Review: 'Continuum' continues Stargate's Sci-Fi legacy
Posted Friday, July 25, 2008 at 12:57 PM Central
by Ken Rhodes
Stargate: Continuum is the latest direct-to-DVD release of the ongoing missions of the wormhole-trekking Stargate-1 team. For regular viewers of the long-running sci-fi series, Stargate SG-1, they'll have no problem hitting the ground running for this widescreen, epically-scaled version of another of the team's complex adventures. For those unfamiliar with the characters, or who've never seen the show, the movie will be a bit of a tough climb. Long-term continuity is important to the movie, as key characters from the show's decade-long run appear throughout the film.
Assuming the viewer already knows the cast, the film drops you in the middle of the “extraction” ceremony to finish off the show's long-running nemesis, System-Lord Ba'al (Cliff Simon). But this crafty G'oauld has a trick up his sleeve that ruins the dispensing of justice and quickly whittles the cast of the film down to a “power trio”. Cam Mitchell (Ben Browder), Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) are suddenly cut off from all avenues of known assistance and are hip-deep in an unfamiliar world full of familiar faces. Their mission is to simply survive and, if they succeed with that, to find a way to put things right to be able to get home.
The epic-scale of the film allows for better special effects, some terrific location shooting in a most frozen corner of Canada, and enables the story to bounce around a lot - even to the North Atlantic of 1939. This oceanic theme was certainly enhanced by the location of the film's July 24th premier, the deck of the decommissioned USS Midway in the San Diego Harbor.
Performances are solid throughout, with a special nod to Beau Bridges' work as Major General Hank Landry. Bridges' key moment, which comes about halfway through the movie, is impassioned, authoritative, and is easily his best single scene during his run in the role. Also warmly received, especially by the audience on the deck of the Midway, was the late Don S. Davis' extended cameo as General George Hammond. Richard Dean Anderson returns for several scenes as Jack O'Neill, and his effortless way with a wry punch line is still as effective as ever. Sadly, the story doesn't make great use of series regulars Claudia Black and Christopher Judge. But since there's no hint of finality or closure to the movie's end, it sure seems like the feature-length missions of SG-1 are far from over.
For long-time fans, this is a can't miss solid two hours of big time entertainment. For all you non-Gaters, you'll probably want to pass on this one.
