Stargate [WS] [Special Edition] [DVD] [1994]

Stargate is a very good sci-fi action movie. The story involves an ancient alien device (the Stargate) used to travel to other worlds. A special forces team is sent through the Stargate on a recon mission. They come out of the gate on a world dominated by an alien calling himself 'Ra' after the Egyptian Sun God. The story is well thought out and works with Egyptian mythology very effectively. If you are thinking this is another cerebreal science fiction movie, think again. Stargate features some exciting action scenes and a host of fine visual effects that still hold up (impressive when you consider this movie is more than 10 years old). Stargate's main contribution to the sci-fi world is that it was the basis for the TV series Stargate SG-1. While the cast in the movie was good, the TV series cast was better. Kurt Russel did a good job as Col. O' Neill in the movie, but Richard Dean Anderson (TV series) gave the character more depth. The extras are kind of skimpy, I would have liked a featurette on the possible physics behind the Stargate. And there are a few very minor source material problems here and there. All in all, this is a much better than average sci-fi movie. If you are curious about Stargate, this is the starting point.

Liked the movie very much since I seen it in the theatres so I had no get it on blue ray, picture looks good and also sounds great (wich you expect from a blue ray) I only found a problem with the disc itself depending on what version you end up getting, at first I got the one that advertised it had NEW AND EXTENDED FEATURES wich when you get to the main menu it works GREAT the only problem with this version is that at a certain point in the movie the image freezes and the sound sets off for a couple of minutes. I had to exchange the movie THREE times and all of them had the same PROBLEM, until I got what I will call the OLD VERSION this one doesn't have the problem mentioned before but the main menu is really CHEAP if you compare it with tha new one and if you decide you want to go for the main menu while you're watching the movie forget about going back it will freez on you and you have to stop it all together. So you either settle for watching the movie without deffects (wich I did) or you go for the great features but with a DEFFECTIVE DISC.

The Stargate movie features Kurt Russell As U.S. Airforce Colonel Jack O’Neil, James Spader As Archaeologist And linguist Dr. Daniel Jackson, Jaye Davidson as Ra, Alexis Cruz As Skaara, Mili Avital As Shauri, Eric Avari As Kasuf,And Viveca LAndfors As Dr. Catherine Langford etc.. The character of Dr. Daniel Jackson is helping Jack O’Neil and other members of his groups towards a mission that they unexpectedly find trouble at first returning back to their preferred destination. What complicates matters is that the group ends up having little choice to help a group of people who are enslaved by a charismatic but evil ruler. One of the members unexpectedly develops romantic feelings for one of the locals which indirectly shape multiple plots of the movie.

The "extended cut" looks great. The original cinematography was wonderful. The original music at times gets a bit repetitive, but I imagine that not many people have John Williams talent. Regardless, the most annoying thing about this version is the complete lack of subtitles for the many foreign languages spoken (German, "ancient Egyptian", etc). The only way to get any subtitling (and still much of the subtitles is not there) is to turn on either the English or Spanish subtitles. On the DVD I rented, the subtitles were there just for the foreign languages, leaving the English un-subbed. It wouldn't be so bad, except that this is a Blu-Ray, for which you're paying extra. You expect a little bit of continuity between the movies on different formats. I say, stick with the standard DVD version.

How can you beat James Spader, Kurt Russell, pyramids AND aliens?? Roland Emmerich's career is in big-budget action epics like INDEPENDENCE DAY, DAY AFTER TOMORROW & THE PATRIOT. Arguably, these are not fine films and not all of them are even good junk food. 1994's STARGATE, which spawned the popular TV series, is like a deluxe bag of Doritos. After all, few have tackled the whole "aliens built the pyramids" thing on a grand cinematic scale, but it DOES seem to be a magic ingredient to great moving pictures snack food. (What else...? The Michael Bay TRANSFORMERS series & ALIENS VS PREDATOR, I think...)

Ok, for everybody out there. Stargate is a great movie. If you haven't seen it, you need to. If you have, then you already know what I'm talking about. My purpose here, though, is not to tout a great movie, but blast Lion's Gate for releasing such a poor quality product. I own a good collection of Blu-Ray movies and they all look great on my 1080p Mitsubishi on a PS3. Stargate, however, looks like they ripped a VHS cassette tape and put it on a Blu-Ray disk. Sad. So, for my opinion, I say that your money is better spent on the DVD version. It will be cheaper and look the same.

I have a 65" 3D TV, and while this is not in native 3 D, it is awesome when switched from 2D to 3D. A very clean transfer to Blue Ray -- sound effects solid. This movie spawned 4 really good TV series that I continue to watch over and over. Far better than watching WWW or GLOW events (Glamorous Ladies of Wrestling) which clog 4 of my 12 cable channels. So yes, I loved the move, and recommend it highly. Of course, I have watched Galaxy Quest 14 times, and while most of my friends think I am nuts (they're right) -- Stargate is a truly wonderful buddy movie!

Worthy of being in everyone's collection, this movie inspired an entire TV series. Though panned in many ways by critics, they often don't care what the public likes and like some exceedingly boring movies that people fall asleep during (ex. "Lincoln"). The outdoor scenes have especially good picture quality. There is one scene where the people are being attacked by the dominant alien fighters where for a moment you can see the wires that the fighter is hanging from but so it goes. Have been wanting the blueray of this for some time and finally got it.