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Before they unleashed the idiotic mayhem of
Independence Day and
Godzilla, the idea-stealing team of director Roland Emmerich and producer-screenwriter Dean Devlin concocted this hokey hit about the discovery of an ancient portal capable of zipping travelers to "the other side of the known universe." James Spader plays the Egyptologist who successfully translates the Stargate's hieroglyphic code, and then joins a hawkish military unit (led by Kurt Russell) on a reconnaissance mission to see what's on the other side. They arrive on a desert world with cultural (and apparently supernatural) ties to Earth's ancient Egypt, where the sun god Ra (played by Jaye Davidson from
The Crying Game) rules a population of slaves with armored minions and startlingly advanced technology. After being warmly welcomed into the slave camp, the earthlings encourage and support a rebellion, and while Russell threatens to blow up the Stargate to prevent its use by enemy forces, the movie collapses into a senseless series of action scenes and grandiose explosions. It's all pretty ridiculous, but
Stargate found a large and appreciative audience, spawned a cable-TV series, and continues to attract science fiction fans who are more than willing to forgive its considerable faults.
--Jeff Shannon
Additional Features
Nothing beats a sci-fi movie with wall-shaking sound, and the
Stargate Ultimate Edition delivers the goods with 6.1 DTS ES and 5.1 Dolby Digital EX. Yes,
Stargate has been released on DVD numerous times, but this 2003 version is the best yet, with improved sound and a generally clean picture that's now anamorphic widescreen rather than letterbox. Held over from the previous Special Edition are the combination of the theatrical cut and director's cut (nine minutes longer), and a commentary track by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin on the latter. The other new features worth mentioning are two documentaries: a 12-minute discussion of Erich Von Däniken's (
Chariots of the Gods) studies of possible alien visitors, and a 23-minute making-of feature that concentrates on the film's design and production. So maybe the supplemental material isn't overly generous, and English subtitles would have been nice, but what counts most is the film itself, and even owners of previous versions are going to want to upgrade to the Ultimate Edition, especially at the very attractive price.
--David Horiuchi
![Stargate [Blu-ray]](http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/519VVX62JKL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
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DVD ~ John Carpenter
DVD ~ Kurt Russell
