Stargate Movie Review

Imagine the Cecil B. deSpielberg production of Close Encounters with the Ten Commandments. U.S. military probe of a ring-shaped ancient Egyptian artifact (your tax dollars at work) sends he-man colonel Kurt Russell and geeky Egyptologist James Spader into a parallel universe. There they meet the builders of the pyramids who are enslaved by an evil despot (Jaye Davidson) posing as a sun god. Ambitious premise gets an A for effort, but a silly plot jumbles Biblical epic panoramas and “Oh Wow!” special effects with otherworldly mysticism and needless emotional hang-ups. Spader's shaggy scholar is neurotically fun, Russell's jarhead a bore, and Davidson's vampy villain provides some surprises, though none as memorable as the one he provided in The Crying Game. Followed by a sequel novel, Stargate: Rebellion.

1994 (PG-13) 119m/C Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors, Alexis Cruz, Leon Rippy, John Diehl, Erik Avari, Mili Avital; D: Roland Emmerich; W: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich; C: Jeff Okun. VHS, LV LIV