Avatar (2009)

In director/writer James Cameron's lengthy, impressive, revolutionary and major epic film - the futuristic action-adventure, sci-fi fantasy and 3-D live-action film told about a fictional universe with resonating themes of anti-colonialism, corporate greed and environmental protection, with ground-breaking, immersive Oscar-winning special effects and advanced motion-capture. Thirteen years later, its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) became part of a growing franchise. Of its nine Academy Awards nominations, it won three Oscars: Best Cinematography (Mauro Fiore), Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. In the year of its awards, The Hurt Locker (2008) won both Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow) and Best Picture.

It was a major blockbuster, becoming the highest grossing (domestic) film of 2010 (and of the entire 2001-2010 decade) with a cumulative total of $785.2 million. It was also the highest-grossing (worldwide) film of all-time with $2.92 billion. It wasn't until the superhero film Avengers: Endgame (2019) with a domestic gross of $858.4 million, that Avatar was surpassed. If adjusted for inflation, Avatar stood in 15th place of all-time at $890.2 million. There were three versions of the film: the Original Theatrical Cut (162 minutes), the Special Edition Cut (170 minutes), and a Collector's Extended Cut (178 minutes).

The time period for the plot was the mid-22nd century (specifically in the year 2154), at a time when the dystopian Earth was threatened by a major energy crisis; humans were experimenting with colonizing Pandora - an Earth-like moon with a lush and densely rain-forested area; Pandora was orbiting around a gas-giant planet known as Polyphemus located in the Alpha Centauri A star system; Pandora was a hostile environment for humans due to its poisonous atmosphere, requiring humans to wear breathing gear. Pandora was inhabited by a primitive (but highly evolved) indigenous tribal species (similar to Native-Americans) of primitive blue-skinned Na'vi - 10 foot tall humanoids with blue skin. The creatures were harmonious with nature, worshipped a mother-goddess named Eywa, and lived at Hometree, a giant tree at the center of their neural network.

The film's title Avatar referred to the scientific programming required for humans to safely explore Pandora. To interact with the environment of Pandora, the human brain of each visiting human subject was hooked up with a native Pandoran Na'vi body through an 'avatar' - a genetically-grown, synthetic, remotely-controlled, half-alien/half-human body (hybrid) of a Na'vi individual.

Due to the efforts of the mega-corporation Resources Development Administration (RDA) led by militaristic security chief Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and bureaucrat Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), Pandora was being colonized with plans to take advantage of its valuable natural resources, including its semi-conductor mineral and energy supply known as unobtanium (its largest deposits were located under the Hometree). The main conflict that developed in the film was due to incursions into the Na'vi's biosphere habitat by the expanding mining colony that were threatening the existence of the native indigenous Na'vi. The protagonist became torn between his sympathy for his adoptive natives and his obligations to follow orders from the greedy corporation. The film's plot outline was a sci-fi hybrid mix of Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas.

• in the film's opening, a fly-over above a misty forest was accompanied by the voice-over of 22 year-old paraplegic, wheelchair-bound ex-Marine combat vet Jake Scully (Sam Worthington), who was recoving from a serious spinal cord injury while serving in the military: "When I was lying there in the VA hospital, with a big hole blown through the middle of my life, I started having these dreams of flying. I was free. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up..."
• in the year 2154, Jake lived in a busy and crowded metropolis with polluted and toxic air, holograms and mag-lev trains running overhead, and limited resources; in his cramped studio apartment, he struggled to remove his pants from his useless, shriveled legs; his veteran benefits were not sufficient to pay for surgery to repair his spine; he spent many hours of his wasted life in a rowdy local bar, taking Tequila shots, and playing pool; after trying to defend an abused woman being slapped at the bar by a brutish bully, bouncers tossed Jake out (with his wheelchair) into an alleyway, as he described his lack of purpose: "All I ever wanted in my sorry-ass life was a single thing worth fighting for"
• as he collapsed on his back in the rain, two pairs of shoes worn by agents ("suits") walked up to him, to inform him that his identical twin brother Tommy had unexpectedly been stabbed to death by a thief; Jake was brought to a high-tech crematorium to view Tommy's corpse (before it was rolled over to a furnace to be burned); he again reacted - in voice-over: "The strong prey on the weak"; Jake was told that Tommy had been a "significant investment" who had trained for years on an unnamed space project, and how Jake was being recruited to replace his brother because of their identical genome DNA: ("It would be a fresh start in a new world. You could do something important. You could make a difference"); Jake compared himself to his brother: "Tommy was the scientist, not me...Me? I was just another dumb grunt gettin’ sent someplace I was gonna regret"

Jake In the Municipal Crematorium To View His Twin Brother's Corpse

• in the next scene, Jake awakened in the interior of a metal cryo vault; he was one of many 'patients' in a multi-tiered stack of cryo-capsules in Zero-G gravity - he was on a space mission tended by multiple medical technicians; in voice-over, he described how he had been in cryo for almost 6 years, and had finally arrived at his destination in an interstellar spacecraft - the ISV Venture Star; as he floated and glided to his locker, Jake realized that his paralysis and crippled legs were not an impediment in the weightless environment; he told about where he had been taken: "Up ahead was Pandora. You grew up hearing about it, but I never figured I'd be going there"- Pandora was a small Earth-like moon orbiting the gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri System; a massive "Valkyrie" shuttle attached or docked to the spacecraft fired its thrusters and separated from the starship, with dozens of passengers seated along the interior of the shuttle
• as they were landing on another planetary sphere, the crew chief yelled a warning to don exo-packs (personal rebreather units that filtered the toxic Pandora air): "Exopacks on! Let's go!... you lose that mask, you're unconscious in 20 seconds and you're dead in four minutes," since the hostile atmosphere was inhospitable to humans; after flying over an open-pit mining area (with huge trucks and excavators) in the midst of a dense and lush forest, the shuttle landed and its cargo ramp opened; the new "meat" arrivals disembarked at a human colony established at Hell's Gate, where they were ordered: "Go directly into the base! Do not stop! Go straight inside!"; Hell's Gate consisted of a fortified, walled-off base with huge concrete and steel structures; heavily-armed, gigantic human-operated Mitsubishi MK-6 Amp-Suits or 'walking machines' patrolled the area; falling behind the others in his wheelchair, Jake viewed his surroundings: "Back on Earth, these guys were Army dogs, Marines, fighting for freedom...But out here, they're just hired guns, taking the money, working for the company"
• the mega-corporate, military-backed Resources Development Administration (RDA) was responsible for colonizing efforts on Pandora, due to resources on Earth having been exhausted and destroyed; Jake watched as a huge RDA tractor roared past him, with primitive feathered arrows sticking into its tires; he heard a male voice: "You're not in Kansas anymore"
• the brutal and insensitive villain of the film was introduced -- RDA's rugged and tough security head -- scar-faced, ex-military officer Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) of the Hell's Gate colony - first viewed with a closeup of his boots pacing in front of the new group of arrivals in the Commissary; with a large pistol strapped to his left hip, he greeted them for a safety briefing: "You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day. If there is a hell, you might want to go there for some R&R after a tour on Pandora"; he briefed the group on the dangers of Pandora - including the native, indigenous population of humanoid Na'vi: "Out there beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for Jujubes"; he warned that the Na'vi threatened with arrows dipped in a heart-stopping neurotoxin, and their bones were "reinforced with naturally-occurring carbon fiber -- they are very hard to kill"; he further explained, as head of security, that his job was to keep everyone alive, but to survive, each person had to cultivate a "strong mental attitude" and obey the rules ("Pandora rules")

The First View of Norm's Avatar in an Amnio Tank
	Jake Viewing His Own Avatar For the First Time

• afterwards in the corridor, Jake met xeno-biologist Dr. Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) who had gone through avatar training with Jake's twin brother; as they entered the large bio-lab complex and the Link Room, Jake explained their task as 'avatar drivers': (voice-over) "Me and Norm are here to drive these remotely-controlled bodies called avatars. And they're grown from human DNA mixed with the DNA of the natives"; Norm had his first view of his tall, lanky, long-tailed blue-skinned creature-Avatar suspended in a large acrylic Amnio Tank - with a large figure of a blue humanoid with feline ears and a snout floating inside; Jake's Avatar was next to Norm's tank; each Avatar was attached to an umbilical cord to circulate blood
• to document his findings, Jake recorded the 'avatar' concept in his video-log: "And the concept is that every driver is matched to his own avatar so that their nervous systems are in-tune, or something. Which is why they offered me the gig, because I can link with Tommy's avatar which is insanely expensive"; he was being instructed on how to interact and 'drive' a hybrid body derived from two sources (his dead brother's DNA fused with DNA sampled from the tall blue sapient humanoids of Pandora)
• it was announced in the Link Room that 12 Psionic link units (resembling coffins with MRI scanners) were opening up: "Attention - Drivers coming out of link!"; one of the twelve drivers was research scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the head of the scientific, high-tech Avatar program that had been developed to explore the moon of Pandora by interacting with the native Pandoran Na'vi through these 'avatars'; the cantankerous Grace was introduced to Norm and Jake, and immediately expressed her displeasure with Jake about the decision to replace his brother's avatar position; she explained how he would need to be trained in Na’vi culture and language as well as how to control his avatar - training for the mission that took his brother three years; she blamed the decision to use Jake on conniving RDA bureaucrat Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi)
• Grace proceeded to march to the Operations Center to express her complaints directly to Parker Selfridge: "I need a researcher, not some jarhead dropout"; when Selfridge explained that Jake had been selected, with his Marine background, to be a security escort, Grace was further upset: "The last thing I need is another trigger-happy moron out there!"; Selfridge criticized her program as a "puppet show" to endear themselves to the native Na'vi population: ("If you look like them, and you talk like them, then they'll start trusting us"); however, the relations with the indigenous were only getting "worse"
• head mining administrator Selfridge explained the main objective of RDA - to strip-mine a rare and powerful mineral known as Unobtainium that sold for "20 million a kilo" - "It's what pays for the whole party, it's what pays for your science"; he accused her of not finding a "diplomatic solution" to the war they were fighting with the "savages"
• the next morning, Jake, Norm, and Grace entered the Link Room with its individual units, while in an adjoining room, each of their avatars were reclined on gurneys; Jake laid inside his link unit that connected his neural motherboard with his avatar, before the hoods on the chambers were closed - it would be Jake's first use of his avatar during a 'virtual' outing to Pandora

The Avatars in an Adjoining Room
	Jake Entering His Link Unit Before His First Linkage to His Avatar

• as he was reclining inside the chamber, Jake's brain was scanned, as his nervous system was aligned with his Avatar and synchronized; technicians in the adjoining room began speaking to Jake (acting within his 9 foot tall Avatar) as the link was stabilized and he sat up; he was astounded that he could feel his legs for the first time; he immediately tried to walk although he was very unsteady and his tail was whipping back and forth; he disobeyed and ignored the lab team's protests and directions to lie back down, and pulled the wires off his chest that were attached to bio-monitors; when they threatened to sedate him, he fled and ran for the exit, and proceeded to an enclosed area known as the Avatar Compound (a recreational area within the Hell's Gate safety fence area); he joyously ran through the compound's garden feeling the dirt under his feet; he met up with Grace (appearing as a fit female athlete wearing shorts and a T-shirt) who complimented him on his "motor control"; that evening in the Avatar Compound's Longhouse, Jake bedded down for the night, listening to sounds of the surrounding forest before going to sleep - and being returned to the Link Room

		Dr. Grace Augustine as Her Avatar
Jake Fleeing Into the Avatar Compound Recreational Area And Feeling The Dirt Under His Feet

• in the interior hangar of Armor Bay, Jake met ex-Marine and SecOps combat pilot Captain Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez) wearing a flight suit who claimed that she flew all the 'science sorties' (field trips or expeditions) for Dr. Augustine's Avatar Program and its science teams; she took them into the interior of Pandora to study its ecosystem and its Na'vi population; he noticed that her Samson 16 rotorcraft-helicopter was packing heavy armaments (door guns and rocket pods)
• in a makeshift gym area, Jake came upon Quaritch bench-pressing heavy weights; the hard-core security chief spoke about his scarred-face, but asserted that he liked it: "It reminds me every day what's waiting out there"; with disdain, he also denigrated the Avatar Program as "a bad joke - bunch of limp-dick science majors"; as he climbed into the control-cockpit of an Amp-Suit, he pressured Jake (a recon-Gyrene - slang for Marine - in an avatar body) to acquire the intel that he needed within the savages' camp and gain their trust while spying on them: "Learn these savages from the inside. I want you to gain their trust. I need to know how to force their cooperation or hammer them hard if they don't"; Jake was only to report to him with his findings, although he still technically worked for Dr. Augustine; then Quaritch promised Jake that if he fulfilled his mission, he would see to it that he received surgery back home to restore his legs
• Jake took his first science-sortie mission into the primeval rainforest of the Na'vi world with the avatars of Dr. Augustine and Spellman, escorted there in Trudy's tilt-rotor; they flew over a herd of Sturmbeest, and flew alongside purple winged creatures known as Tetrapterons
• in the rainforest, the group was viewed by non-aggressive Prolemuris, blue lemur-like hexapods; they visited the ruins of Dr. Augustine's closed and abandoned school (with suspicious bullet holes in the blackboard), where stingbats hung from the rafters; she mentioned how the bright Na'vi children "learned as much about us as they needed to"; while taking samples in the forest, Dr. Augustine commented on the biological neural network that interconnected all living things
• Jake wandered off and viewed various flora (pink spiraling plants known as Helicoradians) and wildlife (including a charging, six-legged rhinoceros known as a Hammerhead Titanothere), when he was also attacked by a ferocious apex predator - a six-footed, black and purple carnivorous Thanator; during a furious chase and pursuit, he lost his backpack and weapon; he escaped by hurling himself from the top of a cliff-waterfall and into the river below, where he barely escaped drowning; later, by nightfall, the Avatar team abandoned their search for him and returned to their camp

Pink Helicoradians

Hammerhead Titanothere

Carnivorous Thanator

• Jake was being watched by a beautiful female Na'vi named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) on a tree limb above him with a bow and arrow aimed at him; a silky Woodsprite (similar to an airborne jellyfish) landed on the tip of her arrow, and she interpreted it as a sign from the benevolent spirit goddess of the forest named Eywa, and decided to let him live

First Views of Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) in a Treetop - A Female Na'vi and Princess

• later in the evening, Jake was able to temporarily fend off a hunting pack of viperwolves - fierce hyena/wolf-like, six-legged carnivores - by wielding a makeshift torch and a knife at them; but as he faltered, Neytiri came to his rescue, battled the vicious creatures and killed many of them to save Jake's life; however, she regarded him coldly, and was angry that she had to kill other animals to protect him - and she spoke to him in broken English: ("Don't thank. You don't thank for this. This is sad. Very sad only...All this is your fault. They did not need to die...You're like a baby. Making noise, don't know what to do"), and then explained why she had saved him: "You have a strong heart. No fear. But stupid! Ignorant like a child" [Note: Later, Dr. Augustine told how Neytiri had been one of her best students in the school, where she had learned English.]
• in the bioluminiscent and glowing phantasmagorical forest, Neytiri was dismissive of him and afraid of contact with him because he was one of the Sky People (humans): "Sky People cannot learn. You do not See....You're like a baby...You should not be here"; as he followed her on an elevated tree root system, she ordered him to "go back" to his people, but then another positive sign from the Woodsprites ("Seeds of the Sacred Tree - very pure spirits") - floating down to surround and land on him - convinced her to take him back to her village

Another Positive Sign by the Woodsprites - They Surrounded Him and Landed on Him

• suddenly, Jake was tripped up by a bolo that tangled up his legs, and then approached by several Na'vi riders with bows and arrows on Direhorses; Neytiri commanded the lead warrior Tsu'tey (Laz Alonso), heir to the clan's throne and her own fiancee: "Calm people, calm. What are you doing, Tsu'tey?"; she told him that there was a positive "sign" from Eywa (the Na'vi's deity - the Great Mother) that the intruder could be allowed into their village encampment, located inside the base trunk of a massive Hometree where the people lived; Jake was herded inside the tree's wide gathering place where the villagers gathered to gawk at him with hostility; she conferred with the Omatikaya clan's stern leader and shaman Eytukan (Wes Studi), her father, and also with her mother - the clan's matriarch Mo'at (CCH Pounder) about the demonic "dreamwalker" Jake's fate; Neytiri explained Mo'at's role as the clan's spiritual leader: "She is Tsahik -- the one who interprets the will of Eywa," to decide whether Jake should live or not

Na'vi Chieftain Leader Eytukan (Wes Studi), Neytiri's Father

Neytiri Attempting to Defend Jake Before Both of Her Parents

Neytiri's Mother Mo'at (CCH Pounder), also the Clan's Spiritual Leader or Shaman (known as Tsahik)

• Jake introduced himself, and told why he had come to them: "I came to learn," but Mo'at was disapproving: "We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup which is already full"; Jake joked that his cup was empty and that he was "no scientist," but that he was a "warrior" and Marine of the Jarhead clan; it was decided by Eytukan that the Na'vi could "learn more about him"; Neytiri was reluctantly ordered by her mother to initiate him into Na'vi society, language, and culture: "My daughter, you will teach him our way to speak and walk as we do," but she reacted with shock and anger ("Why me? That's not fair!"); Mo'at told Jake: "Learn well Jakesully. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured"
• Neytiri led Jake (wearing only a loincloth) up to a second level in the Hometree where many clan members sat around a fire for dinner; after learning her name but mispronouncing it, he joined her on a third level of the tree where she slept in a hammock, and he fell asleep
• Jake was awakened in the Link Room where Dr. Augustine and others slapped his face to bring him back; in the Commissary during breakfast, Dr. Augustine re-told how Jake had been attacked by a Thanator, and then was taken in by the Na'vi clan: "For reasons I cannot fathom, the Omaticaya have chosen you. God help us all"; later in the Ops Center, Jake bragged to Colonel Quaritch about his situation: "I'm practically family. They're gonna study me. I have to learn to be one of them"; Quaritch was impressed by Jake's initiative: "I wish I had ten more like you"; the Colonel was aided by RDA's self-interested Parker Selfridge who also wanted intel: "Just find out what the blue monkeys want" - noting that they didn't appear to want education, roads, or medicine
• while viewing a 3-D graphic display of the landscape, it was clearly revealed that RDA's plot was to destroy Hometree and take over the Na'vi's homeland in order to mine the unobtanium in Sector 12 under their village: ("Their damn village happens to be resting on the richest unobtanium deposit within 200 clicks in any direction"); Selfridge moved close to Jake and spoke softly: "Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there's one thing shareholders hate more than bad press -- and that's a bad quarterly statement. I didn't make up the rules. So just find me a carrot that'll get them to move, otherwise, it's gonna have to be all stick" -- Quaritch told Jake that he had a deadline of three months until the giant bulldozers arrived

RDA Selfridge's Revelation to Jake That the Hometree Sat Just Above the Richest Unobtanium Mineral Deposits in the Area

Selfridge Selfishly Eyeing the Profits From Mining

Quaritch and Selfridge Giving Jake 3 Months To Get the Na'vi Out of the Hometree Area

• as Jake was reset within his Link unit chamber to return to the Na'vi village, he was cautioned by Dr. Augustine: "Don't do anything unusually stupid"; in a lush area, Neytiri instructed Jake how to mount a female Direhorse named Pale and establish a spiritual link or bond (shahaylu) with it by joining together his tendrils (in his neural queue) with hers; however, his first lesson ended up with him falling off into the mud; Tsu'tey and another hunter rode up and viewed Jake with jealous disgust: "You should go away...This alien will learn nothing. A rock sees more. Look at him!"
• after Dr. Augustine learned of the covert intentions of the Earth-bound, corrupt government RDA corporation, the disapproving Grace decided to vacate Hell's Gate: "Gettin' out of Dodge"; she told Jake: "I'm not about to let Selfridge and Quaritch micro-manage this thing"; she was transferring her Avatar team (herself, Jake, and Norm) to a remote outpost at Site 26 in order to continue their studies without military involvement; they relocated to the legendary floating, mist-shrouded Hallelujah Mountains in Trudy's Rotorcraft-Helicopter, viewing the miraculous and enormous islands of rock in the air (held up by a mag-lev effect due to the influence of unobtanium as a semiconductor)
• the interior of the "Shack" at Site 26 housed bunks, and three Link Units; for a few seconds, Jake viewed Grace's taped-up photos of the Na'vi children being taught at her school, before he entered a Link unit to be transported back to Neytiri
• they were located high up on a large branch of Hometree with a beautiful vista view of the rainforest; she summoned a huge winged Mountain Banshee (Ikran) to which she was bonded - the banshee was her own personal riding creature: ("Once shahaylu is made, ikran will fly with only one hunter in the whole life"); she told Jake that when he was ready to become a Hunter (taronyu), he would have to choose and pair up with his own Ikran

Jake Learning the Na'vi Language

Jake Learning How to Hunt With a Bow and Arrow

Jake Learning How to Track Animals

• during the recording of Jake's video-log 12, he described the painfully-slow process of learning the Na'vi language, with Neytiri's help, through repetition (she pointed at various body parts to enlarge his vocabulary and punctuation of Na'vi words); she also instructed him on how to hunt with a bow and arrow; due to his slowness, she nicknamed him: "skxawng" (or moron); although often frustrated, Norm also assisted Jake in understanding the language; Neytiri also taught him to be a better runner who could traverse longer distances, due to his feet getting "toughter"; during hunting sessions, Jake also learned how to read animal trails and to sense tracks at a waterhole, and to understand scents and sounds; shortly later, he described his challenge of understanding her wondrous world: "I'm trying to understand this deep connection the people have to the forest...a network of energy that flows through all living things"; as Jake learned the Na'vi's ways, he was developing an emotionally loving relationship with Neytiri; at one point, their eyes met, but she glanced away quickly
• Grace urged Jake to appreciate the Na'vi's whole new way of sensing: "Try to see the forest through her eyes"; Jake summarized his training during a leap of faith through space as he plummeted downward, grabbing on to enormous palm leaves: "With Neytiri, it's learn fast or die"; Jake persuaded Neytiri's mother Mo'at to let Grace enter the village - her first visit with the Na'vi since the school had been closed down
• after Jake fell asleep during one late-night video-logging session, Grace had to put him into his bunk bed; later, after a 16 hour link-up, Grace demanded that Jake eat, since he was losing weight: ("You look like crap, you're burning way too hard"); he unfavorably compared her offering of a microwaved, plastic-wrapped meal to the fresh kill he had the same day: "At least I know where that meal came from"; after she suggested that he take some "down-time," she related the painful story of the slaughter of young Na'vi (including Neytiri's sister Sylwanin) by RDA troopers at the schoolhouse; the soldiers retaliated against her and some of the young hunters for having set fire to a bulldozer as a protest against "clear-cutting" of their forest; Neytiri watched as her sister was murdered; Grace was still trying to suppress the emotional pain of how the children never came back to the school after she had spent 10 years cultivating a relationship with them: ("That kind of pain reaches back through the link")
• inside the link, Jake skillfully used his bow and arrow to shoot down a hexapede, a herbivore; he ritualistically thanked the dead animal, speaking the Na'vi language: "I See you, Brother, and thank you. Your spirit goes with Eywa. Your body stays behind to become part of The People"; impressed, Neytiri called it a clean kill: "You are ready" - suggesting that he was ready to choose his own banshee (ikran)
• Jake joined Tsu-tey and two other teenaged Na'vi hunters (along with Neytiri) all mounted on direhorses - on a sloped mountain trail; he was to partake in a ritual (a rite of passage) for young hunters known as Ikniyama ("stairway to heaven") - to ascend a treacherous path next to a misty, deep canyon, to see if he could choose, tame and ride his own Banshee (Ikran); the young hunters had to ascend into the clouds in stages; they had to first climb up the massive trunk of a vine-covered beanstalk, reach the top of a floating boulder, and then jump onto another passing hanging vine to climb even further; the final part was to scale a narrow grotto ledge next to a waterfall to reach the Banshee's Rookery, high up in the Hallelujah Mountains

The Test: To Climb Up a Beanstalk to a Floating Boulder, Jump Onto a Passing Vine, Scale a Ledge Next to a Waterfall, and Eventually Reach a Banshee's Nest in the Hallelujah Mountains

• there, Neytiri instructed Jake to quickly choose his own Ikran (Banshee): "This you must feel inside. If he also chooses you, move quick like I showed. You will have one chance, Jake.... He will try to kill you"; Jake wrapped a leather strap around the snout of his choice of ferocious banshee ("Let's dance"), mounted it, and then struggled with it before finally linking his queue with its antenna to bond with it (shahaylu) and control its movements: ("Yeah, that's right. You're mine!"); Neytiri urged him: "First flight seals the bond. You cannot wait. Think - 'FLY'" - he tightly gripped the Banshee's neck as it plummeted off the cliff-side; although he almost lost control, fell off and crashed into the cliff, he yelled the command: "Shut up and fly straight" and the beast obeyed him; Neytiri joined him on her Banshee as he learned how to further steer and master his banshee - named Bob, and they flew amongst the cliffs and waterfalls with the other young hunters on their newly-acquired banshees
• part of the intel Jake gathered for RDA was about the Tree of Souls, the most sacred place of the Na'vi; it was an enormous willow tree set in the middle of a deep caldera, where outsiders were forbidden to visit
• during a hunt after stampeding sturmbeest, Jake followed Tsu-tey's example and crisply shot one of the animals with his bow and arrow; Jake bragged about his new prowess: "I was a stone-cold aerial hunter. Death from above"; on another hunt with Neytiri, they were attacked from above by the king predator of the air - a giant, flaming orange-colored Great Leonopteryx, and narrowly escaped with their lives in the dense foliage; in the evening as they gazed at a totem skull of Toruk, Neytiri told Jake about her great-great-grandfather (the mighty Toruk Macto, or Rider of Last Shadow) - the last of only five Toruk Mactos in clan history to ride the Toruk, who brought the people together and delivered them from a time of great sorrow
• waking up in his coffin-like chamber after another link, Jake was beginning to realize that his life had been turned upside-down: "Everything is backwards now. Like out there is the true world and in here is the dream; he had now been living amongst the Na'vi for three months; he reported in his log: "I can barely remember my old life. I don't know how I am anymore"
• during a session in Armor Bay reporting to Quaritch about his continuing assignment to gather intel, Jake was informed that his mission was terminated and he was to immediately be transferred back to Earth (for his promised leg surgery) on a shuttle; he begged for more time to work with the Omatikaya clan to relocate peacefully; he convinced the Colonel that he must participate in a final ceremony (the final rite of passage to become a man): "If I do it, I'm one of them. And they'll trust me. And I can negotiate the terms of their relocation"; however, Jake was torn - he cared more about the welfare of the Na'vi than the plans of the RDA

Jake's Participation in the Ceremony To Become One of the People

• Jake was initiated into the clan and made part of the People (a high honor never granted to an Avatar) to become one of them; afterwards, she led them to the Tree of Voices, a sacred place for prayers to be answered and to listen; she showed him how to connect to the trees and hear the voices of all the spirits of deceased Na'vi ancestors: ("They live, Jake, within Eywa. You are Omatikaya now. You may make your bow from the wood of Hometree. And you may choose a woman. We have many fine women"); Jake explained that he had already chosen, but that his choice must also want him; she responded: "She already has" - and the two kissed and intimately intertwined the tendrils of their queues; they had fallen in love and would be mated for life

• afterwards, Jake was brought back to his human link-body in his dark coffin chamber - and he asked himself: "What the hell are you doing, Jake?"; the two were sleeping outdoors in a sacred willow glade the next morning, when Neytiri was awakened by the roaring sounds of a large RDA bulldozer tearing through the Trees of Voices area; she had trouble stirring and pulling on Jake's avatar body to wake up; he finally linked back and avoided being run over
• Jake defiantly stood in front of the large dozer, but when it wouldn't stop (due to orders from Selfridge in the Ops Center), Jake climbed onto the top of the dozer with a huge rock and smashed the array of video cameras on its mast to disable and blind its operator; Jake was fired at by armed troopers striding alongside the dozer; he and Neytiri (and Tsu'tey and other hunters) watched from a safe vantage point as the Tree of Voices area was completely destroyed
• back in the Ops Center, Selfridge and the Colonel froze the video camera footage and observed that it was Jake's Avatar that was destroying the cameras: ("Son of a bitch! Unbelievable"); the enraged Colonel strode off and ordered a pilot - Trudy - to fly him to Grace's remote outpost - the "Shack"
• at Hometree, a war party of painted hunters/warriors was being assembled by Tsu'tey; chieftain leader Eytukan ordered revenge: "Tsu’tey will lead the war party!"; in their midst, Grace's Avatar asked for calm: "This will only make it worse"; Jake and Neytiri arrived back, and Tsu'tey realized he had lost Neytiri: "You mated with this woman?"; Jake begged: "Do not attack the Sky People. Many Omatikaya will die if you do"; Tsu'tey squared off and challenged Jake to a knife challenge: "No more talk!"; after his opponent was subdued, Jake explained: "I am one of you"
• meanwhile, after flying to the "Shack," Quaritch barged into the Link area and shut down the power on two of the Link Units - Jake and Grace's Avatar links were disconnected and returned to their human bodies, and their Avatars both collapsed onto the ground; Tsu-tey threatened to slit Jake's Avatar throat ("It is a demon in a false body"), but then after his body went limp, Neytiri fiercely defended her mate Jake's body with snarling fury; emerging from his Link unit, Jake was personally confronted by Quaritch: "You crossed the line!" and was punched in the face
• Grace and Jake were transported back to Hell's Gate, where Grace tried to "salvage" the situation; she argued that the obliteration of sacred Hometree of the Omatikaya clan would destroy the entire biological neural network ("electrochemical communication") that linked together all of the flora and fauna life on Pandora ("It's a global network, and the Na'vi can access it...the wealth of this world isn't in the ground, it's all around us"); a past recording from Jake's video-log confirmed Grace's words: "They're not gonna give up their home. They're not gonna make a deal...There's nothing that we have that they want. Everything they sent me out here to do is a waste of time. They're never gonna leave Hometree"

At Hell's Gate, Grace Argued Against Destroying the Na'vi's Hometree

Jake's Video-Log: "They're not gonna give up their home"

• meanwhile, Tsu-tey's war party had set the bulldozers on fire, and they sat as burning, smoldering hulks, while dead bodies of troopers were filled with arrows; a report from the area described how the Na'vi attacked first with Banshees, and then set the Amp-Suit on fire; Grace and Jake both realized that the RDA had never wanted to succeed with the Na'vi, and had deliberately made them the enemy by triggering the indigenous people with the bulldozer attack; pilot Trudy informed them that Quaritch's SecOps gunships were "rolling" to hit Hometree with gas and force the native people out; Selfridge was persuaded to allow Grace and Jake to return to their Avatars for one hour, to attempt to get the Na'vi to evacuate the area before they were slaughtered
• inside Hometree, Jake and Grace begged the clan members to leave immediately: "A great evil is upon us. The Sky People are coming to destroy Hometree....You have to leave or you're gonna die"; and then Jake daringly told them that his RDA mission was to learn the ways of the Na'vi, revealing that he knew there would eventually be an attack and he would be trusted when warning them to leave; Neytiri was shocked at Jake's duplicity and betrayal: "You knew this would happen?"

Back with the Na'vi, Grace and Jake's Avatars Attempted to Evacuate Hometree Before an Invasion of the Sky People

Neytiri Yelling at Jake's Betrayal: "You will never be one of the People!"

• Jake's claim that he had fallen in love with her and the forest people fell on deaf ears, and the heartbroken Neytiri denounced him and yelled at him: "You will never be one of the People!"; the clan's outraged chieftain Eytukan interpreted Jake's confession as evidence that he was a spy, and ordered him to be made captive: "Bind him!"; the Omatikaya warriors led by Tsu-tey prepared for war
• to invade the Na'vi rainforest, Quaritch flew in a lead warship, a monstrous Dragon Gunship, followed by a fleet of smaller Scorpion Gunships; as they came closer to the Hometree area, Grace and Jake were tied up to posts, watching their approach and yelling out warnings: "Run to the forest...They will destroy this place!"; in the cockpit, Quaritch reacted to a videoscreen of Jake and Grace taken captive: "Well, well, well, I'd say diplomacy has failed"; he then ordered the firing of teargas canisters into the base of Hometree; further incendiary rounds were launched, setting Hometree on fire, as the villagers scrambled to get away; arrows from the warriors' bows clinked against the armored gunships; in a desperate move, Mo'at released Jake and Grace from their bindings: "If you are one of us, help us!"
• slowly after more missile blasts, Hometree was uprooted, splintered and collapsed as many of the clan members retreated or were killed in the destruction; Neytiri found her father Eytukan lethally impaled by a piece of wood - before dying, he gave her his bow ("Take my bow. Protect the People"); the grieving Neytiri couldn't be comforted by Jake; she pushed him away, and demanded that he go away forever: ("Get away from here, never come back!"); in voice-over, Jake staggered around: "I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up"; the avatar links to Grace and Jake were broken and they both collapsed to the ground; troopers grabbed them from their link units, and both were arrested, charged with treason, and imprisoned by Quaritch's forces in a holding cell, along with botanist Dr. Norm Spellman
• pilot Trudy Chacón, who had objected to Hometree's destruction and had pulled her gunship away, released the three Avatar team detainees from imprisonment and airlifted them from the Ops Center airfield in her hijacked Samson rotorcraft; during their escape attempt, Quaritch personally fired on them with a machine gun, and Grace was shot in the stomach and fatally wounded; the chopper picked up a long rectangular container (with the Avatar Link Modules) at the outpost camp Site 26 and transported it to a hiding spot near the sacred Tree of Souls; the Omatikaya people had sought refuge there for support from Eywa

Grace Dying From a Lethal Gun Shot Wound

Transport of Avatar Link Unit Container to the Tree of Souls

• Jake entered into his Avatar form in the location where he had earlier collapsed, at the base of the ruined Hometree; he was surrounded by devastation and burnt foliage covered in ashes; he thought to himself in voice-over: "Outcast. Betrayer. Alien....I needed their help and they needed mine. But to ever face them again, I was gonna have to take it to a whole new level"; he was greeted by his bonded Banshee (Ikran), who flew him into the high mountains to find the Great Leonopteryx, the apex predator

Jake In His Avatar Form Back at the Ruins of Hometree

Jake Jumping onto Back of the Great Leonopteryx to Bond With It

• Jake jumped from his Banshee onto the back of the great and mighty dragon-like Toruk beast and bonded with the creature; he flew on the magnificent winged animal to the Tree of Souls area and landed the beast in the Na'vi's midst - he was recognized and revered as the 6th Toruk Macto (rider) to bring deliverance; Neytiri and Jake reaffirmed their bond with words of greeting: "I See you"; Jake also made peace with Tsu-tey (the new clan leader or chieftain known as Olo’eyctan): "You are a great warrior. I can't do this without you" - and they pledged together to fight against and stop the Sky People (Tsu-tey: "I will fly with you")

The Na'vi at the Tree of Souls Praying for Deliverance	Jake Astride the Toruk Beast - Revered as the 6th Toruk Macto	Neytiri with Jake: "I See you"
Jake to Clan Leader Tsu-tey: "I can't do this without you"	Jake's Speech to Rally the Entire Clan to Converge and Fight the Sky People	The Clan's Fierce New Leader Jake

• Jake asked for Mo'at to help save the dying Grace: "I beg the help of the Great Mother," but efforts to transfer Grace's spirit from her human body into her Avatar body failed because she was too weak; just before she passed, Grace gripped Jake's hand and told him that she was with Eywa: "I'm with her, Jake, she's real"
• with Tsu-tey translating his words, Jake spoke to the people - with a rousing speech to gather together and unite the entire Omatikaya clan to fight the Sky People (RDA) during a climactic battle: "The Sky People have sent us a message that they can take whatever they want, and no one can stop them. Well, we will send them a message. You ride out as fast as the wind can carry you. You tell the other clans to come. You tell them Toruk Macto calls to them. And you fly now with me! My brothers, sisters! And we will show the Sky People that they cannot take whatever they want, and that this, this is our land!"; Jake (with Neytiri) - on his Toruk, and other warriors mounted on their winged banshees took off into the dawning sky; Jake's rallying cry brought all of the other clans from the surrounding area to converge on the Tree of Souls: (voice-over: "We rode out to the Four Winds, to the horse clans of the Plains...to the Ikran people of the Eastern Sea...When Toruk Macto called them, they came")
• in the Commissary of the Ops Center, Quaritch called all of his personnel together to listen to his warnings about the hostile "aboriginal horde" that had amassed thousands to defend their homeland; he announced a pre-emptive strike against the Tree of Souls to end their defiance: ("Our only security lies in pre-emptive attack. We will fight terror with terror....And when we destroy it, we will blast a crater in their racial memory so deep that they won't come within a thousand clicks of this place ever again"); Quaritch planned to use the Valkyrie shuttle as a makeshift bomber and mining explosives as "daisy cutter" munitions to destroy the Tree
• in the Shack, Jake was notified that huge pallets of mine explosives were being stacked on transport vessels to the area, as part of a complete mobilization effort and "shock and awe" campaign the next morning; Norm was worried: "If he takes out the Well of Souls -- it's over. It's their direct line to Eywa, to their ancestors -- it'll destroy them"
• before the battle, at the foot of the mother tree, Jake prayed to the Na'vi deity Eywa via a neural connection with the Tree of Souls: "More Sky People are gonna come. They're gonna come like a rain that never ends, unless we stop them"; Neytiri approached behind Jake and told him: "Our Great Mother does not take sides, Jake. She protects only the balance of life"
• during the massive attack, Tilt-rotor gunships filled the sky, plus smaller Scorpions flew alongside Quaritch's gigantic Dragon Assault Ship; in the skies, the Na'vi warriors were led by Jake (on his Giant Leonopteryx) and Tsu-tey and Neytiri on their Banshees, to attack the fleet, while Norm rode with the cavalry (Na'vi warriors on direhorses) on the ground; the gunships emptied their holds of Amp-Suits and armed troopers, who marched through the forest; the Na'vi suffered heavy losses on the ground, but in the air, several gunships were taken down, but the humans' superior gunpower inflicted heavy casualties

The Battle in the Air: Gunships vs. Toruk and Banshees

• Neytiri's Banshee was hit by gunfire, and crashed down through the branches (she survived but her Banshee did not); Tsu-tey attempted to prevent the bombing run and detonation of explosives by the Valkyrie shuttlecraft; he jumped onboard the rear of the aircraft, but was shot and tumbled backwards into the forest, and ended up on the forest floor mortally-injured; Norm's Avatar was hit by gunfire in the shoulder and was seriously injured, and immediately linked back to the Shack to return to his human body; Trudy's valiant efforts to protect Jake from Quaritch's Dragon ended with her death when her rotorcraft Rogue One was hit and disabled, and exploded shortly later

Neytiri Next to Her Downed Banshee
	During the Battle, Tsu-tey Was Shot and Tumbled Off the Back of the Valkyrie into the Forest

• Neytiri's was saved from being killed in the ground assault by the sudden appearance of Pandoran wildlife (charging hammerhead titanotheres and viperwolves) that unexpectedly joined the attack and overwhelmed the troopers on the ground; the assault forces fell back and retreated in a panic; Neytiri spoke reassuring words to Jake: "Jake, Eywa has heard you!", as hundreds of riderless wild Banshees attacked by air and disrupted the aircraft that were about to detonate explosives
• Jake also took over, jumped from his mount atop the Valkyrie (as it was about to launch its explosives), and was able to throw a grenade into its turbine engines, causing the entire aircraft to lose control, rotate and crash in a large fireball; Jake also helped to bring down the Dragon Gunship with another grenade thrown into an air vent, causing a breach alarm, and a second missile projectile that he threw into the rotor blades of its engines; the Colonel was forced to abandon the damaged and crashing Dragon aircraft and enter his own personal AMP-Suit to protect him from the poisonous air and save his life; from the disabled aircraft, Jake plummeted into the jungle's canopy but the giant leaves cushioned his fall; meanwhile, within the AMP-Suit, Colonel Quaritch threw himself off the burning Dragonship and deftly landed on his feet amidst fiery wreckage, intending to be a one-man assault force against the Tree of Souls
• in a final showdown on the ground, Quaritch tramped through the jungle and spotted the Shack camp; he was distracted by Neytiri on a giant Thanator who destroyed the cannon apparatus of his AMP-Suit; after a vicious fight with the Thanator, the Colonel maneuvered the Suit's knife to stab and kill her Thanator; as he was about to kill Neytiri trapped under the body of the dead creature, Jake's Avatar appeared and challenged him: (Jake: "It's all over" Colonel: "Nothin's over while I'm breathin'" Jake: "I kind of hoped you'd say that"); during a ferocious battle between the two, Jake smashed the AMP-Suit's canopy window, allowing deadly and poisonous Pandoran air inside, and forcing the Colonel to release the entire canopy and don his breathing mask apparatus; then the Colonel asked Jake: "Hey Sully, how's it feel to betray your own race? You think you're one of them? Time to wake up"; Jake hissed and snarled back
• the Colonel turned toward the Shack and attempted to smash its main window and destroy Jake's human body in his Avatar Link Unit chamber; as they struggled together, the broken window allowed deadly and poisonous Pandoran air inside that began to cripple Jake's human body inside his Link Unit and also weaken his Avatar; as the Colonel was about to slit Avatar Jake's throat, Neytiri saved his life by shooting two arrows from her father's bow into Quaritch's chest and killing him; as he died, his AMP-Suit keeled over onto its side

The Colonel About to Slit the Throat of Jake's Weakened Avatar

Neytiri Saving Jake's Life With Bow & Arrow

The Colonel Shot in the Chest and Killed With Two Arrows

• inside the Shack, Jake burst out of his Link Unit, gasping for air, but he couldn't reach his Emergency Rebreather Unit with his crippled legs; when Neytiri realized that she couldn't rouse Jake's Avatar, she launched herself through the Shack's broken window, and rushed over to his Link unit to help the human Jake put on his exopack, to save his life; he gave her the greeting: "I See you", and she repeated it back, viewing Jake's human body for the first time; Jake reconnected to his Avatar

The Human Jake in Neytiri's Arms: "I See you"

• the Na'vi were victorious in their battle; however, Tsu-tey had been mortally wounded; Tsu-tey passed on leadership of the Omatikaya clan to Jake ("I cannot lead the People. You must lead them, Jakesully...It is decided"), and then made a final request to have a reluctant Jake end his suffering with a knife ("Now, do the duty of Olo'eyktan...It is the way! And it is good. I will be remembered. I fought with Toruk Macto! And we were brothers. And he was my last shadow")
• in the Link Room, Jake finished up his last video-log entry on his birthday (August 24, 2154) before signing off for the last time; he described the aftermath of the defeat of the military; the Na'vi assembled all of the remaining RDA personnel at Hell's Gate, and sent 90% of them back to Earth on a cargo shuttle: ("The aliens went back to their dying world. Only a few were chosen to stay. The time of great sorrow was ending. Toruk Macto was no longer needed"); the only ones allowed to stay (other than Jake and Norm and the Avatar team) were Na'vi sympathizers (including some RDA defectors)
• in the final scene on his new 'birth'-day, August 24th, at the Tree of Souls, Jake had decided to stay in his Avatar form forever; the entire Omaticaya clan was gathered and seated in a prayer circle around the Mother Tree, to celebrate Jake's permanent 'consciousness transfer' from his human to Avatar form; in front of the tree and placed head to head, Jake's Avatar was on the left and his human body was on the right; Neytiri removed the exopack breathing mask from the human Jake's face and gently kissed him twice; she then moved over the Jake's Avatar and stroked his cheek; as the camera zoomed in for a closeup, Jake's eyes suddenly opened; he awakened to a new life as a Na'vi after passing through the eye of Eywa