Stargate (1994)
August 4, 2024 12:39 AM - Subscribe
An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.
In modern-day Egypt, professor Daniel Jackson (James Spader) teams up with retired Army Col. Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) to unlock the code of an interstellar gateway to an ancient Egypt-like world. They arrive on a planet ruled by the despotic Ra (Jaye Davidson), who holds the key to the Earth travelers' safe return. Now, in order to escape from their intergalactic purgatory, Jackson and O'Neil must convince the planet's people that Ra must be overthrown.
Fangirl Happy Hour: Renay: So one of my favorite parts about this film is that the god bans reading and writing. The only person that the film shows breaking that rule is a girl, the daughter of the leader of these enslaved people, who learns to read and write and helps Daniel Jackson solve the big mystery of how to get home. And when I was a kid, I really liked that because, you know, when you’re a kid, you’re looking for representation any place you can find it, especially if you’re not seeing yourself represented well. And in like quote-unquote “adult” films, like there was some that I was watching but I because of the way that I watch films, controlled largely by television and my parents, and the type of films I was watching, I just wasn’t seeing a lot of women being cool. I know that a lot of my fondness for this film comes from the fact that the rebellion in this film that happens at the very end where the enslaved people rise up against Ra because Daniel Jackson learns how to get home because Sha’uri, the woman, learned to read and write against the rules. That’s a big deal for me.
MaryAnn Johanson: The first half of Stargate is a fairly interesting SF variation on Raiders Of the Lost Ark, actually, as the ring turns out to be a wormhole generator, connecting Earth with a planet on the other side of the universe — plus the first hour of the film focuses mostly on Daniel, who’s nigh on the only interesting or developed character in the film. But as the military starts really sticking its nose in, and a commando team led by the square-jawed and stolid Colonel Jack O’Neil (Kurt Russell: 3000 Miles to Graceland, Soldier) journeys through the Stargate for a recce, well, the downslide is all but inevitable. The distant planet turns out to be inhabited by… humans, whose ancestors were dragged there millennia earlier by a nasty alien called Ra (Jaye Davidson), who travels around in a pyramid-shaped spaceship and enslaves people and generally misbehaves. Stargate kinda turns into Indiana Jones meets a particularly bad episode of Doctor Who. With shooting. Lots and lots of shooting. And some explosions thrown in for good measure.
So what starts out as not the same-old, same-old sci-fi quickly degenerates into the same-old, same-old action-movie gunplay, and all the potentially interesting ideas the film introduces end up virtually unexplored. I hated this film the first time out, when I saw it during its original theatrical run, for all the possibility that it wastes. Now, it plays much better as a prelude to the absolutely wonderful Showtime Original series — Stargate SG1, the best SF on TV right now — which takes all the juicy material here that Devlin and Emmerich set up and subsequently ignored, and runs with it to create a cohesive, expansive, and — most importantly — original mytho-SF playground to explore. Of course, it’s much too large a playground for any single film to roam, but Stargate barely even tries.
John Kenneth Muir: Probably all of those comments are accurate to some degree. The movie is indeed girded with action movie clichés, it does resolve with fireballs and pyrotechnics, and Stargate plays, at points, like low-grade Spielberg. The film’s first half-hour is also undeniably its strongest.
And yet, in spite of these admittedly on-the-mark criticisms, Stargate is a hell of a lot of fun. .
In part, that fun emerges from the cast’s dedicated and sometimes herculean efforts. James Spader plays the comedy and wonder aspects of the tale wittily, while Kurt Russell – acting as though he’s starring in a hard-boiled John Carpenter or Howard Hawks adventure – brilliantly essays the role of laconic but tortured Colonel O’Neil.
And although Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game [1992]) remains a decidedly unconventional choice for a primary villain -- being delicate and androgynous rather than physically menacing in the conventional sense -- the very unpredictability of his physical presence adds to the film’s sense of menace, as well as the villain’s unique decadence and obsession with youth and beauty. Davidson’s Ra is bizarre, but also incredibly sinister.
Trailer
In modern-day Egypt, professor Daniel Jackson (James Spader) teams up with retired Army Col. Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) to unlock the code of an interstellar gateway to an ancient Egypt-like world. They arrive on a planet ruled by the despotic Ra (Jaye Davidson), who holds the key to the Earth travelers' safe return. Now, in order to escape from their intergalactic purgatory, Jackson and O'Neil must convince the planet's people that Ra must be overthrown.
Fangirl Happy Hour: Renay: So one of my favorite parts about this film is that the god bans reading and writing. The only person that the film shows breaking that rule is a girl, the daughter of the leader of these enslaved people, who learns to read and write and helps Daniel Jackson solve the big mystery of how to get home. And when I was a kid, I really liked that because, you know, when you’re a kid, you’re looking for representation any place you can find it, especially if you’re not seeing yourself represented well. And in like quote-unquote “adult” films, like there was some that I was watching but I because of the way that I watch films, controlled largely by television and my parents, and the type of films I was watching, I just wasn’t seeing a lot of women being cool. I know that a lot of my fondness for this film comes from the fact that the rebellion in this film that happens at the very end where the enslaved people rise up against Ra because Daniel Jackson learns how to get home because Sha’uri, the woman, learned to read and write against the rules. That’s a big deal for me.
MaryAnn Johanson: The first half of Stargate is a fairly interesting SF variation on Raiders Of the Lost Ark, actually, as the ring turns out to be a wormhole generator, connecting Earth with a planet on the other side of the universe — plus the first hour of the film focuses mostly on Daniel, who’s nigh on the only interesting or developed character in the film. But as the military starts really sticking its nose in, and a commando team led by the square-jawed and stolid Colonel Jack O’Neil (Kurt Russell: 3000 Miles to Graceland, Soldier) journeys through the Stargate for a recce, well, the downslide is all but inevitable. The distant planet turns out to be inhabited by… humans, whose ancestors were dragged there millennia earlier by a nasty alien called Ra (Jaye Davidson), who travels around in a pyramid-shaped spaceship and enslaves people and generally misbehaves. Stargate kinda turns into Indiana Jones meets a particularly bad episode of Doctor Who. With shooting. Lots and lots of shooting. And some explosions thrown in for good measure.
So what starts out as not the same-old, same-old sci-fi quickly degenerates into the same-old, same-old action-movie gunplay, and all the potentially interesting ideas the film introduces end up virtually unexplored. I hated this film the first time out, when I saw it during its original theatrical run, for all the possibility that it wastes. Now, it plays much better as a prelude to the absolutely wonderful Showtime Original series — Stargate SG1, the best SF on TV right now — which takes all the juicy material here that Devlin and Emmerich set up and subsequently ignored, and runs with it to create a cohesive, expansive, and — most importantly — original mytho-SF playground to explore. Of course, it’s much too large a playground for any single film to roam, but Stargate barely even tries.
John Kenneth Muir: Probably all of those comments are accurate to some degree. The movie is indeed girded with action movie clichés, it does resolve with fireballs and pyrotechnics, and Stargate plays, at points, like low-grade Spielberg. The film’s first half-hour is also undeniably its strongest.
And yet, in spite of these admittedly on-the-mark criticisms, Stargate is a hell of a lot of fun. .
In part, that fun emerges from the cast’s dedicated and sometimes herculean efforts. James Spader plays the comedy and wonder aspects of the tale wittily, while Kurt Russell – acting as though he’s starring in a hard-boiled John Carpenter or Howard Hawks adventure – brilliantly essays the role of laconic but tortured Colonel O’Neil.
And although Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game [1992]) remains a decidedly unconventional choice for a primary villain -- being delicate and androgynous rather than physically menacing in the conventional sense -- the very unpredictability of his physical presence adds to the film’s sense of menace, as well as the villain’s unique decadence and obsession with youth and beauty. Davidson’s Ra is bizarre, but also incredibly sinister.
Trailer
I remember reading that Russell asked that his lines be cut pretty dramatically. Being of its time, his character was full of quips, and Russell felt that a person that traumatized probably wouldn’t be cracking wise in every scene.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:04 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:04 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]
My favorite bits of the film are the linguistic ones, like when Spader's character is reading an inscription out loud and figures out (by being corrected on his pronunciation by the local woman he's become involved with) that the local language is essentially the Egyptian he's studied, but with thousands of years of changes that didn't occur on Earth.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:52 AM on August 4 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:52 AM on August 4 [4 favorites]
I believe I saw a stargate in the [redacted] in Deadpool & Wolverine!
posted by praemunire at 9:47 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 9:47 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]
Jaye Davidson (Ra) basically did 'The Crying Game' as Dil, this role, a tv movie, and a short before retiring from acting.
posted by porpoise at 12:05 PM on August 4 [4 favorites]
posted by porpoise at 12:05 PM on August 4 [4 favorites]
Instead of aliens using antigravity, aliens came all the way to Earth and built the pyramids by enslaving people, cracking a whip, and making them push the stones on logs anyway.
posted by Snijglau at 2:44 PM on August 4 [1 favorite]
posted by Snijglau at 2:44 PM on August 4 [1 favorite]
The year it was released, a coworker told me "For the first two-thirds, it's the best SF movie ever, and the last third, it's the worst." I've rewatched a few times and damn, she nailed it.
Like the saga of Buffy Summers, Stargate went on to improve vastly on TV. And like Buffy, it's only the first five seasons that are worth a damn.
posted by Ber at 1:26 AM on August 5 [7 favorites]
Like the saga of Buffy Summers, Stargate went on to improve vastly on TV. And like Buffy, it's only the first five seasons that are worth a damn.
posted by Ber at 1:26 AM on August 5 [7 favorites]
I recall reading a story in Analog in the 80s, where the stargates were laid flat on the top of sheared off mountains, reached by a spiral path up the mountain, with icons along the trail — again, the trick was to find the right sequence of icons to make it work.
When I saw the movie, I figured someone else read this story and liked it, but chose to change enough elements so they didn't have to pay the original writer.
Or maybe just coincidence. The movie was developed with much more depth than the story I recall.
posted by rochrobbb at 5:17 AM on August 5 [2 favorites]
When I saw the movie, I figured someone else read this story and liked it, but chose to change enough elements so they didn't have to pay the original writer.
Or maybe just coincidence. The movie was developed with much more depth than the story I recall.
posted by rochrobbb at 5:17 AM on August 5 [2 favorites]
Ber, I was going to make that exact same comparison.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:22 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:22 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]
I recall reading a story in Analog in the 80s, where the stargates were laid flat on the top of sheared off mountains, reached by a spiral path up the mountain, with icons along the trail — again, the trick was to find the right sequence of icons to make it work.
Well, there's also something very much like this in Infocom's Trinity.
posted by praemunire at 8:51 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]
Well, there's also something very much like this in Infocom's Trinity.
posted by praemunire at 8:51 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]
"For the first two-thirds, it's the best SF movie ever, and the last third, it's the worst."
I'd agree with this as well. I watched it recently (in the last 5 years) and I think the ideas, lore and some of the design are really compelling but are let down by the acting, dialogue and direction. It had a rocky behind the scenes apparently and Spader in particular was unimpressed with the script and Russell, consummate professional, had to cajole him out of the trailer. Was never a fan of the show as I never liked that the different planets were either the "reused studio set" planets or the "BC old growth forest" planets. The movie also gave us my favourite Doom mod as well.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:54 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]
I'd agree with this as well. I watched it recently (in the last 5 years) and I think the ideas, lore and some of the design are really compelling but are let down by the acting, dialogue and direction. It had a rocky behind the scenes apparently and Spader in particular was unimpressed with the script and Russell, consummate professional, had to cajole him out of the trailer. Was never a fan of the show as I never liked that the different planets were either the "reused studio set" planets or the "BC old growth forest" planets. The movie also gave us my favourite Doom mod as well.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:54 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]
This was one of my first big favorite science fiction films. I still remember the excitement of watching it in the theater with it's glorious score by David Arnold. I had that CD on repeat as some of my favorite music to listen to while either trying to sleep, or writing, or simply playing a game. The score did a lot of lifting in the movie. It was the start of the brief period of time when Roland Emmerich made decent, if not good, movies, popcorn movies that made going to the theater enjoyable.
I liked everyone's performances, though when it came to casting, I'm still a bit befuddled how French Stewart was cast as a special forces type guy.
Anyhoot, any film that has Spader being awaken by a sloppy kiss from alien camel is worth a watch.
posted by Atreides at 9:48 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]
I liked everyone's performances, though when it came to casting, I'm still a bit befuddled how French Stewart was cast as a special forces type guy.
Anyhoot, any film that has Spader being awaken by a sloppy kiss from alien camel is worth a watch.
posted by Atreides at 9:48 AM on August 6 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure I was watching this on home video with my girlfriend at the time and she asked what the deal was with the guys wearing dog heads.
posted by Kyol at 7:37 PM on August 7
posted by Kyol at 7:37 PM on August 7
Just rewatched before watching the pilot of the TV series.
I loved the dog-head (Horus) helmets. I wonder if they follow eye tracking? And the pseudo-ear effect, I wonder what biometric it's reading off of.
Yes. The first 2/3rds is amazing. The final 1/3 feels like studio interference or "ran out of time (money)."
I'm actually ok with the portrayal of the developmentally delayed character; he has a society that's willing to protect him (... until it can't. I guess this is a fridge yer DD person? I don't think that was the intent, but it ended up on film).
I rewatched the 'extended' version - the version I got, the sound mixing was terrible; effects were too loud and speech was too soft. But it was obvious which scenes were originally edited out, and I think that the extended version makes a better story - especially O'Neil's trauma being a bit more foregrounded.
posted by porpoise at 11:59 PM on August 7
I loved the dog-head (Horus) helmets. I wonder if they follow eye tracking? And the pseudo-ear effect, I wonder what biometric it's reading off of.
Yes. The first 2/3rds is amazing. The final 1/3 feels like studio interference or "ran out of time (money)."
I'm actually ok with the portrayal of the developmentally delayed character; he has a society that's willing to protect him (... until it can't. I guess this is a fridge yer DD person? I don't think that was the intent, but it ended up on film).
I rewatched the 'extended' version - the version I got, the sound mixing was terrible; effects were too loud and speech was too soft. But it was obvious which scenes were originally edited out, and I think that the extended version makes a better story - especially O'Neil's trauma being a bit more foregrounded.
posted by porpoise at 11:59 PM on August 7
A friend and I watched this on a lark, sometime in our 20s, because we were both SG-1 fans. At first I was impressed that they'd made the bold move to not translate any of the dialogue on the planet Abydos — you just got a foreign language, in much the same way that Jackson and O'Neill would have gotten it, sort of disorienting, very naturalistic, immersive, etc. etc. ... then I realized that I had forgotten to download the subtitle file.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 8:40 PM on August 8 [2 favorites]
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 8:40 PM on August 8 [2 favorites]
I was too young for sex, lies, and videotape and had a crush on Spader on the basis of his appearance in this movie, to the point where I saw that he was in Crash and was all "oh, the guy from Stargate! I will probably never see Crash, don't @ me
posted by pxe2000 at 5:55 AM on August 9
posted by pxe2000 at 5:55 AM on August 9
"For the first two-thirds, it's the best SF movie ever, and the last third, it's the worst."
The best pulp sci-fi (and I do consider Stargate to be some of the best) lives at the meeting of the sublime and the profane. There is a sound premise at the core of Stargate, and good character concepts. The groundwork is there for a moody Denis Villenueve exploration of humanity and our history and our relationship to the universe. Our tendency to build at odds with our tendency to destroy and the universality of that tension. Or whatever. But Roland Emmerich is here for aesthetics, and so he spends every opportunity trampling over any suggestion of subtlety with broad character stereotypes and absolutely ridiculous set-pieces. While a lot of people come to science fiction for rich conceptual exploration, for Emmerich, those concepts are an obstacle course to fly goofy ass spaceship gliders through.
I can see where that's a loss, but something about treating every single aspect of the story, down to its weighty core concept, with the seriousness of a box of action figures is really just joyful to me in a way that theoretically better movie wouldn't be. I don't know what to say, sometimes that relationship to the thing is what it takes to get through to me. I love it.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:42 AM on August 9 [1 favorite]
The best pulp sci-fi (and I do consider Stargate to be some of the best) lives at the meeting of the sublime and the profane. There is a sound premise at the core of Stargate, and good character concepts. The groundwork is there for a moody Denis Villenueve exploration of humanity and our history and our relationship to the universe. Our tendency to build at odds with our tendency to destroy and the universality of that tension. Or whatever. But Roland Emmerich is here for aesthetics, and so he spends every opportunity trampling over any suggestion of subtlety with broad character stereotypes and absolutely ridiculous set-pieces. While a lot of people come to science fiction for rich conceptual exploration, for Emmerich, those concepts are an obstacle course to fly goofy ass spaceship gliders through.
I can see where that's a loss, but something about treating every single aspect of the story, down to its weighty core concept, with the seriousness of a box of action figures is really just joyful to me in a way that theoretically better movie wouldn't be. I don't know what to say, sometimes that relationship to the thing is what it takes to get through to me. I love it.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:42 AM on August 9 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by Carillon at 12:45 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]