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The film begins in year 2009, when there is a huge explosion on the surface of the sun. We then see Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an American scientist, traveling to a copper mine in India to meet his friend, who discovered that Earth’s temperature is increasing rapidly. He returns to Washington D.C. and submits a report to his supervisor, who immediately takes him to the president. In 2010, we see the President of the United States tell other heads of state the situation (the world is ending) and we also see billionaires all over the world buying plane tickets for untold sums of money. In 2011 the original of The Mona Lisa in the Louvre is replaced with a decoy, and is sealed away for unknown reasons.

The story jumps ahead to 2012. Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a divorced father who works as a limousine driver and writer, and his ex-wife, Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet), and children, Noah (Liam James) and Lily (Morgan Lily), who live with Kate’s new boyfriend, Gordon (Thomas McCarthy). Jackson takes his children on a camping trip to Yellowstone, where he meets Charlie Frost, who hosts a radio segment that addresses the Mayans’ prediction. Charlie mentions a map of where special ships are, but Jackson assumes he is a rambling drunk and leaves him. Kate and Gordon and in a super market buying groceries when the floor begins to crack and the supermarket is split in half. Jackson gets a call that he has to return from camping with the kids. Jackson arrives at the house and drops the kids off, and takes his limo to a job. He goes to the house of Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov. Jackson takes Yuri, his children and his girlfriend to the airport. The children make cruel comments to Jackson, and as they board the plane, they mention they have tickets to board the ships and Jackson doesn’t. This leads Jackson to believe Charlie’s story, and he rents a plane. Jackson hurries to Kate’s house and picks up her, the kids, and Gordon as the house collapses and a massive earthquake begins. They drive through L.A while it is being destroyed and arrive just in time at the airport.

When they get to Santa Monica Airport, the pilot that Jackson hires is killed by a falling structure. Kate mentions that Gordon knows how to fly (gordon protest’s, he has only had a few lessons) so they tell him to fly the plane out of L.A. From the sky, we see L.A sinking into the Pacific Ocean. Jackson announces they have to get to Yellowstone to get the map from Charlie. They fly there and Jackson goes looking for Charlie. He finds his R.V and takes it out looking for Charlie, and he finds him at the top of a hill waiting for the impact. Charlie tells Jackson where the map is and he rushes back to the R.V as a massive explosion goes off, hurtling rocks in every direction. Jackson gets to the plane and they take off for China.

The group lands in Las Vegas and they meet Yuri. Yuri’s plane is damaged, but he and Sasha, Yuri’s pilot, find a cargo plane that carries automobiles. Las Vegas is destroyed by earthquakes and ravaged by the impeding volcanic ash cloud of Yellowstone. Yuri has 2 children and his girlfriend with him.

While in the air, the group learns that the plane does not have enough fuel to reach China: they’ve passed Honolulu, Hawaii, which has been inundated in lava. As they’re about to ditch the plane they discover that they are no longer above the ocean: the Earth’s crust has shifted thousands of miles and they are heading towards the Himalayas. During a crash landing on a glacier they manage to escape from the plane safely by using one of the luxury vehicles in cargo as a raft. The group ditches the car and a helicopter lands, they ask for tickets and Yuri shows his three tickets. He goes on the helicopters with his 2 children and leaves his girlfriend and the group behind.

The group eventually find their way to the ships with the help of some locals and are smuggled aboard with the help of a Buddhist monk and a construction worker. Gordon dies as they board. Tsunamis begin to engulf the Indian peninsula, and a giant wave eventually reaches the ships, which turn out to be arks constructed to save the heads of state, hand-picked individuals chosen to repopulate the earth and the rich elite, who could afford to buy tickets. A massive flood is heading towards the ship, and due to a wire left by Jackson in the ships gate, the gate isnt able to close, and the engines arent able to start. Jackson manages to get the gates closed just in time, and the ships cruise off. A title appears that says Day 27 Month 01 Year 01. The group is living on the ark, and Jackson and Kate seem to have gotten back together. The captain of the ship learns that Africa was able to miss catastrophe and is safe to venture too. The ship heads for Africa, and a view from space shows all continents have moved together and are in the shape of Africa.

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth’s energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human “drivers” have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora… the Na’vi.

Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na’vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na’vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake’s life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake’s relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na’vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.
 
Production Status: Released
 
Logline: AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home.
 
Genres: Action/Adventure and Science Fiction/Fantasy
 
Running Time: 160 min.
 
Release Date: December 18th, 2009 (wide) 
 
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.
 
Distributors: 20th Century Fox
 
Production Co.: Lightstorm Entertainment
 
Studios: 20th Century Fox
 
Financiers: Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Media Services Limited
 
U.S. Box Office: $429,040,297
 
Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California USALos Angeles, California, USANew ZealandOahu, HawaiiOahu, Hawaii, USAKauai, HawaiiKauai, Hawaii, USA
 
Produced in: United States

Jeme（詹天佑英文名 Jeme Tien Yow） was born in Nam-hoi prefecture (now Liwan District, Guangzhou) in Guangdong of China. In 1872, twelve-years-old Jeme was chosen by the Qing imperial officials to be sent to the United States for education. Together with thirty children of similar age, Jeme arrived in Connecticut. After studying at a primary school in New Haven, he then entered a secondary school there, and in 1878, Jeme was admitted to Yale University. Jeme’s major was Civil Engineering, with an emphasis in railroad construction. Jeme received his bachelor’s degree in 1881, and he was considered lucky because only a few months after his graduation, the Qing government decided to recall all students studying in the United States. Among those who were sent abroad, only Jeme and another student were able to obtain their college degrees.

The statue of Jeme Tien Yow, in Zhangjiakou south railway station.
Jeme Tien Yow’s former residence in Canton(Guangzhou)Life was not good for the students recalled to China. The Qing government officials found behaviors of the foreign educated students unorthodox, they also had no plan to put their acquired knowledge to good use. Most of the recalled students, including Jeme, were simply sent to the newly formed Imperial Navy to be re-trained as seamen. Jeme was sent to Fuchow in Fujian Province. A few years later, in 1884, the Imperial Navy in Fuchow was destroyed during the brief war with France. Jeme survived the war, and in 1888, he finally found his way to become a railroad engineer. Viceroy Li Hongzhang in Peking was constructing a railroad that would link Tientsin to the coal mines in Tangshan. A British engineer Claude W. Kinder was hired as the chief engineer of the railroad. Through connections with his old schoolmates working in Peking, Jeme joined Kinder as an intern engineer. Jeme was soon promoted to full engineer, and later district engineer. The railway that Jeme worked on was later extended to become the Peking Mukden Line. Jeme spent 12 years on various sections of this line before his next major assignment.

In 1902, Yuan Shikai decided to build a special line for Empress Dowager Cixi to visit the Royal ancestors’ tomb. Kinder was the original candidate for the chief engineer position, however the French were unhappy that a British was assigned to the position. Eventually, Jeme got the assignment as the chief engineer of the 37km stub line. Jeme managed to construct the railroad within budget and a very tight schedule. The Empress was pleased and permission was given to construct more railroad in China.

In 1905, the Imperial Qing government decided to build a railroad that would link the capital of Peking to the important trade city of Kalgan to the north. This railway would be of strategic importance to the Imperial government. A decision was therefore made that the railway would be built without foreign assistance. Capital would come from the government, and no foreign engineers were to be hired. Jeme was once again appointed as Chief Engineer of the railway. At the beginning, some people were skeptical that the Qing government would be able to construct the railroad in the rugged mountains North of Peking all by itself. But Jeme showed he was an able engineer and completed the work two years ahead of schedule and under budget. He designed a zig zag upwards railway by switching back the line near the Qinglongqiao railway station to overcome the steep gradient. When excavating the Badaling railway tunnel, he employed the vertical shaft construction method to accelerate the construction. He was also said to be an advisor of the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, for the Lo Wu Bridge built in 1906.

He was also the founding member of the China Institute of Engineers. Jeme was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Hong Kong in 1916. For his contributions to railroad engineering in China, Jeme was often called the Father of China’s Railroad. Jeme died in Hankou in 1919 at the age of 58. He was buried at the Qinglongqiao railway station, where the Peking-Kalgan (Beijing-Zhangjiakou) railway crossed the Great Wall and the rugged mountains north of Beijing. A museum was also established nearby to commemorate the works of Jeme Tien Yow.