... I could not wait to get this in the DVD player as I am an avid Stargate fan. Hubby likes it too but complains it's not Star Trek - thank goodness!
***The Film***
The film begins in Egypt approximately 8000 years ago, with a tribe of natives sleeping when a mysterious object appears ... Read review
Production Year: 1979 - Science Fiction - Director: Ridley Scott - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Advantages: It's the beginning of an era Disadvantages: Kurt Russell's lack of acting prowess
...as I am an avid Stargate fan. Hubby likes it too but complains it's not Star Trek - thank goodness!
***The Film***
The film begins in Egypt approximately 8000 years ago, with a tribe of natives sleeping when a mysterious object appears out of the sky. One young man is curious and goes to investigate ...
Fast forward a bit to 1928, where a team of archaeologists have discovered an artefact at Giza in Egypt. ... ...and were taken through the stargate thousands of years previously by Ra, the Sun God. We discover that Ra is not a god but a highly advanced parasite that needs a human body to occupy in order to survive. They only seem like Gods because they are extremely scientifically advanced and seem to have god-like powers to the primitive native people. On Abydos, reading and writing are forbidden by Ra. Why? To prevent a rebellion like the one that took place ... more
I bought this DVD from Amazon for £4.97 last week and it arrived today. My grubby little paws were ripping open the packaging to get to all my goodies I had bought using vouchers I had earned. I could not wait to get this in the DVD player as I am an avid Stargate fan. Hubby likes it too but complains it's not Star Trek - thank goodness!
***The Film***
The film begins in Egypt approximately 8000 years ago, with a tribe of natives sleeping when a mysterious object appears out of the sky. One young man is curious and goes to investigate ...
Fast forward a bit to 1928, where a team of archaeologists have discovered an artefact at Giza in Egypt. Not knowing what it was, they took it back to America where it sat in a vault for decades, waiting to be re-analysed.
The American government decided to get Dr Daniel Jackson (James Spader) to have a look at it. Dr Jackson is an eminent Egyptologist (and a bit of a geek!) who actually manages to decipher the ring-like structure and discovers that it is actually a "gateway" to other galaxies and worlds.
Then we meet the "hard-man" of the movie, Colonel Jack O'Neill, who is on a form of compassionate leave after his son accidentally shot himself with his service pistol. Jack is emotionally shut down and is suddenly thrust back into the world of the military with a top secret mission.
We then go to Creek Mountain, where Dr Jackson has unravelled the mystery of the "Stargate". Dr Jackson is supposed to just take the team there and take them back to earth but it is not that simple (never is!). In order to take the team back to earth, Jackson must find and decipher the correct address from this planet (now named Abydos).
Along the way, we meet the indigenous people of the planet, who are humans and were taken through the stargate thousands of years previously by Ra, the Sun God. We discover that Ra is not a god but a highly advanced parasite that needs a human body to occupy in order to survive. They only seem like Gods because they are extremely scientifically advanced and seem to have god-like powers to the primitive native people. On Abydos, reading and writing are forbidden by Ra. Why? To prevent a rebellion like the one that took place on Earth thousands of years before.
Will the team get back to earth? Will Dr Jackson manage to find and decipher the correct "address"? Will Ra defeat them or will he be defeated?
The answers to these and other questions like in the viewing of the DVD! Ha ha and you thought I was going to tell you the whole story!
***My Opinion***
I am a huge Stargate fan and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film as it is the prequel to the major television series that I will review separately (you have been warned!). the only downside is that now that I have seen the television series, I have begun to compare the cast, which is not a great thing to do but sometimes cannot be helped.
Spader actually manages to play Daniel Jackson absolutely perfectly. The allergies, the geekiness, it's all there in one package! I am really impressed by the ease with which he managed to portray this character and thoroughly enjoyed his performance in the film. Sadly, in my opinion, the same cannot be said for Kurt Russell. His performance is more wooden than my solid pine coffee table. Russell is renowned for his portrayal of the hard soldier who does not say much but manages to look totally menacing (he did this amazingly in Soldier four years after Stargate) but this performance is certainly not his best. Although to be fair, his performance does get better near the end of the film.
I have to say that the real star of the show for me was Jaye Davidson, who played Ra, the sun god. His performances were outstanding and far made up for any lack of performance on the part of any other actor (namely Russell - sorry for any Kurt fans out there!). Sadly this was to be the last film he ever acted in, as he retired from acting shortly after this film was released, and he now works as a fashion assitant in london (just a bit of trivia for you there!). Another star for me had to be Erick Avari (also starred in the Mummy and the Mummy Returns), who plays the "Good Father" Kasouf, the leader of the tribe of natives on Abydos. None of his dialogue was in English but he was outstanding in his portrayal of the leader/father of the tribe, only wanting the best for his people.
As a bit of trivia to break things up, Alexis Cruz (Ska'ara) and Erick Avari (Kasouf) are the only two actors who were in the original movie that were recast into the same roles in the television series Stargate SG1! And Jaye Davidson hated his Ra costumes so much that on the last day of filming he stripped naked without going to his trailer! These little snippets of trivia came from the imdb website.
The special effects are not the best but this was made in 1994 and the art of special effects has advanced considerably since then. However, as most of the movie is shot in the desert (Abidos has a similar atmosphere to Earth) the need for SFX was only for the "spacey" typed scenes and the effects were certainly satisfactory for me.
The bottom line is that I really did enjoy this film, it certainly took my mind of the stark realities of life, and that's what films are supposed to be about - taking us all away from the here and now and transporting us into a world of fantasy. But how true could some of it be?
Rating - PG (general viewing but possibly unsuitable for young children - I would let my 10 year old step-daughter watch this but certainly not my 5 and 2 year olds, they are a bit too young!)
Cast - James Spader, Kurt Russell, Jaye Davidson, Alexis Cruz. Erick Avari, Viveca Lindfors ...
***DVD Extras***
1 - Trailer - as the name suggests this is the trailer to the movie.
2 - Photo Gallery - a selection of photographs from the film - quite interesting but a wee bit boring
3 - Audio commentary - this is a commentary on the film by the director Roland Emmerich and the producer Dean Devlin. I did watch some of it but it was a bit distracting for me. Anyone here that knows me knows that I don't really like commentaries but some people do, so it may be interesting to some, but not me.
4 - Stargate: Promo Reel - again quite interesting and as its name suggests, this is a promo reel. But to be fair, I have not watched this yet as I didn't get finished watching the rest till late and have written this. I would assume for the Stargate fan it will be interesting but once I have watched it I will update the review. Promise!
And there is the now-normal scene selection tool, allowing you to watch your favourite scenes over again, without having to watch the whole film.
***Final Word***
Do I recommend this to others? Yes I do. I have given this a four star rating, but have to say that as a prequel to the majorly successful television series, this is a really good one. The only downsides have to be the mediocre special effects and the acting of Kurt Russell, which have cost this film one star.
If you are a fan of Stargate, the television series, then this is a really good introduction to the series, and for less than £5 on Amazon, that can only be a good thing!
Advantages: Finally its on DVD Disadvantages: lacks in the special features
Fans of the Stargate Sg-1 TV Series who haven’t seen this movie will instantly notice that all of the characters with the exception of Skarra are all played by different actors and that Teal’c, Samantha Carter, and General Hammond aren’t even in the movie. But after about ten minuets you don’t even notice the difference. Giza, 1928 an archaeological dig discovers a huge ring covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics and some undecipherable ... ...military (who have conveyed the Stargate as “classified”) about the address they dial it out and the Stargate explodes into life with a “wall” of water. So a team is sent through the gate to see who and what is on the other side. The team is lead by colonel Jack O’Neal (Kurt Russell). When they emerge on the other side of the gate they discover a civilisation very close to Earth’s Ancient Egypt, but not only that ...
Mystique 23.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Stargate (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: Interesting remake of history Disadvantages: A few flat characters...
...revolution and destroy the distant stargate with a smuggled nuclear weapon. The special effects are good if not innovative; the idea of the device and the method of transport is an effective use of special effects technology at hand, and much is carried on the story and the idea of the device rather than the actual computer or miniature effects. This has proven a boon to the producers, who are able to budget for a weekly series derivative of this ... ...after a prominent Egyptologist from Johns Hopkins vouched for the student’s story claim. Stargate was also the first major feature film to have its own official website. Also, Jaye Davidson essentially retired from acting after this film, appearing in only a handful of small roles here and there. ...
frkurt 25.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Stargate (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: exciting, entertaining Disadvantages: one or two plot holes
I watched the Stargate SG-1 TV show before I saw this film, so was a little disappointed by the difference in characters and actors, but the film itself is very good. The plot:
In 1928, a group of archaeologists in Egypt uncover a mysterious ring. In present day, Catherine Langford, daughter of the man who discovered it, approaches Dr Daniel Jackson about a job. Jackson is a brilliant archaeologist and linguist, with some radical theories that the ... ...opens a doorway to another Stargate on a planet at the other end of the known universe. A probe is sent through and it wouldn't be a film if they didn't decide to sent a team of people through as well. Anyway, the team, lead by O'Neil and including Jackson, heads through the Stargate to a world known as Abydos. There they encounter a city of humans taken as slaves, and an alien being who has taken on the personna of the Egyptian sun god Ra. There ...
87degrees 25.12.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Stargate (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: Original Storyline, Great Concepts. Disadvantages: Might get hooked.
...with its popular spin offs Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Combining Egyptology and Science Fiction to great effect, Stargate is the film that spawned a huge cult following.
Plot
The film begins in turn of the century (19th-20th) Egypt where a large rigng shaped relic is pulled from the ground, this is, you may not be suprised to learn is the Stargate,a portal that allows travel to other worlds instantainiously through a series of interconnected ... ...decipher the symbols on the stargate and works out that they are in fact constellations or points in space signifying an address that if correctly dialed represents a point in space that could be travelled through.
An expedition is mounted (with suprisingly little risk assessment) headed by Colonel Jack O'Neill (Kurt Russell) and including Jackson (who must travel to find the way home) to the planet (Abydos) to see what they can find. Once there ...
hero164 25.03.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Stargate (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: Great effects Disadvantages: No Amanda Tapping
The best situation to be in would have been to see the movie before the tv series to appreciate the films indepth story.
The idea that aliens built Egypt's pyramids and enslaved its people is in the eyes of many very theasable. When i first saw this film i was captured by its explanations of Egyption history and how it was putting a theory of its structure.
The tv series that was to follow then became the normal american "situation series" but ... ...his life where no one belives his theories to a world that is beyond them. Travelling light years across the Galaxy to another world kept in slavery by a master that once kept our own world. Dainel Jackson (James Spader) & Jack Oniell (Kurt Russle) along with the rest of the marine unit help the natives stand up and fight the oppressive Rah who claims to be thier god. Daniel is seen by the natives to have been sent to them by the gods as he wears ...
nebcsa17th 20.09.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Stargate (Director's Cut) (DVD)
A hidden threshold is discovered which, when the code is cracked, reveals a gateway to another time. A team passes through and becomes trapped in a dangerous unknown world. They must find the key to return home or remain forever...
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
MOMENTUM PICTURES; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Trailer, Photo Gallery, Audio Commentary By Director Roland Emmerich And Producer Dean Devlin, Stargate Promo Reel
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
DTS 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 English German Italian Spanish
Professional reviews
Review
"...Panache....[A] spectacle which crosses LAWRENCE OF ARABIA with STAR WARS..." -- Rating: B (Entertainment Weekly, pp.96-7, 17/03/1995)
"...For kids, there are relentless special effects....For adults, there is a smartly designed parallel universe....Plenty of enticing moments..." (New York Times, p.C6, 28/10/1994)
In this visually creative space adventure from the team that would go on to give the world INDEPENDENCE DAY and GODZILLA, a timid, glasses-wearing Egyptologist (Spader) uncovers an ancient portal to another planet and is dispatched there forthwith--along with blundering, clodfooted government troops (led by Russell). The downtrodden populace they encounter, ruled by godlike, androgynous King Ra (Davidson, in his first role after becoming a star in THE CRYING GAME), must be led to literacy and freedom; Ra must be defeated; the intellectual must find his machismo; our boys must return to Earth.
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