On the lush alien world of Pandora, a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully replaces his deceased twin brother in a corporate program that allows humans to link their consciousness to genetically engineered biological bodies known as avatars. As he infiltrates the indigenous Na'vi people to gather intelligence for a valuable resource extraction operation, Jake finds himself torn between his orders and the vibrant, dangerous new world he has learned to call home.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
December 18, 2009 |
Running time |
162 minutes |
Genre |
Sci-Fi
Adventure Action Fantasy |
Budget |
$237,000,000 |
Box Office |
$2,923,706,026 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
James Cameron |
Produced by |
James Cameron Jon Landau |
Written by |
James Cameron |
Music by |
James Horner |
Cinematography |
Mauro Fiore |
Edited by |
Stephen Rivkin John Refoua James Cameron |
Production Co. |
Lightstorm Entertainment |
Distributed by |
20th Century Fox |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #01 in Avatar Collection
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The Plot
A Dying Earth and a New Assignment
In the year 2148, Earth is a dying planet, ravaged by severe overpopulation boasting over 20 billion humans. Resources are rapidly depleting due to climate change, pollution, and famine, leading to global wars and an energy crisis. The environment is so toxic that city dwellers are forced to wear masks just to breathe. Amidst this decay, Jake Sully, a 22-year-old former Marine, lives in a dilapidated, prison-cell-like apartment. Paralyzed from the waist down from combat injuries sustained in Venezuela, Jake is unable to afford spinal surgery in an inflated economy where a simple coffee costs twelve dollars. Despite his bleak reality, he experiences recurring spiritual dreams of flying over a mysterious jungle, feeling a sense of freedom he lacks in the waking world.
One night, Jake intervenes in a bar fight to protect a woman, only to be thrown out into the street by bouncers who toss his wheelchair after him. He is approached by agents of the Resources Development Administration (RDA), a massive non-governmental organization managing Earth's remaining resources. They reveal that his identical twin brother, Tom Sully, a scientist, has been killed by a robber for the paper in his wallet. Tom was a driver for the Avatar Program, having trained for three years to operate a genetically matched bio-engineered body on the moon Pandora. Because Jake shares his brother's genome, he can link with the expensive avatar, saving the RDA the cost of creating a new one. Offered his brother's contract, Jake agrees to be put into cryosleep for the six-year journey to the Alpha Centauri system.
Welcome to Pandora
Arriving in 2154, Jake awakens from cryosleep at Hell's Gate, the human colony on Pandora, a moon orbiting the gas giant Polyphemus. He attends a briefing by Colonel Miles Quaritch, the colony's hardened head of security. Quaritch warns the new arrivals about the dangers of Pandora, describing its lush rainforests, aggressive wildlife, and the indigenous population: the Na'vi, a race of tall, blue-skinned humanoids. Jake meets the science team, including biologist Norm Spellman and Dr. Max Patel. He is introduced to Dr. Grace Augustine, the head of the Avatar Program. Grace is immediately dismissive of Jake, resentful that a "jarhead" has replaced her trained scientist brother. Administrator Parker Selfridge, however, insists Jake stays, emphasizing that the program's funding depends on mining Unobtanium, a highly profitable mineral.
During his first link with his avatar, Jake is ecstatic to regain the use of his legs. Ignoring the doctors' attempts to sedate him, he runs out of the compound, reveling in the sensation of sprinting and the wind in his face. Grace later warns him about the "queue"—a neural connection point at the end of his avatar's ponytail—joking that playing with it will make him go blind. The next day, Jake volunteers as a door gunner for Trudy Chacón, a retired Marine pilot. Recognizing Jake's military background, Colonel Quaritch recruits him as a double agent. He asks Jake to infiltrate the Na'vi clan, the Omatikaya, to gather intelligence on their Hometree, which sits atop a massive Unobtanium deposit. In exchange for this intel and convincing the Na'vi to leave, Quaritch promises to pay for the spinal surgery Jake needs to walk again.
Lost in the Jungle
On an expedition with Grace and Norm, the team visits an abandoned schoolhouse where Grace once taught the Na'vi English. Seeing scattered books like The Lorax and bullet holes in the walls, Grace hints at a tragic past rupture between humans and the natives. While the scientists collect samples, Jake wanders off and encounters a herd of hammerhead titanotheres. The encounter escalates when a Thanator, a terrifying apex predator, scares the herd away and targets Jake. Losing his weapon and equipment, Jake barely escapes by diving off a waterfall into a raging river.
Stranded in the jungle at night, Jake fashions a makeshift torch and fights off a pack of viperwolves. He is saved by Neytiri, a female Na'vi, who kills the creatures to protect him. She is furious with Jake for causing unnecessary death, but as she attempts to leave him, dozens of woodsprites—jellyfish-like seeds of the deity Eywa—descend and land gently on Jake's body. Taking this as a spiritual sign, Neytiri agrees to take him to her clan. At the Omatikaya Hometree, Jake is confronted by Tsu'tey, Neytiri's betrothed and the future clan leader, who is hostile toward the "dreamwalker." However, Neytiri's parents, clan leaders Eytukan and Mo'at, decide to study Jake. Mo'at orders Neytiri to teach the human their ways.
Becoming One of the People
Over the next three months, Jake lives a dual life. By day, he trains with Neytiri, learning the Na'vi language, culture, and survival skills. By night, he reports to Parker and Quaritch, providing tactical information about Hometree's structure. As he immerses himself in the culture, the avatar team moves their link units to a remote camp in the Hallelujah Mountains—floating islands with strong magnetic flux—to avoid RDA interference. Jake undergoes the rite of passage known as Iknimaya, where he bonds with a mountain banshee he names "Bob," earning the respect of the clan but deepening Tsu'tey's jealousy.
Jake learns of the deep spiritual connection the Na'vi have with Pandora's ecosystem. Grace reveals the reason for the abandoned school: the RDA shot Neytiri's sister, Sylwanin, at the schoolhouse door after she set fire to a bulldozer, an event that led to Grace's exile. Jake manages to facilitate Grace's reentry into the clan, allowing her to reconnect with the people she loves. Eventually, Jake is initiated into the clan as one of "The People." Neytiri takes him to the Tree of Voices, where they choose each other as mates, bonding for life. When Jake wakes up in his human body, he is struck by the complexity of his situation; he has fallen in love with an alien and compromised his mission.
The Destruction of Hometree
The following morning, RDA bulldozers advance on a sacred site. In a desperate attempt to stop them, Jake destroys a bulldozer's camera array. Recognizing Jake in the footage, Quaritch and Parker move to destroy Hometree immediately. They forcibly disconnect Jake and Grace from their avatars to interrogate them. Grace tries to explain that Pandora's biological network is a sentient collective consciousness, but Parker dismisses her as insane. Jake persuades them to give him one hour to convince the Omatikaya to evacuate peacefully.
Back in his avatar, Jake admits to the clan that he was sent as a spy. The Na'vi, feeling betrayed, bind Jake and Grace as traitors. Quaritch's strike force arrives, launching gas canisters and then incendiary rounds into Hometree. The massive structure falls, crushing many Na'vi. Eytukan is impaled by a large wood splinter and dies, entrusting the clan's safety to Neytiri. Amidst the chaos and fire, Mo'at frees Jake and Grace, begging them to save her people, but a devastated Neytiri rejects Jake, telling him to leave. The avatar link is severed as the RDA shuts down the lab, arresting Jake, Grace, and Norm for treason.
Toruk Makto and the Rallying of Clans
Trudy and Dr. Max Patel stage a rescue, breaking Jake, Grace, and Norm out of the brig. As they flee in Trudy's Samson aircraft, Quaritch opens fire, critically wounding Grace. The team escapes to the remote container camp near the Tree of Souls, where the refugee Omatikaya have gathered. To regain the clan's trust, Jake undertakes a perilous mission: he tracks and bonds with the Great Leonopteryx, a legendary apex predator. By becoming the sixth "Toruk Makto" in history, Jake returns to the clan as a mythical leader, earning their immediate respect and awe.
Jake pleads with Mo'at to save Grace by transferring her consciousness permanently into her avatar through the Tree of Souls. The clan performs the ritual, but Grace is too weak from her wounds. Before passing away, she tells Jake she has seen Eywa and that the deity is real. With Grace dead and the RDA preparing a final assault to bomb the Tree of Souls, Jake asks Tsu'tey to stand with him. He unites the Omatikaya and flies to recruit other Na'vi clans from the plains and the coast, assembling a massive army to resist the humans.
The Battle of Ayram Alusìng
Quaritch, piloting a massive Dragon gunship, leads a fleet including a Valkyrie shuttle laden with mining explosives intended to destroy the Tree of Souls. Jake leads the Na'vi aerial forces while Norm fights on the ground in his avatar. The battle is brutal; the technological superiority of the RDA inflicts heavy casualties. Neytiri's banshee is killed, and she is forced to fight on the ground. Norm's avatar is destroyed, forcing him to continue fighting as a human with a mask and rifle. Tsu'tey valiantly attacks the shuttle but is shot and falls to his death. Trudy, attempting to protect Jake, challenges Quaritch's gunship but is outgunned and killed.
Just as the Na'vi lines begin to break, the wildlife of Pandora suddenly counterattacks, swarming the RDA forces in a response to Jake's earlier prayer to Eywa. Hammerhead titanotheres crush the infantry, and aerial predators destroy the aircraft. Jake manages to damage the Valkyrie shuttle, causing it to explode before reaching the Tree of Souls. He then cripples Quaritch's Dragon ship, forcing the Colonel to bail out in his AMP suit.
The Final Duel and Rebirth
Quaritch locates the remote link shack containing Jake's human body. He prepares to destroy it, but Neytiri arrives riding a Thanator. Quaritch kills the beast and is about to kill Neytiri when Jake's avatar intervenes. A vicious duel ensues near the shack. Quaritch, fueled by hatred, calls Jake a traitor and manages to break the window of the mobile unit, exposing Jake's helpless human body to the toxic Pandoran atmosphere. As Jake struggles for breath, he fights to keep his avatar conscious. Just as Quaritch prepares to deliver the killing blow, Neytiri fires two arrows into the Colonel's chest, killing him.
Jake's human body succumbs to suffocation, and his avatar connection is severed. Neytiri rushes into the shack and finds Jake's small, frail human form on the floor. She places an exopack on his face, saving his life. When Jake recovers and looks at her, he whispers, "I See you." Realizing this is her mate, Neytiri tears up and returns the greeting. The survivors mourn the dead, including Tsu'tey, who passes leadership to Jake before asking for a mercy kill, which Jake reluctantly grants.
The remaining RDA personnel are disarmed and marched onto shuttles to be deported back to Earth. Only a select few, including Norm and Max, are permitted to stay. Parker Selfridge warns Jake, "You know this isn't over," but Jake ignores him. In his final act as a human, Jake records his last video log on his birthday. He returns to the Tree of Souls, where the clan performs the consciousness transfer ritual again. This time, it is successful. Jake leaves his human body behind forever and opens his eyes as a Na'vi.
