User Reviews

When I first saw Stargate in 1996 I thought it was a great movie. It had plenty of action, excitement and special effects but also a brilliant story.

James Spader does a wonderful job as Daniel Jackson and ditto for Kurt Russell as Colonel Jack O' Neill. The villains in the movie are very interesting and were a refreshing change to those we usually encounter in movies.

This film would probably be of great interest to those interested in Egyptology or anything to do with the ancient world. It is a thought provoking film for fans of ancient history.

All in all, a great movie which spawned an equally great TV series three years later.

The movie tells how an Egyptologist named Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is hired to figure out a weird enigma contained into an underground military base . He decodes Egyptian hieroglyphic and opens the gate for transporting to a distant planet by means of a mechanism called Stargate . Daniel alongside Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russel) and US troops (John Diehl , French Stewart , among others) realize a quantum leap and travel across a fantastic universe . Arriving in a distant planet encounter an ancient culture ruled by Good Father (Eric Avari) and with naive inhabitants (Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital) . Everybody is dominated by an immortal being named Ra (Jaye Davidson) and his underlings , Horus(Dijimon Honsou) and Anubis (Carlos Lauchu) . The good guys must save earth from the deadly atomic bomb that evil leader wants to explode .

This exciting sci-fi movie that was number one in the US box-office , displays spectacular scenarios , adventures , noisy action and is pretty entertaining . This is a blending into universe legends , fantastic myths , astounding science-fiction and Egyptian Gods , including Ra , Horus and Anubis . The movie packs stunning array of technical visuals and amazing sequences . Furthermore , a beautifully executed set design with phenomenal production values . Enjoyable cinematography by Karl Walter Linderlaub and sensational soundtrack by David Arnold . The picture with an interesting script by Dean Devlin , is well directed by Roland Emmerich .It's followed by an overlong series starred and produced by Richard Dean Anderson and a spin-off titled Stargate Atlantis . The motion picture will appeal to TV saga enthusiasts as well as the neophyte who didn't have seen the episodes . It's indispensable and fundamental seeing for Sci-Fi buffs .

I don't understand why this movie is so underrated. I have seen it multiple times, and each time I get something new from it. It is a beautiful work of art (The Director's Cut is also a must-see, because the added scenes elaborate on a few confusing plot points) Now, I would just like to take a moment and talk about the aspects of Stargate that make it an enjoyable, exciting, riveting, and thought-provoking film.

First of all, David Arnold has to be recognized for his masterful soundtrack. He should have won some kind of award, like Hans Zimmer won for Gladiator. David Arnold combines themes of romance, adventure, and wonder the likes of which I have never heard. (And believe me, I am an avid fan of movie music, especially Sci-Fi) I am even brave enough to say that his music in Stargate rivals classic, celebrated soundtracks such as Star Wars (John Williams) Next time you see the movie, pay as much attention to David Arnold's music as you pay to the plot. The opening titles themselves are reason enough to rush to the store immediately and buy the soundtrack. My favorite sequence of the soundtrack, by the way, is (#21 Myth, Faith, and Belief) In the movie, this is the scene where Daniel (James Spader) talks to Ra (Jaye Davidson) It is the scene right before the one where Daniel is *almost* forced to kill the soldiers, including Jack O'Neill (Kurt Russell) that he arrived with.

Second of all, this is a VERY believable science fiction film. Most films (like Star Wars, Star Trek, and more) don't have very many ways in which they can actually tie-in with reality. Stargate is in itself a theory. It asks: Where did the pyramids come from? How did the Egyptians develop their gods, and how were they influenced? The answer given by the film to these questions is entirely feasible. Even though the gate itself isn't easy to accept, the underlying theme to the movie is. (pay very very close attention to Daniel and the "seminar" he gives about 10 minutes into the movie in front of other scientists)

Third, and last, I would like to tip the hat to Jaye Davidson's performance. His portrayal of Ra is chilling.(although some people don't seem to agree) Just hearing him speak and seeing his eyes glow sends shivers up my spine. He makes a perfect villain, and it is truly a shame that he hasn't been in many other movies.

This movie receives from me an easy 9 out of 10. It would have gotten a 10 if it were not for the horrible lack of character development. Jack O'Neill is especially bland, although he does seem to brighten up a little bit in the last scene.

See the movie! Buy the soundtrack! And I hope you liked my comments!

First, I do have to feel sorry for the people who considered Stargate "typical" or "old fashioned". Makes me wonder what kinds of lives they lead.

Stargate didn't have a major book to emulate, it is pure imagination...and some darned good imagination at that. Emerich and crew created not only a new world for us, they created a whole new Universe that spawned one of the most successful series ever...it does not get much better than that my friends...

The story itself is straight forward scifi, with little bits of background stories woven in to keep the flavor interesting...a few might call it fairly slow moving, and frankly it is, but I think they had to do that to tell the whole story...I liked it just the way it was produced, and became an avid fan of the series that followed...

Yup, it is a classic movie, by anyone's standards...

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.

I had never seen Stargate before 2020 the TV show or this movie but as a bit of a science fiction nerd I thought it was time I gave it a watch and I honestly wasn't disappointed with it the movie is quite unique and has a storyline that kept my interest and was pretty original for it's time.

Stargate takes place in 1994 when linguist and Egyptian professor Daniel Jackson (James Spader) is payed a visit by an archaeologist who in 1928 when she was just a young girl was there when an ancient Egyptian artifact thought to be a device of some kind and stone tablets inscribed with an ancient Egyptian language were discovered during a dig by the Egyptian pyramids she invites him to study the artifact in a top secret base in the hopes he is able to decipher the inscriptions and find out how to use the device he successfully powers the device up which they find out is actually a portal to another point in space a planet similar to earth across a distant galaxy so he and Army Col. Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) along with some soldiers cross the portal to discover what lies on the other side there they find a primitive civilization who speak a long dead Egyptian language and worship the sun god RA who created the Stargate between the two planets and established a mining colony between both worlds using humans as slaves on both worlds until an uprising on earth dethroned him and branded him a false god tearing down the Stargate between the two worlds Jackson soon discovers RA is actually an alien who traveled across space to find a way to cheat death RA discovered earth and humankind and using a human body as a host he can live forever as the god RA by regenerating the host body so he never age's and dies but Jackson and O'Neil reveal to the slaves that there god is flesh and blood and they can overthrow him starting a rebellion against him that ends in his ultimate defeat Jackson stays behind with the humans on the strange planet with his love interest to create a new civilisation free of slavery while O'Neil and the remaining soldiers travel back to earth via the Stargate and destroy it on there side to protect earth from any possible other Stargates out there.

The story is well written and the movie takes it's time building up the anticipation of what's on the other side of the Stargate then takes it time exploring the other side and it's environment rather than just doing what most science fiction movie's do and rush into the action it's a nice change of pace then when the movie's action scenes do start up it feels well placed and part of the story not just shoved in to spice the movie up a bit.

I recommend this movie to any science fiction movie fan it's the story and visuals that are the main theme in this movie a lot like Star Trek it focuses on the intellectual side of science fiction and not just the action very enjoyable to watch if your a science fiction nerd like myself.

Just a side note I purchased the Directors Cut Special Edition on Blu Ray released in 2008 and it has no language options or subtitle options not a huge deal for most but is an issue if you suffer from deafness or are hard of hearing.

The first twenty minutes of this movie were extremely promising. Then the whole thing fell apart and seemed like a 'prequel' to 'Independence Day'. I would like to thank our Swedish contributor. I don't speak Swedish and thought that the language used was another 'made up' language that is used in 'alien' films. It's most annoying that these languages are always spoken in sharp, short bursts which have no flow. Why Swedish? If one is going to use an alien language, just make it up or find a language which is less-known. Viveca Lindfors was sadly wasted as were the other actors in the beginning of the film. They just disappeared. I would have much rather seen a movie about Lindfors life from the first discovery of the Stargate. I wonder if she was the Swedish coach? The premise was interesting but the behavior on the 'parallel' world was ridiculous. The cliches flew quick and fast. James Spaders falls in love with dusky native maiden. How many times has this 'instant cross cultural love' been used? What is really offensive about this plot device is that 99% of the time, it's always a white MALE who gets the 'native'.

The other cliches were just as bad. When a problem can't be solved, the Americans 'get out the guns'. Guns solve everything. (I am an American.) Jaye Davidson was very good in 'The Crying Game', but his character in 'Stargate' was as weak as the plot and gave no sense of the immense power he was supposed to wield. James Spader was, in my opinion, playing the 'cliche' genius, with a lot of little 'absent-minded' mannerisms which were supposed to make him 'cute'. I didn't mind his hair. Kurt Russell was another cliche. The way to bring him back from a deep and suicidal depression was to send him out on a mission.Then he gets to kill a lot of people, which makes him feel much better. Something that the army would never risk. In the process,he finds a surrogate son in the Bedouin boy. Give us a break!