An international team of scientists and military personnel discover a Stargate network in the Pegasus Galaxy and come face-to-face with a new, powerful enemy, The Wraith.
Stars:
Joe Flanigan,
Rachel Luttrell,
David Hewlett
An alien similar to Ra appears out of the Stargate, killing five soldiers and kidnapping another, a year after the original Stargate mission. A new team is assembled, including some old ... See full summary »
Director:
Mario Azzopardi
Stars:
Richard Dean Anderson,
Michael Shanks,
Amanda Tapping
Trapped on an Ancient spaceship billions of light-years from home, a group of soldiers and civilians struggle to survive and find their way back to Earth.
Stars:
Robert Carlyle,
Louis Ferreira,
Brian J. Smith
In 1928, in Egypt, a strange device is found by an expedition. In the present days, the outcast linguist Dr. Daniel Jackson is invited by a mysterious woman to decipher an ancient hieroglyph in a military facility. Soon he finds that the device was developed by an advanced civilization and opens a portal to teletransport to another planet. Dr. Jackson is invited to join a military team under the command of Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil that will explore the new world. They find a land that recalls Egypt and humans in a primitive culture that worship and are slaves to Ra, the God of the Sun. But soon they discover the secret of the mysterious "stargate".Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
According to the DVD commentary, the group of scantily-clad youths, which surround Ra, were intentionally included to create unease in the audience. See more »
Goofs
John Diehl's character is continually referred to as "Lieutenant Kawalsky", however, his rank insignia is that of a "Lieutenant Colonel". A lieutenant colonel is usually addressed as "Colonel", and never a "lieutenant" since the Lt. Col rank is four steps higher than a lieutenant. See more »
Details of the additional scenes included in the longer 9 minute version release by Artisan on DVD
An additional scene added straght in at the beginning immediately after the opening titles (originally it faded to the dig at giza) shows the entirety of the scene where Ra takes over the body of the caveboy showing the cavemen running from the light in the sky and showing him walking towards it. From this point it fades to the original opening scene at the Giza dig.
Moments after the stargate has been hoisted up by the workmen at the Giza dig, people notice that there is something underneath it: a group of the Hora guards encased in the stone. The director's commentary on the DVD states that these are other guards that have come through the gate after it was sealed and were re-integrated straight into the stone.
In the scene after the stargate has been opened for the first time and the military are checking the pictures of the marking of the gate on the other gate, after James Spader says he is 'positive' he can decipher the symbols, Kurt Russel's character turns and says "it's your call" in the theatrical version. In the special edition the line has been re-dubbed by him saying instead now "he's full of shit" - presumably this was done for rating purposes of the theatrical release.
An additional scene before Kurt Russell is gearing up with the group about to go through the stargate, shows him going to a secured area to look at the stone/fossil Hora's.
When the army group are setting up the camp in the desert there is a longer scene where the group discuss more about how the stargate works and how they are going to get back to Earth. The scene during the sandstorm inside the pyramid is also extended with more footage of them talking about the sandstorm and how they are going to get back to earth.
When the sandstorm initially hits at the nagada village and Kurt Russell, James Spader and the others are locked inside the city, they decide that they do not want to stay and decide to leave; when the natives try to stop them Kurt Russell shoots at the ground to frightem them off. The boy (whom he later befriends) takes him up above to see the sandstorm approach. After this, a native that they were holding at gunpoint is released and Jackson comments "Sandstorm, that would have been a brilliant reason to shoot everyone".
The scene when James Spader awakes in the sarcophagus after being killed is extended, showing him walking towards Ra's chamber, seeing a cat sitting on Ra's throne.
When James Spader turns and shoots at Ra instead of his comrades so that they can flee, there are several extended cuts put in. Originally they were just ushered away by the natives, in the special edition they ride away on one of the Mastadges. Kurt Russell and James Spader are then seen lost in a sandstorm and found by the boys, and taken to the caves (which is in the theatrical edition); an additional scene after this sees the boys feeding the Mastadges outside the caves.
I first saw STARGATE about seven years ago and left with memories of thinking that it was in some way an old fashioned movie . I couldn't put my finger on why I thought this was an old fashioned movie but after seeing it again tonight I can perhaps explain it better now
STARGATE isn't so much as " old fashioned " , it's just got a rather old type of plot that's versatile . It's almost like a Tarzan movie from the 1940s where a bunch of good white guys ( In movies in those days bad guys were usually white - The good guys were always white ) team up with the king of the jungle in order to fight a bunch of evil slave traders . The story could easily be reworked with a bunch of 18th century good guys led by Errol Flynn getting shipwrecked on an island where they meet noble natives and defend them from evil pirates . Rewatching this movie again after a gap of several years I often forgot that I was watching a far fetched SF blockbuster and thought I was watching a historical drama , something that's not to be taken as a criticism . I also became aware of subtle plot points that I'd missed on first viewing . For example I thought the death of O'Neil's son was so underdeveloped that it was totally unnecessary to include this in the movie but there's a couple of scenes where it is important to the plot later on . I also knew that the movie wasn't going to be an ALIENS type of movie , something the original trailers confused me about . let's face it , a special forces team creeping about a dark pyramid . It's got be similar in tone to ALIENS . If that's what you think STARGATE is going to be about you'll be as disappointed as I was first time I saw it
Of the cast Kurt Russell and his special forces group are slightly wooden but I won't criticise the cast since these type of characters always lack flair in these genre movies . James Spader is slightly unconvincing as hero Dan Jackson due to wimpish nature and effette hairstyle ( Was Jackson conceived as a female character ? ) but Jaye Davidson is absolutely superb as Ra . This is the same Jaye Davidson from THE CRYING GAME and I was totally shocked to find this was the second and last feature film he appeared in . According to the trivia section of STARGATE it appears he's difficult to work with but someone cast him in more movies please
As for the Roland Emmerich / Dean Devlin partnership there are a few faults . One is the opening of the script that contains no hook and fools the audience into thinking they'll be watching a RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK type movie which they won't be . The script also contains a few unlikely plot holes such as the special forces team taking some GPS equipment with them something that wouldn't work on a planet where humanity had never been , and also discovering in an unlikely scenario that they won't be able to return to Earth thanks to Jackson . There is a very interesting point to the subtext however and that is that if there is a god it doesn't necessarily mean he'll be benign or good . Food for thought . Thankfully Emmerich doesn't go overboard on the CGI while he also had the good sense ( Say it again ) to cast Jaye Davidson as Ra
By no means a classic SF movie STARGATE is solid entertainment and is rather more enjoyable on second viewing
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I first saw STARGATE about seven years ago and left with memories of thinking that it was in some way an old fashioned movie . I couldn't put my finger on why I thought this was an old fashioned movie but after seeing it again tonight I can perhaps explain it better now
STARGATE isn't so much as " old fashioned " , it's just got a rather old type of plot that's versatile . It's almost like a Tarzan movie from the 1940s where a bunch of good white guys ( In movies in those days bad guys were usually white - The good guys were always white ) team up with the king of the jungle in order to fight a bunch of evil slave traders . The story could easily be reworked with a bunch of 18th century good guys led by Errol Flynn getting shipwrecked on an island where they meet noble natives and defend them from evil pirates . Rewatching this movie again after a gap of several years I often forgot that I was watching a far fetched SF blockbuster and thought I was watching a historical drama , something that's not to be taken as a criticism . I also became aware of subtle plot points that I'd missed on first viewing . For example I thought the death of O'Neil's son was so underdeveloped that it was totally unnecessary to include this in the movie but there's a couple of scenes where it is important to the plot later on . I also knew that the movie wasn't going to be an ALIENS type of movie , something the original trailers confused me about . let's face it , a special forces team creeping about a dark pyramid . It's got be similar in tone to ALIENS . If that's what you think STARGATE is going to be about you'll be as disappointed as I was first time I saw it
Of the cast Kurt Russell and his special forces group are slightly wooden but I won't criticise the cast since these type of characters always lack flair in these genre movies . James Spader is slightly unconvincing as hero Dan Jackson due to wimpish nature and effette hairstyle ( Was Jackson conceived as a female character ? ) but Jaye Davidson is absolutely superb as Ra . This is the same Jaye Davidson from THE CRYING GAME and I was totally shocked to find this was the second and last feature film he appeared in . According to the trivia section of STARGATE it appears he's difficult to work with but someone cast him in more movies please
As for the Roland Emmerich / Dean Devlin partnership there are a few faults . One is the opening of the script that contains no hook and fools the audience into thinking they'll be watching a RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK type movie which they won't be . The script also contains a few unlikely plot holes such as the special forces team taking some GPS equipment with them something that wouldn't work on a planet where humanity had never been , and also discovering in an unlikely scenario that they won't be able to return to Earth thanks to Jackson . There is a very interesting point to the subtext however and that is that if there is a god it doesn't necessarily mean he'll be benign or good . Food for thought . Thankfully Emmerich doesn't go overboard on the CGI while he also had the good sense ( Say it again ) to cast Jaye Davidson as Ra
By no means a classic SF movie STARGATE is solid entertainment and is rather more enjoyable on second viewing