Stargate (Director's Cut) [DVD]

 

 

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Stargate is the name given to a mysterious circular item found in Egypt eighty years ago and witnessed by a young girl called Catherine. In the present day the government still haven't figured out how it works, that is until reluctant expert Dr. Daniel Jackson has a look at the new-found discovery.

He deciphers the seventh and final code necessary to activate the phenomenon, allowing anyone or anything to cross through time and space to another point in the galaxy. Teaming up with an army team led by Col. Jack O'Neill who has his own troubles - his son shot himself dead accidentally, they set off to explore what's on the other side, finding an enslaved tribe held under the control of an evil God, Ra.

At the start of the expedition, O'Neill and Jackson are on opposing sides, mentally, especially since O'Neill's orders are to make sure those on the other side can cause no harm towards the people of Earth, but once they find their common goal it forces them to overcome their differences and find a way to defeat Ra.

The two main characters played by Kurt Russell and James Spader spar well together. Russell is more used to action/adventure films having been through Backdraft, Escape From L.A., Escape From New York, Executive Decision and Tango And Cash. Spader on the other hand has usually taken the more arthouse/low-budget route through Hollywood. When his star was in the ascendancy he started in comedies such as Mannequin and Pretty In Pink, then went onto the dramas Sex Lies and Videotape, White Palace and Two Days In The Valley, before Crash-ing into controversy with the censorship board with David Cronenberg's bizarre movie. Today, neither of them are particularly big Hollywood draws. How things change.

Jaye Davidson is still best known as Dil from The Crying Game, and we all know what happened in his role in that movie. Out of the entire cast though, Alexis Cruz, as the young boy Skaara, is the only member to appear in the spin-off television series "Stargate SG-1".

This disc contains both the theatrical and 130-min extended Director's Cut versions of the film, the first of which comes after the Stargate is unearthed in 1928 and shows petrified Horus guards near the cover stones, giving the idea that some had tried to come through the Stargate after its burial, but this was cut to shorten the running time.

Presented in the original 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, the picture is nicely detailed but has a weird shimmering effect on it which also caused Optimum's Luc Besson Blu-ray releases to suffer. For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.

As for the sound, this is in DTS 7.1 HD Master Audio in English (with a 5.1 option in French and German), or DTS 5.1 for those, like me, without the full technical dohickey. For a special effects film, expect the usual whizz-bang explosions usually associated with a Devlin/Emmerich production nicely represented here, not to mention the fact that your room will vibrate when the Stargate powers up for the first time! I can still remember seeing this one at the cinema and how exception the sound was, as my local, Manchester Showcase, was only just starting to equip a couple of its screens with DTS audio.

The extras are as follows:

* Stargate: History Made (22:19): A present day look back at the concept of the film, the casting and a general 'making of', all mixing in clips with chat from key cast and crew members. This featurette has 3 chapters

* Making of Stargate (52:02): A more in-depth look at the movie, presented in 4:3 and spread over 9 chapters, and this time filmed at the same time as the movie was made.

* Is There a Stargate? (12:11): A featurette pontificating on whether aliens have been here before.

* Original Stargate Previews (17:19): Five made-for-TV segments narrated by a man with a deep voice, made to promote the movie on its original release.

* B-Roll (6:03): Various on-set footage without narration.

* Gag Reel (3:13) Does what it says on the tin, although it's basically the cast and crew messing about and all in one take.

* Trailer (2:38): In rather ropey-looking 16:9. Come on, Optimum, you could've sourced a better print than this?

* Audio commentary: with writer/director Roland Emmerich and co-writer/producer Dean Devlin.

* Picture-in-picture: Stargate Ultimate Knowledge: Loads of additional info as the film progresses for the Stargate afficianado.

* BD Live: Connect your Blu-ray player to the internet and it sounds like you'll be able to get info the IMDB page for this film. I've never got my player to go online properly before, so I'll just visit IMDB anyway.

The menu mixes a short piece of the theme with some mediocre pyramid-style animation, and the text is available in English, French of German. Oddly, after it plays the music once, it then reloads the menu but doesn't need to do it again. Chapters-wise, this time there are 3 more than the average Optimum release, which makes a change, but still, 15 over a 2hr+ running period is just simply not enough. Finally, when it came to subtitles, Optimum are bad enough at the best of times with dropping them, but this is the ultimate insult - there are subtitles in French and German, but not the film's original language of English!

Film: 8/10
Picture: 7/10
Sound: 10/10
Extras: 7/10

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2010 BLU RAY REISSUE of "STARGATE THE MOVIE - ULTIMATE EDITION" ***

This March 2010 Blu Ray reissue (15th Anniversary) of Roland Emmerich's 1994 Sci-Fi blockbuster is a bit of a mixed bag. At least it has 4 hours of NEW extra content (on top of previously released features) and both the Extended Director's Cut and the Theatrical versions of the film - but its print is gorgeous one moment and awful the next...

There's a lot on here, so let's get to the spec details first:
* 1080p High Definition Print in 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio
* Opening Menu Offers - German, French and English
* Theatrical Version (121 minutes)
* Director's Cut (130 minutes)
* New 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio for English
* 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio for both French and German
* Subtitles English, German and French
* New "Deciphering The Gate: Concepts And Casting" Featurette
* New "Opening The Gate: The Making Of The Movie" Featurette
* New "Passing Through The Gate: The Legacy" Featurette
* New "Never-Before-Seen Gag Reel"
* New "Picture-In-Picture STARGATE Ultimate Knowledge" Feature
* "Is There A Stargate?" Featurette
* "The Making Of Stargate" Documentary
* Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Roland Emmerich and Writer/Producer Dean Devlin
* Original Stargate Previews
* B-Roll Footage
* BD Live

As you can clearly see from the impressive list above, this Optimum Releasing/Studio Canal reissue isn't blindly throwing the film out there - there's really great new extras on here and fan-orientated too. But having said that, the whole shebang is let down somewhat by the actual print itself.

Primarily because of how the movie was originally filmed and the mercilessness of the Blu Ray format - the outdoor sequences are beautiful to look at - but anything 'indoors' - inside the secret American site where the circle of stones is held - the Stargate device sequence - arriving at the entrance of the new world - in the slaves sand-filled shacks - in fact anything involving 'indoors' is full of bad lighting and blocking. So while you are impressed with the beauty of the opening 'Indiana Jones' desert-sequence at the beginning of the Theatrical version and the car pulling to Kurt Russell's home to get him on board the project - you are sent in the opposite direction by how bad the wedding sequence is between James Spader and the lovely Israeli actress Mili Avital - the spaceship landing on the pyramid when 'Ra' returns and Russell's soldiers are trapped underneath - and so on. In short, if you're looking for pristine picture quality all the way through, then this Blu Ray print will disappoint... Having said that and all things considered - this release is being pitched at less than ten quid, it has great sound and genuinely superb extras - and when the print sparkles, it really does.

To sum up - this Blu Ray is probably the best were going to get by way of presentation for the hugely entertaining and eminently re-watchable "Stargate - The Movie". Just be prepared to accept and forgive the less-than-great visual bits in between...

Warning!! Do not buy this version of the film on Blu-ray the picture quality is awful. I try to watch it about 3 times or more, but I just couldn't. I've bought the later released "Ultimate Edition," and that version is a proper transfer to Blu-ray, so if you have this version then throw it in the bin and buy the "Ultimate Edition," and just suffer you lost.

The Ultimate Edition -> Stargate [Blu-ray] [1994]

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5.0 out of 5 stars Stargate: Ultimate Edition
Stargate: Ultimate Edition (Blu Ray) [Blu-ray]

best i Seen On Blu Ray :D :D

THIS IS THE FIRST STARGATE FILM STARRIGN KURT RUSSEL AND JAMES SPADER, THIS... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Paul

4.0 out of 5 stars Film review only.
Oh, the chicken man.

When scientists and historians finally figure out the meaning of an ancient Egyptian artifact, it opens a portal to another planet... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Spike Owen

5.0 out of 5 stars Watched it on a friends BluRay - Great quality
Bought it as I really liked the film when it came out, this is a nice over-all package. Funny enough I bought a Toshiba Player to watch it on , & it didn't play BluRays (even... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Shutter

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Blu-Ray Transfer
Although this album is 18 years old now the transfer is fine providing you have the settings on your TV set up correctly as there is alot of graining in the darker scenes but the... Read more

Published 2 months ago by K. BREESE

5.0 out of 5 stars send my regards to Ra!
great blu-ray transfer for this one. enjoyed it a lot. but no English subtitles. oh well. but still a good watch though. prefer this to the Star Gate series.

Published 3 months ago by Blackhound rise

5.0 out of 5 stars great film
This is a great film ever since i was little i liked it an now iv got it on dvd, it was in great condition and the case was in its original packageing.

Published 4 months ago by wilko

5.0 out of 5 stars If you haven't seen it, it's your loss!
I'm not going to bore anyone with any in-depth, well thought out, analytic reviews. I'm just going to say: A classic! Get the popcorn machine going, turn up the volume and enjoy :)

Published 5 months ago by Zombiethon

2.0 out of 5 stars Lost.
I used to love this film. Think it was the special effects, or maybe Ive watched it to death. However I watched it last night first time in ages..... Strugled to get through it.

Published 5 months ago by Stuart Middleton

4.0 out of 5 stars Stargate special edition blu-ray
this film is a very good it realy holds up to the transfer to blu-ray it is great the sound and picture is 10/10 the extras are ok 8/10 for the extras.

Published 5 months ago by G. Athay

5.0 out of 5 stars Great sunday afternoon film
Naturally I've watched Stargate loads of times on DVD and when on TV at Christmas, however, the BluRay version adds a whole load of extra colour and depth the the costumes and... Read more

Published 6 months ago by K. Neale

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