AVATAR
Avatar is a 2009 epic American 3-D science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, and Stephen Lang. The film was originally set for release on May 22, 2009, but was pushed back to allow more post-production time. It premiered inLondon on December 10, 2009 and was released in the UK on December 17, 2009 and the US on December 18, 2009 by 20th Century Fox. The film is co-produced by Lightstorm Entertainment, and focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus, one of three fictional gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A. On Pandora, human colonists and the sentient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of Pandora, the Na'vi, engage in a war over the planet's resources and the latter's continued existence. The film's title refers to the Sanskrit word Avatar, a representation of a real person in a virtual world.
Avatar was in development since 1994 by James Cameron, who wrote a 114-page scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to James Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film. In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora. Cameron has stated that if Avatar is successful, he hopes to make two sequels to the film.
The film was released in 2D and 3D formats, along with an IMAX 3D release in selected theaters. The film is estimated to have cost over $300 million to produce, and another estimated $200 million for the distribution and other costs, thus totaling to about half a billion dollars. Avatar is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production. Opening with critics' praise abroad, it earned an estimated $27 million its opening day.
The film inverts science-fiction mythology by showing that it is the humans who are the predatory alien invaders and not the innocent victims. In AD 2154, humans are engaged in thecolonisation of Pandora, Humans having depleted Earth's resources and,according to Jake having wiped out the planet's "greenery" are now set about colonising and exploiting the resources of Pandora, a lush moon of Polyphemus, one of the three gas giants that orbit Alpha Centauri A, 4.3 light years from Earth.
The actual colonisation process is in the hands of an unnamed company which seeks to extract a precious metal called Unobtainium from Pandora, its main quality being that it can make rocks float in air and is responsible for the floating mountains of Pandora. The company employs former marines as its mercenaries. Humans are unable to breathe the Pandoran atmosphere; in order to interact with the Na'vi, human scientists have created genetically engineered human-Na'vi hybrid bodies called Avatars, and use them to interact with the natives and gain their trust for a relocating operation. A human who shares genetic material with the avatar can be mentally linked to it, allowing them to control its functions and experience what it experiences, while their own body sleeps. The protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former marine who was wounded and paralysed from the waist down in combat on Earth. His twin brother Tony was a scientist working on the Avatar program; when he is killed, Jake is given the opportunity to take his brother's place, as he shares Tony's genetic material and is therefore compatible with his avatar.
The film draws upon America's own history and myths with its own Native American population as Pandora's indigenous peoples, the Na'vi are cast in the role of the Indians. Neytiri, the native Princess played by (Zoe Saldaña), is, for instance, a mixture of the Native American heroinesPocohontas and Sacagawea The Na'vi are a tall, slender humanoid race who stand 9 feet tall and have sparkling blue skin.
Cameron shows that the Na'vi live in harmony with Nature and worship a Mother Goddess called Eywa. Unbeknown to the alien human invaders, all life forms on Pandora are inter-connected to each other through Eywa who is the conscious spirit of the planet.
Jake travels to Pandora, and assumes control of his avatar body. He accompanies Dr. Grace Augustine, Sigourney Weaver, on a trip but is separated from the rest of the group when he tries to flee from one of the many, teeming predators who live in the Pandoran jungle. He is rescued from an attack by native wild dogs by Neytiri. She takes him back to her village where Jake learns that her father is the Chief and her mother, the shaman. Neytiri is enjoined by her mother to teach Jake the ways of her people: the Omaticaya clan of the Na'vi. Jake had been ordered by Colonel Miles Quaritch, Stephen Lang to spy on, infiltrate and gain the trust of the Na'vi. Jake initially reports back to the Colonel on the layout of the Omaticaya village, which is set around Hometree. However, he is increasingly drawn to Neytiri who, along with other Na'vi, had learnt English in the school originally run by Dr. Augustine. He comes to appreciate the natural beauty of Pandora and the harmonious simplicity of their lives. He learns their customs and traditions and their rites of passage to become a Man. This involves learning to tame and fly an ikran, which he manages to do successfully. Neytiri tells him that the reward of being a Man is that he is now permitted to choose a Woman for himself. She suggests several but he tells her he only wants her. She, delighted, becomes his.
The next day, as they are still sleeping, bulldozers start destroying the Na'vi trees and sites. Jake tries to stop the bulldozer by breaking the cameras on it. However, his image is caught on film and he is accused by Colonel Quaritch of being a traitor to the humans. When Jake confesses to the Na'vi that he had originally been sent to gain their confidence so as to persuade them to leave Hometree, which sits on top of a rich deposit of Unobtainium, he is accused by Neytiri of being a traitor to them. Jake thus finds himself spurned by both sides and he must choose one. He chooses the Na'vi because he has fallen in love with Neytiri and the rapacity of the humans repels him.
Jake tries to warn the Na'vi about human power and ruthlessness but the Na'vi refuse to leave their home as they consider their land and all life to be sacred. Colonel Quaritch leads a helicopter attack on Hometree. The Na'vi find that their bows and arrows and spears are no match for human technology. Hometree is destroyed and the Na'vi are forced to flee.
Dr. Augustine, whose interest in the Na'vi is primarily scientific, grows increasingly uneasy about the human intentions towards the Na'vi. She arranges for her key staff to flee to the floating mountains of Pandora, where because of magnetic interferance, the humans will not be able to use their technology to track them.
Dr. Augustine, however, has been wounded in the human attack and Jake takes her back to the Na'vi so that they can help her. In order to impress them, Jake manages to ride the most fearsome of the ikrans - a feat that had only been achieved five times previously in the whole of Na'vi history. The Na'vis are duly impressed and take Jake back into their fold. Dr. Augustine's body and her avatar body are placed under the Tree of Souls, the most sacred Na'vi site on Pandora, the tree has the power to transplant Dr. Augustine's soul into the body of the avatar but she dies because she had been too badly wounded and there was not enough time for the process.
Jake addresses the Na'vi and pledges allegiance to Tsu'tey, Laz Alonso, who had become the leader of the Omaticaya after the death of Neytiri's father, Eytucan, Wes Studi, in the human attack on Hometree. Jake vows defiance against the humans and Tsu'tey accepts him as a brother. The Omaticaya send out messengers to all the other Na'vi clans living on Pandora so that they can join forces and fight the alien human invaders. Jake is well aware that the humans will attack and goes to the Tree of Souls and prays to Eywa hoping that She will help them. He urges Eywa to look into Dr. Augustine's memory to see how the humans had bespoilt their own planet and would do exactly the same to Pandora.
The next day the humans lead a mass attack against the Na'vi. Their target is the Tree of Souls because they know that it is the centre of Na'vi religion and culture and that if they destroy it then the Na'vi will be too demoralised to resist the human invasion and take over of Pandora. The Na'vi gather all their strength to oppose the humans. But human technology outweighs Na'vi bravery. The Na'vi are forced back, defeated. This is when Pandora's true power is revealed. All living creatures are connected to each other through Eywa. Neytiri tells Jake that Eywa has answered his prayer. There is a mass attack by all Pandoran wildlife against the alien human invaders. The humans are taken aback and defeated.
Colonel Quaritch, however, refuses to give up and pursues Jake. He tries to defeat Jake's avatar by killing Jake's actual human body but is killed by Neytiri. Neytiri rescues Jake and takes him to the Tree of Souls. The human base on Pandora is over-run by the Na'vi and the alien human invaders are forced to leave.
The film ends with Jake's soul being transplanted from his human body into his Na'vi avatar body in the Tree of Souls.
