Stargate (1994)

Stargate (1994)

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Stargate the movie that was supposed to spawn a movie franchise. I mean they had such high hopes for this film that there were even action figures for the damned thing. But when you can't even gross 20 million over your budget that pretty much kills the chance of sequel. Eventually somebody got smart and made a television series, that spawned another television series, and another, oh and a few made for television movies, more action figures, a roleplaying game and all sorts of stuff. Not bad in the end.

They at least started with a knock out cast. Kurt Russell who spent about a half of the movie acting like Todd 3465 and then suddenly turning likable. James Spader pulling up the nerd front. An early Djimon Hounsou role before he career really took off. Not to mention one of my favorite “oh that guy is in this” actors Erick Avari. Okay so the rest aren't super known to me but every one does a great job. So they didn't fall down in the casting department.

The premise is pretty straight forward at the start. A object discovered in Egypt 70 to 80 years ago is apparently some sort of gate to another world. However nobody can figure out how it works until they bring on board Daniel Jackson. He suddenly goes “oh these aren't hieroglyphs around the edges but star constellations. Because nobody else could figure out these symbols that kind of already look like constellations really are constellations. So fire up a team and go through to see what is there.

So during the duration of the film they find a whole civilization of humans living on the planet. Discover that aliens are responsible for humans being strewn all over the galaxy. Befriend young teens, accidentally get married, meet a mega alien who calls himself Ra and a big nice battle at the end. Oh and there's even a nuke in there as well just to keep things hopping. They even set it up so that a sequel would be easily done.

Sounds pretty good. Problem is the slow burn of the film building up to the action. This was billed as an action movie but surprisingly doesn't have all that much action in it. We get some great world building and a whole lot of information dumped onto our lap. But getting to the reward at the end takes a while. This is ultimately what I think kept the movie from doing better. I don't see anyone going back to the theater to see it a second time or really recommending it as a “must see” to their friends. More of a “It's fine to wait until rental” type of movie.

Now set design and the overall look of the film is great. Everything from the gate itself deep in the underground military base to the very Egyptian based look of the aliens and their technology. Not to mention some nice little touches making standard fair scifi more interesting, like the dropping teleporter rings and the space ship being pyramid shaped so it could park on top of the pyramid.

Special effects were cutting edge at the time and actually hold up pretty well. They used their CGI for scenes where it was really needed. Lots of actual models and miniature sets were used as well. In the end two thumbs up for the crew making the movie look good.

I give this movie a solid two thumbs up. But don't go in expecting an action fest because this, my friends, isn't it. However this is a great look at successful world building where the writers obviously put a lot of work into the details. This is something Roland Emmerich is known for so that isn't surprising at all. If you're a scifi fan and haven't seen this movie, well then you need to take the time and give the film a watch. You won't regret it.

 

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"As far as I can tell the future of this franchise is so bright we have to wear shades."