星际之门

Having laid the foundation of a nexus of television spin-offs thenceforward(persisting two and a half decades and ongoing, with a possible reboot in gestation), Roland Emmerich’s filmic progenitor is de facto less a hardcore Sci-Fi adventure than a thinly veiled propaganda piece of colonialism, which nominally transports a contingent of earthlings (all American soldiers bar one scientist) into a terra incognita through a wormhole generated by Stargate, a mysterious instrument disinterred in Egypt.

A classic pair of brain and brawn, Daniel Jackson (Spader, when he is personable to a fault),an Egyptologist and Colonel Jack O’Neil (Russell, sporting a neat crew-cut) takes the leads, what they discover is a desert planet inhabited by Ancient Egyptians, enslaved by Ra, the God of Sun (an epicene Jay Davidson in his second and last film role before retiring from the showbiz altogether), a big question mark should be alerted for the ethnic semblance here, which can be readily construed as a crass fable boasting USA’s heroic inference of a less developed nation here on earth, liberating its downtrodden people and debunking the truth of their God (or any totalitarian figure), tellingly, the film’s atheist and scientific stance looks promising, but soon a sweeping whiff of smugness and self-congratulation will swamp everything and tenacious to dissipate.

As it turns out, the real identity of the so-called Ra, isan alien hosting a human body (thousands of years before he hijacked early humans to this remote planet and started his draconian rule), and what he presides over is a pretty tinpot reign (in spite of his stately pyramid-shaped spaceship), not only is he doomed to be vanquished by a team of earthlings in the end (yes, O’Neil follows the order, andsurreptitiously bringsa portable nuclear bomb on board in case of contingency, this is very American), but also he is clearly in short measure of both materiel and personnel in the first place (a dozen underlings and three laser-shooting aircrafts, that is all), not to mention the sole victim subjected to his seemingly almighty puissance is after all, one of his own incompetent guard.

Among the extraterrestrial hoi polloi, due focal points are projected to a rebellious youngster Skaara (Cruz) and a beauteous Sha’uri (Avital), who is bequeathed as a wife to Jackson by her father Kasuf (Avari), the leader of the tribe, whose awakening-to-rising route is a well-trodden but insipidly crafted one. If one must single out an asset from the entire enterprise, it could only be the set-up of the titular Stargate, an abstruse device can literally open portals to every nook and cranny of our cosmic universe (depending on which group of coordinates one employs), however,Emmerich is not a Sci-Fi polymath but a workmanlike skin-scratcher, so the end result is proximate to anyone’s skeptic forecast.

referential films: Emmerich’s WHITE HOUSE DOWN (2013, 5.5/10), INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996, 6.9/10).

九十年代，去电影院看外国大片，能跟同学们聊上一个月。星际之门的播出真是震撼到了我，不是有多了一个谈资，而是古埃及的场景完美地满足了我对古埃及的向往。虽然没有尼罗河女儿书中的浪漫，但服化道的精致直到今天，都不能说过时。影片1小时23分，面具开启那一刻，一见难忘，就真的一直印在脑中。直到许多年后，终于找到网上资源重温，才发觉离开那时那地，再也找不到那种美好的感觉了。如果你是九十年代的大片爱好者，希望你不要错过这部经典的片子。

冲着分类在“科幻电影”下去看的，这个发生在沙漠的故事，正如同样发生在沙漠的《沙丘》一样欺骗了我。巧合的是，两个故事的设定也非常相似：沙漠、外星奴隶主与原住奴隶、主角“下凡”解救。

我本人的审美偏好是硬科幻（hard-coreSF)，对于这两部的科幻设定自然是弃如敝履。那么抛开科幻，它是不是一部合格的作品呢？我认为不是的。

首先，故事简单且单薄。这是一个主角帮助奴隶推翻奴隶主的故事，但是：主角一行人为什么要这么做——不知道，没交代；奴隶们为什么要推翻外星主子——没有交代完善，奴隶们看到奴隶主的权威被动摇之后突然揭竿而起了；奴隶主为什么会失败——不知道，明明是一个拥有超前科技的神级外星人啊。

有人反驳说，以上情节都是合理的啊，不存在逻辑漏洞。那么我要说：1.以上3个问题不作具体表现，是作为一部完整作品的巨大偷懒，如果能尽善地回答以上问题，这部作品也不会单薄如儿童片。故事可以留白，而不是空白。2.大的逻辑漏洞没有，不代表情节就经得起推敲。就全剧最重要的男主来说：男主的爱情是怎么萌发的，男主最后为什么选择留在沙漠？

故事的单薄，又引出了下一个槽点——人物脸谱化：科学书呆、硬汉军人、小跟班、美花瓶。明明丹尼尔是一个不得志的科学家，杰克经历了丧子之痛没有走出来，有那么多角度可以刻画……

最后，关于大家所赞扬的本片表达的“自由”，更是无稽之谈。反驳都不知道从何反驳起。美国人用自己的武装力量解救第三世界人民，并留下驻扎，这跟自由有啥关系啊……？？？