Subject: Retrospective: Stargate (1994)

From: Pedro Sena <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Oct 1999 06:22:16 GMT

FILM TITLE:             STARGATE
DIRECTOR:               ROLAND EMMERICH
COUNTRY:                USA 1994
CINEMATOGRAPHY:         KARL WALTER LINDENLAUB
MUSIC:                  DAVID ARNOLD
CAST                    Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson,
Viveca Lindfors
SUPER FEATURES:         Nice premise for a story.  Visual treat.

          !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not being a science fiction fan, I was taken along to go see this film, even
though reviews around me had panned this as overweight
garbage.

Well, it isn't garbage, and it has a nice premise, and thought it suffers
from the goddamned military over tones ( will anyone ever
get rid of this crap.? ), it is a nice film, that is fun to watch and for a
few brief moments exciting to be a part of.

Being a person that indulges in the arts of meditation and time travelling,
it is easy to see why I like certain parts of this
film.  The time travelling, hits you so fast that your sucked into it before
you know what hits you.  Nothing like it is expected,
or can you possibly envision, and like the several minutes in the older
2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY, leaves you wanting to try it some more, because of
its exciting possibilities.

STARGATE is the story of an Egyptian artifact, that seems to have several
symbols of the magical kind that connect into something else that most
anyone can not figure out.  The army has been able to steal the thing and
kept it under wraps, and tested the hell out of it, until if finally, comes
around to connect with a down and out scientist and explorer, whose name
amidst his peers is best known as a comedy of errors and ridicule.

The scientist ( James Spader ), amidst his grief and lack of  attention to
his theories, is invited to check something out
by the government, something that they have enjoyed, but have not  able to
crack, though they already know what it does.  Their
experiments have already displayed that there is more to this artifact that
it appears, but the symbols in it, are not clear
enough for them to try something with it.  There are suggestions that some
people have died in trying to figure out this thing.
And they all agree that this thing is most likely, some sort of gateway to
another time.  The question is where is the key, and
which symbols match, in what order, to create the situation.

In comes our man, to whom the symbols appear to be a minor part of the real
exploration, and a suggestion that there is much more to work with.  And as
soon as it is discovered how it functions the inevitable military expedition
is created, to destroy it
if it appears that it is not friendly, or helpful.  Kurt Russell is the
military leader chosen to lead the expedition, and the group enters the
space.  Our scientist is the last to go in, and naturally he is curious, but
cautious. And as soon as he enters the film takes off on its own moment of
shining glory, the part that is just absorbing everyone without them knowing
it.  And there are more symbols in that minute than the film could possibly
ever show, but the trip is worth the price of admission, and at least an
amusement ride.

As the group arrives in another time and place, they eventually find a place
that is in a desert atmosphere, and is ruled by
a demonic being, who has designs on doing some more conquering, which
includes the earth, and other places to which it can time  travel through
the magical properties of the gate itself.

And our heroes take on the roles of leaders and help break down the evil,
and free the land from the oppressing rulers ( oh, wow !! )
and then the real story has to come into play.  It seems that the military
expedition was to destroy this other place, because it
was thought to be a potential problem.  And with the ruler now destroyed,
the mission is over and it is time to leave.  But the
scientist, whose efforts on the earth were laughed at has met a girl he
likes, and decides to stay.  End of story, but one more
trip before it ends.

James Spader is nice to watch, and so easy going amidst people that are so
uptight with their knowledge, that it makes for a
nice set of exchanges through out the film.  He doesn't panic, and is ever
the curious scholar in search of his knowledge, where
everyone else is basically worried about their ideas and plans. The
scientist has no plan.

Jaye Davidson plays the evil ruler that is intent on taking advantage of the
Stargate for his own needs and greedy desires.  And very
good he is, with the help of some magnificent design effects of the
electronic kind that shine in the movie.  The guards are
an electronic version of the real person, and have a power that most people
do not.  And a mask that is right out of the comic
book variety of heroes that we do not often find, in film.

Well designed, pretty to watch, and enjoyable, even if this is not a
masterpiece, it does have moments that are just too nice
to pass up.  The best of them is the trip.  Now, if we could get rid of the
military exclusions ..... will anyone ever write
a Heyerdhal in space.???

3.5 GIBLOONS