In 1928 Professor Paul Langford (Erik Holland) is in charge of an archaeological dig in Giza, Egypt. Langford unearths large stones with what appear to be Egyptian hieroglyphics engraved on them. Underneath the cover stones is a giant ring made from an unknown metal. On the giant ring are various symbols. With the professor is his young daughter Catherine (Kelly Vint Castro). In the dirt she finds a small gold medallion on a chain. Catherine wears the locket until adulthood.
In 1994 Catherine (Viveca Lindfors) is in charge of a facility, controlled by the U.S. Air Force, which is now housing the artifacts. She hires a brilliant by misunderstood linguist and Egyptian cryptologist Dr. Daniel Jackson (James Spader) to decipher the markings. Daniel determines that the markings refer to a stargate that uses the constellations as guide markers. The stargate is the metal ring now assembled in the government facility. He further determines that seven symbols need to be used in the correct order to open the stargate. Daniel believes that the gate is an interplanetary portal to another stargate located on a planet at the far side of the known universe. After some time, Daniel figures out what the seven symbols are and in what order they should be deployed. The gate is opened.
In charge of the entire project is Colonel Jonathan “Jack” O’Neil (Kurt Russell). Jack is a former Special Ops agent retiree who was reinstated for this special mission. Jack had been discharged following depression stemming from the accidental death of his young son. Jack and a team of Special Ops guys are tasked with accompanying Daniel through the portal. Jack’s mission is to open the gate on the other side, send everyone back through the portal and set off a bomb while still on the other side of the portal and destroy the other stargate. It is basically a suicide mission. The team goes through the portal and ends up on a desert-like planet inhabited by humans. Jack’s mission is stalled when Daniel realizes that there is no cover stone on the other planet. Without that, the entire team is stuck in a hostel world with no way to return home. In this world they encounter the alien lifeforce the locals call Ra (Jaye Davidson). Ra plans on destroying Earth by sending the bomb back through the portal and triggering it on Earth.
“Stargate” was released in 1994 and was directed by Roland Emmerich. It is an independent American and French science fiction film. The film spawned several television series, novels and video games. Critics panned it, but fans still love it.
The plot of the movie is rather intricate and unfolds slowly throughout the film. It plays on the trope that ancient Egyptians were contacted by aliens from outer space and given alien technology. The ancient sun god Ra is actually an alien that kidnapped humans from Earth and brought them to the other planet to mine the metal needed to create the alien technology. There is also a love story between Daniel and one of the humans, Sha’uri (Mili Avital). Egyptian mythology is very prominent in the movie.
I actually enjoyed the film. It has moments of lull but does have some nice explosions and alien weapons. Creators Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich had planned to do a trilogy of films based on the stargate theme, but the other films have, so far, never materialized.