of pointless dialogue scenes with aliens who you can't understand & I didn't really like the constant bland desert setting that much. Followed by the popular American Canadian TV series Stargate SG-1 (1997 - 2007) which ran for ten seasons & two hundred & thirteen episodes which itself spawned another TV series Stargate: Atlantis (2004) which is still running now & the less than popular Stargate: Infinity (2002) which ran for a single solitary season.