The story was kind of bland and typical, but I thought the team had a lot more chemistry this time around. Browder finally seems comfortable in his role and that translates into Mitchell finally feeling somewhat competent and having a place in SG-1, rather than being kind of a goofy, fanboy tag-along. Maybe the reason the team gels so well this time around is that this felt less like The Daniel Jackson Show, which SG-1 had basically become by about 3 episodes into season 9. The team feels like a team, and it's a vast improvement over the awkward, uneven dynamic that they'd settled into in their last two seasons.
The real gem of The Ark of Truth, in my opinion, were the special effects. The entire special effects team--from CG artists to stuntmen to fight choreographers--knocked AoT out of the park. Both Stargate series have always had pretty impressive special effects for their budget; with the increase in budget for AoT, they've gone above and beyond even their own impressive standard. My favorite part of the movie was definitely the Mitchell/Repli-Marrick fight. That was amazing from start to finish. Adria's fire effects were also pretty awesome. Basically, everything looked great and, for the most part, seamless. Excellent effects work.
