In 1994, a couple of years before their mega-hit Independence
Day, writer/director Roland Emmerich and writer/producer Dean Devlin released
Stargate, an enjoyable SF film starring Kurt Russell and James Spader. Spader
plays Daniel Jackson, a young Egyptologist who is recruited by the military for
a mysterious project that somehow involves deciphering ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphs in a converted nuclear missile silo. Nobody tells Jackson exactly
what it is that he is working on, because the project has become classified with
the arrival of Colonel Jack O'Neil (Russell, in his usually great understated
performance), an Air Force officer who assumes direct command.
When Jackson manages to properly interpret the hieroglyphs, the military reveals
the existence of a working Stargate, a portal through space and time that
carries a traveler to other worlds. Jackson's deciphering of the seventh and
final symbol enables the team to activate the Stargate for the first time,
opening an interstellar doorway to another world. After a probe signals that the
air on the other side is breathable--and confirms the existence of another gate
on the opposite end--the decision is made to send a team through. But there is a
problem. The symbols on the gate at the opposite end are not the same; Jackson
volunteers to go with the team, led by O'Neil, so that he can translate the
symbols on the other side. But once they arrive on the barren, desert world,
Daniel cannot find any reference material needed to interpret the Stargate on
this end. In essence, the team is stranded here.
Yet the planet turns out to be not as barren as they thought, for the team
discovers a meager civilization of humans who are barely out of the Stone Age,
and have no knowledge of the workings of a Stargate. They do know a great deal
about the Egyptian Sun God Ra, whom they worship slavishly. But O'Neil, Jackson
and the rest of the team soon find out for themselves that Ra is all too real,
and a formidable threat to be reckoned with, when the living sun god and his
warriors pay a visit to their slaves on the surface of the planet.
Directed by Emmerich with a quick pace and subtle humor, Stargate is propelled
along by the sheer force of its own enthusiasm, as well as the dependable
performances from Russell and Spader, who effortlessly make every situation they
encounter believable. It's sort of a blend of Star Wars meets Indiana Jones; a
formula that has worked so well that it spawned a long-running TV series
(although, at one point in the entertaining and often funny audio commentary by
Emmerich and Devlin on the DVD, Devlin empathically states that they have
nothing to do with the series). The DVD gives you a choice of watching the
original theatrical version, or an extended edition, with nine minutes of added
scenes. The extended version is recommended, as it adds some interesting scenes
without over padding the film. The special features include the featurettes "The Making Of
Stargate" and "Is There a Stargate". And as I mentioned before, the commentary from the filmmakers--available
only on the director's cut--is very well done. --SF