May 19th, 2010 | 
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Amazon.co.uk Review
A self-consciously epic sci-fi adventure of Cecil B DeMille-sized proportions, Stargate refreshes and combines several well-worn sci-fi and sword ‘n’ sandal genre conventions with some Erich von Daniken-style Biblical Egyptology. The directing-writing-producing team of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin had previously collaborated on B-movies Moon 44 (1990) and Universal Soldier (1992), but handed a significantly bigger budget they were able to give their Steven Spielberg pretensions free reign here (“Indiana Jones and his Close Encounters with the Chariots of the Gods” might be a suitable subtitle). James Spader is endearingly dithery as the fish-out-of-water academic who finds himself teamed with taciturn tough guy Kurt Russell: the two excellent leads are largely responsible for imparting what depth there is to otherwise two-dimensional characters. British composer David Arnold makes his major studio debut in the grandest fashion with an outstanding score that pays suitable homage to epic film music (John Williams’ CE3K and Maurice Jarre’s Lawrence of Arabia in particular). It’s all done with such unabashed enthusiasm that viewers will happily forgive the film’s derivative elements and even overlook the high-camp theatricality of Jaye Davidson’s bizarre bad guy. Despite subsequent huge box-office hits (Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot), Stargate remains Emmerich and Devlin’s freshest, most satisfying film.
On the DVD: This special edition version adds approximately seven minutes of additional footage, much of which is in the form of slightly extended scenes, but does also include an opening sequence in Ancient Egypt, a scene with Kurt Russell and the fossilised Horus guards, and Ra’s bath scene. These are also collected in a bonus “Promo Reel”. The anamorphic widescreen presentation of the 2.35:1 Panavision picture looks sharp and clear, although some of the additional footage is degraded; the sound is suitably spectacular 5.1 or DTS. Devlin and Emmerich provide a relaxed, chatty commentary (“We have nothing to do with the TV series”!), although you have to access this from the Set Up menu not the Special Features menu. There’s a photo gallery and trailer, but sadly no “making-of” documentary. –Mark Walker
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The worst sci-fi ever, it is just poor. There are scenes to make you laugh & cringe at how poor it really is, dont watch this, it’s rubbish.
Rating: 1 / 5
… this is an ok film if you view it as the pilot for the television series. It starts well and has some interesting scenes but, as soon as the team step though the gate, the film becomes rather dull. I am by no means someone who craves action in films and often enjoy slow paced films that deliver interesting messages. However, this film is both slow and doesn’t deliver any particularly interesting ideas.
The acting is mediocre with James Spader being the only standout as the fumbling archaeologist Daniel Jackson. Russel doesn’t give much depth to Colonel O’Neill – nowhere near the character of Jack, played by Rick Anderson, in the TV series (brilliant!). Overall, this film has a lot of potenital, which again is displayed through the series, but it just doesn’t deliver once they leave Earth behind.
Rating: 2 / 5
I was intending to give this film a proper write-up but there is just nothing to say about it.
It’s just plain booooring… from start to finish.
It’s an interesting idea for movie, granted, I just didn’t care about any of the characters. I didn’t like the ones I was supposed to like or dislike the ones I was supposed to dislike, I simply did not care about their situation at all.
There’s nothing overtly bad about it, it’s just a non-entity. I found myself doing the ironing during this movie – that’s how boring it is.
The only vaguely interesting facet of this movie is David Arnold’s score, which rips off/alludes to (test of your cynicism here) John Williams’ Star Wars scores more times than I could count. I always thought he only ripped off/alluded to John Barry – which he does infinitely better.
Oh, and Kurt Russell’s haircuts are hilarious. At the start he has this sort of pseudo-surfer mop going, but later sports a classic military short-back-and-sides look with a an upright flat top. Made me chuckle every time he came into frame…
Other than that, avoid at all costs. An utterly unmemorable waste of two hours.
Rating: 1 / 5
i bought the region 1 version for myself a while ago and got the region 2 one for my bro as a presant and after watching the region 2 version
to check the difference between them and the region 2 version owns
even if you have region 1 sell it if you can and get region to better sound better picture and much better becasue it fills the screen
Rating: 5 / 5
While some story elements are interesting, most are extremely stupid (God Ra the villain of the movie? Come on!). The acting is poor, the plot is filled woth tons of action movies cliches, and it’s totally predictable (ofcourse)!
Watch this if you’re interested in action-fiction movies AND if you’re under 15. Otherwise, don’t bother.
Rating: 2 / 5