the plot
In 1928, a strange ring-shaped object is unearthed by an archaeological team in Egypt. Fast-forwarding to the present day, the object is in the hands of the American military, whose scientists are conducting tests to unlock its secrets. They eventually enlist the help of James Spader, an expert on ancient Egypt. Within no time, he discovers that the ring-like object is actually a portal to other worlds that can  transport anyone and anything light years away within moments. Eager to explore, the military sends a recon team, headed by Kurt Russell and including James Spader, through the stargate. On the other side of the gate is a world populated by simple people who are enslaved by an alien being that they refer to as Ra. As James Spader is fascinated by the parallels to Egyptian culture back on Earth, the recon team suddenly finds themselves locked in a battle against the alien, Ra, in a struggle to stay alive, free the workers from enslavement, and find their way back home.  

the good
Aesthetically, this film is nothing short of stunning to look at. Visually, when the story takes us to the alien planet, the desert scenery is breathtakingly beautiful with its rolling sand dunes, gorgeous clear blue sky and Egyptian-style architecture. It is these amazing visuals and Egyptian culture tie-ins along with a spectacular musical score by David Arnold that give "Stargate" a great mood of wonder and mystery. Speaking of  the musical score, it is said that Devlin and Emmerich originally wanted John Williams (of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park fame) for the job. But when they heard a demo submitted by Arnold, they enthusiastically hired him to do "Stargate" and any future movies. The comparisons to Williams, a living legend in the movie industry, have been lived up to not only in this movie, but in "Independence Day" and "Godzilla". Remaining with the theme of the visuals, the alien technology was very cool. The idea of the stargate itself was a great concept and Ra's guards looked menacing  with their now-you-see-them-now-you-don't head gear. The sheer size of Ra's pyramid ship added an epic feel to the movie. And it could change its decor at the whim of its owner -- Transformers, eat your heart out! On the acting front, James Spader was a joy to watch as a nerdy, fumbling scientist and Kurt Russell did a great job as the rigid and stern leader of the recon team. And finally, I just can't say enough about the importance of a movie's climax. The drama and intensity is increased exponentially when the resolution of the story is taking place on more than one front   (this is not written in stone, there are exceptions to this rule!). "Stargate" achieves a  dramatic climax by taking place on three fronts -- the soldiers and slaves being attacked by the two alien fighter ships, Kurt Russell battling one of Ra's guards and James Spader trying to save his wife while escaping Ra. Whether this is intentional on the part of Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich or not, the multiple-front climax is an essential part of the success of the film-making duo.

the bad
For a movie that didn't rely too heavily on special effects, it was a little disappointing to see so-so quality during some of the FX sequences. Most noticeable was the shoddy job done on the morphing effects for the helmets on Ra's guards and for Ra himself, er, herself, er, whatever. Also, the energy bolts shot from the stick weapons carried by Ra's guards were strangely inconsistent -- sometimes they looked impressive and sometimes they looked lame. And Ra's hand-held brain-blender that he/she uses on one of her guards and on James Spader was a little silly. One critical fault for the  movie was the feeble motivation that Ra had for wanting to destroy Earth -- Ra says to James Spader, "I created your civilization, now I will destroy it." I believe that Devlin and Emmerich wanted to get across the point that Ra's motivation was driven by revenge for when he/she was driven off of Earth in a slave revolt ten thousand years earlier. However, this point was not made clear. And just to be nit-picky (why not? everyone else is!), all of the saluting towards the end of the movie was kind of corny. And lastly, when James Spader takes the newspaper from the guard at the military  base, what's with the geeky glasses on the guard? Are there mirrors at the base?

memorable moments
Out of all of the memorable moments in "Stargate", the most clever and well-executed one was the switcharoo near the end when the transporter/elevator takes James Spader and his wife away from Ra and simultaneously decapitates Ra's guard and delivers the head to him/her back on the pyramid ship. As if that wasn't cool enough, it  was capped off by Kurt Russell exclaiming to Ra's guard, "Give my regards to King Tut, asshole!" Crude, but brilliant. Along the same lines, it was also clever when they used the transporter/elevator to dispose of the nuclear bomb and destroy Ra and the pyramid ship. There were a number of very dramatic moments in the film that elevated it well above normal sci-fi fare. Armed with the knowledge that Kurt Russell's character had lost his son in a tragic gun accident, a tense situation develops when Russell attempts to escape from Ra's guards by stealing one of their stick weapons. As  he aims the weapon at Ra, several children surround the alien to protect him/her. The look on Russell's face clearly signals the inner struggle that he is engaged in as he hesitates to shoot for fear of killing one of the children. In a similar scene, James Spader is ordered by Ra to kill Russell and his soldiers in order to prove his loyalty to the alien. The entire tone of the movie subsequently changes when Spader turns the tables and fires on his captors.  Another dramatic scene occurred immediately after Ra's pyramid ship lands on the planet -- The soldiers' first meeting with Ra's guards  was well done, the tension of the scene reminiscent of a high-quality horror flick. And the climax of the movie achieved an epic feel to it when the hundreds of slaves swarmed over the sand dunes to attack Ra's guards. As far a humour is concerned, this movie had plenty of it to provide relief from the tension. Such scenes included James Spader's allergies always acting up, Kurt Russel asking the village teenagers if they knew where Spader was and Spader proclaiming the perennial, "Tastes like chicken", upon tasting the alien meat. And who could forget the heart-wrenching scene  where that dumb-ass teenager gets blown up real good on the steps near the pyramid and all that you see is his helmet tumbling out of the smoke. Sure, this scene was supposed to tug at the heart strings, but I cheered.

One of Ra's udajeets out looking for some
dumb-ass villagers...


The crowd looks skyward as the Good Year
blimp makes a surprise appearance...


"Who's up for some espresso?"


James Spader in a pensive mood...



"Hi-ho, hi-ho..."



Another udajeet swoops in to kick some
dumb-ass villager butt...



Kurt Russel checking to see if James
Spader let one go...



Enough with the saluting already!!!



Mr. Salute watches in horror as his dumb-ass
teenager friend gets his head blown off (my favorite part of the movie!)...



"Darth Vader is Luke's father?"



Having yet to master the technique, Ra's guards attempt to ward off some vampires...



"Say hello to my two little friends..."

Arac Attack
The Patriot  |  The 13th Floor  |  Godzilla
Independence Day  |  Stargate  |  Universal Soldier
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