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Title: Stargate (1994)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Kurt Russell | ... | Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neil | |
| James Spader | ... | Dr. Daniel Jackson | |
| Jaye Davidson | ... | Ra | |
| Viveca Lindfors | ... | Catherine Langford | |
| Alexis Cruz | ... | Skaara | |
| Mili Avital | ... | Sha'uri | |
| Leon Rippy | ... | General W.O. West | |
| John Diehl | ... | Lieutenant Kawalsky | |
| Carlos Lauchu | ... | Anubis | |
| Djimon Hounsou | ... | Horus (as Djimon) | |
| Erick Avari | ... | Kasuf | |
| French Stewart | ... | Lieutenant Ferretti | |
| Gianin Loffler | ... | Nabeh | |
| Christopher John Fields | ... | Freeman | |
| Derek Webster | ... | Brown | |
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
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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