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James Cameron's Avatar is set in the future when the Earth is over-polluted and when humans start exploring a new frontier -- another planet called Polyphemus, which is rich in an incredibly rare and valuable mineral called "unobtanium." The humans want to exploit the resources of the new planet at Hometree, which has abundant deposits of unobtanium; however, blue humanlike creatures called Navi are already living there in harmony with their deity, Eyra, with their own thriving culture and language. The humans set up a special Avatar Program on Pandora, a human base near the planet, hoping to make negotiations, or if that failed, to drive them out by force. Since humans cannot breathe in the poisonous gases of the atmosphere, they created Avatars, half-human-half-Navi creatures that they can control remotely by their mind. It is important that the Avatars match their human controllers so that they can be able to control them easily. Moreover, since they look like the Navi, they were thought to arouse less suspicion. The Avatars are very expensive, so when a human named Thomas Sully is killed in action, the program decides to call in his paraplegic twin brother, Jake Sully, who is a former U.S. marine, to take his place. Unlike his brother, Jake has no training whatsoever but he fits the job requirements by being an identical twin. He accepts their offer, tired of what the doctors say he cannot do. They place the humans into special pods where their minds are transferred to the body of the Avatars. They send Jake and a few other Avatars out into the terrain, but Jake soon becomes lost after huge rhino-like creatures scatter the group. By nightfall, the group is forced to give up their search. Meanwhile, Jake almost gets killed by a bunch of vicious panther-like creatures. Luckily, he is saved by Neytiri, a native female Navi, after seeing "Hometree" seeds (symbol of Eyra) favoring him. Neytiri brings Jake to the Navi community, where they try to assimilate him. When the Avatar falls asleep, it turns off and Jake is sent back to his human body, where the rest of the worried humans are waiting for news. Jake tells them all that happened and he strikes up a deal with a military commander, Colonel Quaritch, from another part of Pandora. The Colonel, who prefers to use force rather than negotiations, tells Jake to report to him what he learns about the Natives; in return, he promises to grant Jake the surgery needed to get his legs back. Jake agrees, and after months of acting in his Avatar, he eventually gains the Native's confidence. However, at the same time, he begins to understand the Navi culture and increasingly thinks of Polyphemus as his home. In the end, he is torn between following his own human race and defending the Navi people.
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