James Spader and Kurt Russell lead an expedition through an ancient Egyptian teleportation device that transports them to a distant desert planet ruled by a god-king, Ra, over enslaved humans descended from ancient Egyptians. Director Roland Emmerich blends archaeology-adventure and space-opera spectacle years before his disaster-movie fame with 'Independence Day', building a self-contained mythology out of Egyptology and science fiction. Its ambitious premise proved durable enough to spawn an entire spin-off television franchise.