Revisiting the 1994 film that made the television franchise

Released: 1994 Run time: 216 Mins. Director: Roland Emerich Rated: PG13

Stars: Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors

In 1981, the first Indiana Jones was released. In 1984, David Lynch’s Dune. In 1994, Stargate was released. Why am I mentioning the former movies? Stargate, directed by Roland Emerich (Universal Soldier, Independence Day), has such films in its veins. Emerich also co-wrote with Dean Devlin, a jack of all trades: Actor, Director, Producer, and Writer of television and film. Emerich has mentioned the idea for Stargate came from a 1970 documentary “Chariots of the Gods,” which he saw while in film school in Munich.

[Spoiler-filled, be warned]

The film starts in 1928, Giza. A young girl, Catherine (Viveca Lindfors, The Hand) accompanies her Archeologist father to a major discovery, a giant carved stone with unknown hieroglyphs buried in the sand. Many years later, an ostracized Egyptologist Doctor Daniel Jackson (played by a young James Spader, Supernova, Alien Hunter) being dismissed for his theories on ancient civilizations. After his peers walk out on a presentation he is giving he is approached by a much older Catherine with a proposition to prove his theories are right. She mentions that he has lost all of his grants, has been evicted and has nothing to lose.

A very despondent, depressed Colonel Jack O’Neil (Kurt Russell, Poseidon, The Thing) is reactivated to service. It is implied that his son accidentally killed himself with Jack’s gun. Doctor Jackson is shown the stone and conveniently is able to translate the symbols within 2 weeks. The team has been working on this puzzle for 2 years. Daniel shares with the team that the symbols represent constellations that give coordinates. With this discovery the team gets permission to share the “Stargate” with him, a circle made out of an unknown mineral with the same symbols upon it.

With the new information from Daniel they are able to activate the Stargate. They send in a probe to get a reading of what is inside. They track the probe and find that it is now in the Kalium galaxy, on the other side of the galaxy. They discuss the cons of crossing in such as not being able to come back, but Daniel says that he will be able to translate the symbols on the other side and joins Jack and his team of soldiers. The return trip, of course turns out to be much more difficult, as Daniel explains that he needs to explore the planet in order to get their bearings for the proper coordinates back to earth.

Egyptian mythology is used loosely in this movie as the Antagonist is an alien creature that goes by Ra, the Egyptian Sun God. The world that they crossed over to Ra (Jaye Davidson, The Crying Game) has escaped to. After leaving his dying planet he went to earth and inhabiting a young human boy to survive, deems himself a ruler (Pharaoh). After a major rebellion he fled to this new planet. Bringing humans with him he outlawed reading a writing to keep them enslaved and prevent a repeat of what happened on earth. The rebels buried the Stargate in order to prevent Ra from returning.

Daniel, Jack and his team of soldiers meet the inhabitants of the planet, the Abydonians. Daniel assimilates himself into their society and learns their language (again, very fast). He is also “gifted” a woman named Sha’uri (Mili Avital, Bad Seed) by the her father and leader of the Abydonians. Daniel initially refuses the gift. Some of the soldiers are attacked and captured by Ra’s guard while the team is split, prompting a rescue. When they are captured and brought to Ra, Daniel finds that Jack had a secret lone mission, to destroy the Stargate with a very powerful bomb if a threat was found on this planet, after getting his team back through.

Ra plans to first execute Jack’s team and then send the bomb back through the Stargate to earth. The Abydonians find out about the executions and wage an insurgency on Ra. They help to free the team, and they are able to defeat Ra, who attempts to escape again. Daniel earlier found the coordinates needed to get back to earth, but decides to stay on the planet with the people (and Sha’uri).

In my opinion, the plot is thin, does not go deeper into the mythology. The dialogue is weak and sometimes cringe-worthy (see: Stargate SG1). What it lacks in a good script, it also lacks in good action beats. This movie plot works well for alien conspiracy theorists to add in their manifesto.

Available now on Netflix.

In Retrospect ★★☆☆☆