STARGATE (1994)
2-Disc Ultimate Blu-ray Edition
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 130 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2:40:1)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital
Roland Emmerich's (Independence Day) Stargate (1994) is a science-fiction action-adventure mash-up that combines ancient aliens and Egyptology with a sci-fi action flick, it's a winning combination, and when I first viewed it at the cinema in '94 I was pretty tickled by it, and it's still a fun watch. In it struggling Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader, The New Kids) is recruited by Catherine Langford (Viveca Lindfors, The Exorcist III) to translate the hieroglyphs on an Egyptian a amulet that her father discovered in Giza back in 1928. The amulet are now part of a top-secret US Air Force project being run by hardnosed Special Operations Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell, Escape from New York), with the crew cut to end all crew cuts. Jackson's linguistic skills far surpass those of the military "expert" (Richard Kind, HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm), discovering that the ancient hieroglyphics make mention of a "stargate" and seem to refer to star constellations and spatial coordinates. It's revealed to him that the Air Force in in possession of a metal rings, the titular Stargate, and when the coordinates are punched in the stargate opens a wormhole to a far away planet. The military is very concerned about this, what are the aliens on the other side up to, and why do they have a gate connecting their planet to ours? To that end O'Neil launches an exploratory military mission, with he, Jackson and a handful of élite soldiers passing through the wormhole.
O'Neil's teams consists of Reilly (Jack Moore, Eight Legged Freaks), Porro (Steve Giannelli, Godzilla), Freeman (Christopher John Fields), Brown (Derek Webster, Jacob's Ladder), Ferretti (French Stewart, TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun), and his second-in-command Kawalsky (John Diehl, Stripes). Traversing the Stargate (with some cool dated effects) they arrive on the desert planet called Abydos, they find a pyramidal structure and a group of indigenous people who are slaves that worship Ra (Jaye Davidson, The Crying God), an alien God-like being who arrived on Earth during the Ancient Egyptian period to possess human bodies to extend his own life, and that the indigenous people who worship him are actually descendants of abducted ancient Egyptians. His reign is protected by soldiers wearing advanced-armored Egyptian God head-pieces with staffs that fire force blasts, and a squad of advanced flying craft. The team is unable to find the coordinates that will return them to Earth, and when Ra threatens to send a powerful technologically advanced weapon back through the Stargate to destroy the Earth the team must find a way to thwart his plans before it's too late.
I think this one holds up quite nicely, I had my worries as I had not seen it in a number of years but the ancient aliens sci-fi action-adventure elements are hella-fun and the production design still looks great, sure some of the special effects are what I like to call desirably dated but they're still fun. Russell and Spader are terrific, each gets a tiny bit of character development to chew on, with O'Neil still grieving his recently dead son but bonding with a young kid named Skaara (Alexis Cruz, The Pick-Up Artist), delivering my favorite quote from the film, "Give my regards to King Tutt asshole!", while Spader gets a bit of unnecessary romance by way of a chieftain's daughter Sha'uri (Mili Avital, Dead Man).
It's fun stuff, big and dumb just the way that Emmerich (and his co-writer Dean Devlin) likes to make 'em. The worst I can say about it is that Jaye Davidson makes for a seriously bland alien-god, and the Spader romance was superfluous, but otherwise this is a fun popcorn muncher and still my favorite of the Emmerich-Devlin team-ups, which only got bigger and dumber as time went on.
Audio/Video: Both the Theatrical and Extended Cut of Stargate (1994) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Via Vision Entertainment in 1080p HD framed in the original 2.40:1 widescreen. There's no information about source of the transfers and I am without the U.S. Blu-ray for comparison, but this looks like a dated master, probably dating back to the 15th anniversary Lionsgate Blu-ray in 2009, with some compression issues with easily evident black crush and noise. That said the colors looks good overall, depth and clarity are decent, and the sun-drenched exteriors look solid. Darker scene at night or the interior of the pyramid can look a bit noisy, it's not ideal but not ruinous either.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 7.1 with optional English subtitles. This is a robust and immersive sound design, the flick has solid low-end, dialogue is crisp and clean, special effects sounds quite nice, there's plenty of action happening in the surrounds which was delightful, and the wonderfully big score from David Arnold (Independence Day) is a highlight.
There are no new extras for this release but we do get over three hours of archival extras from past editions. Disc one contains the Theatrical Cut, extras for it include the several EPK style featurettes by way of the 8-min Deciphering the Gate: Concepts and Casting, the 10-min Opening the Gate: The Making of the Movie, 4-min Passing Through the Gate: The Legacy, the 12-min Is There a Stargate?, the 23-min The Making of Stargate mini-doc, 17-min 5 Original Stargate Previews, 6-min of B-Roll Footage, and a 3-min Gag Reel. Disc 2 houses the Extended Cut, extras on this include an archival Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Writer/Producer Dean Devlin, plus the Picture-In-Picture Stargate Ultimate Knowledge viewing experience. The 2-disc Blu-ray release arrives in an oversized keepcase with a flipper tray housing the discs, with a 2-sided non-reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork, which is also replicated on the sideloading slipcover.
Special Features:
Disc 1: Original Theatrical Cut
- Deciphering the Gate: Concepts and Casting (8 min)
- Opening the Gate: The Making of the Movie (10 min)
- Passing Through the Gate: The Legacy (4 min)
- Is There a Stargate? (12 min)
- The Making of Stargate” Documentary (23 min)
- 5 Original Stargate Previews (17 min)
- B-Roll Footage (6 min)
- Gag Reel (3 min)
Disc 2: Extended Cut (02:09:38)
- Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Writer/Producer Dean Devlin
- Picture-In-Picture Stargate Ultimate Knowledge
- Picture-In-Picture Stargate Ultimate Knowledge
