Avatar (2009)

A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

Director:

James Cameron

Writer:

James Cameron

Stars:

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver

Won 3 Oscars. Another 81 wins & 121 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sam Worthington	...	Jake Sully
Zoe Saldana	...	Neytiri (as Zoë Saldana)
Sigourney Weaver	...	Dr. Grace Augustine
Stephen Lang	...	Colonel Miles Quaritch
Michelle Rodriguez	...	Trudy Chacón
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Parker Selfridge
Joel David Moore	...	Norm Spellman
CCH Pounder	...	Moat
Wes Studi	...	Eytukan
Laz Alonso	...	Tsu'tey
Dileep Rao	...	Dr. Max Patel
Matt Gerald	...	Corporal Lyle Wainfleet
Sean Anthony Moran	...	Private Fike
Jason Whyte	...	Cryo Vault Med Tech
Scott Lawrence	...	Venture Star Crew Chief

Storyline

When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

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Plot Keywords:

paraplegic | avatar | marine | native | future | 

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Taglines:

Enter the World

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Tous publics

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

16 December 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Avatar

Filming Locations:

Hamakua Coast, Hawaii, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$237,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£8,509,050 (UK) (18 December 2009)

Gross:

$760,505,847 (USA) (12 November 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners

Technical Specs

Runtime:

162 min 171 min (special edition) 178 min (extended cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first of five proposed Avatar films.

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Goofs

The first part of the credits are shown over panoramic views of Pandora. Most of these shots are recycled from the movie, and reversed left to right to make it a bit less obvious. One in particular was taken from Jake's ikran first flight sequence, but with Jake and the ikran removed. But you can still the ikran's shadow pass over the rocks.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jake Sully: [Narrating] When I was lying in the V.A. hospital with a big hole blown through the middle of my life, I started having these dreams of flying. I was free. But sooner or later, you always have to wake up.

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Crazy Credits

The initial end credits soar over the world of Pandora.

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Connections

Spoofed in This Ain't Avatar XXX (2010)

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Soundtracks

I See You (Theme from Avatar)
Performed by Leona Lewis
Music by James Horner and Simon Franglen
Lyrics by Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell, and James Horner
Produced by Simon Franglen and James Horner
Leona Lewis performs courtesy of Syco Music

User Reviews

All eye candy and little else

I had high expectations going into Avatar. Now I admit, it's probably stupid to go into any movie with expectations that are too high, lest they be crushed. However, even without high expectations, Avatar impresses only on a technical level, and on that level only. The story is very predictable, and as I watched this movie I was overcome with a feeling as if I had seen this all before in something in a made for TV movie on SyFy. This is pretty bad considering this is the same guy who made The Abyss and Terminator. I can only say that if you go see this movie, expect beautiful visuals... and a standard humdrum story that you've seen before if you follow any number of science fiction TV shows or just sci-fi in general. Oh, and if this is the 22nd century, why are they still using manually propelled wheelchairs?