Avatar

Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana,Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system.The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi – a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body with the mind of a remotely located human, and is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.

Development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film.Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film.Work on the language of the film's extraterrestrial beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006. Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion. The film made extensive use of cutting edge motion capture filming techniques, and was released for traditional viewing, 3D viewing (using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and for "4D" experiences in select South Korean theaters.The stereoscopic filmmaking was touted as a breakthrough in cinematic technology.

Avatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was internationally released on December 16 and in the United States and Canada onDecember 18, to positive critical reviews, with critics highly praising its groundbreaking visual effects. During its theatrical run, the film broke several box office records and became the highest-grossing film of all time, as well as in the United States and Canada, surpassing Titanic, which had held those records for twelve years. It also became the first film to gross more than $2 billion.Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. The film's home media release went on to break opening sales records and became the top-selling Blu-ray of all time. Following the film's success, Cameron signed with 20th Century Fox to produce two sequels, making Avatar the first of a planned trilogy.

By 2154, humans have severely depleted Earth's natural resources. The Resources Development Administration (RDA) mines for a valuable mineral –unobtanium – on Pandora, a densely forested habitable moon orbiting the gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system. Pandora, whose atmosphere is poisonous to humans, is inhabited by the Na'vi, 10-foot tall (3.0 m), blue-skinned, sapient humanoidswho live in harmony with nature and worship a mother goddess called Eywa.

To explore Pandora's biosphere, scientists use Na'vi-human hybrids called "avatars", operated by genetically matched humans; Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine, replaces his deceased twin brother as an operator of one. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate replacement but accepts his assignment as a bodyguard. While protecting the avatars of Grace and scientist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) as they collect biological data, Jake's avatar is attacked by a thanator and flees into the forest, where he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a female Na'vi. Witnessing an auspicious sign, she takes him to her clan, whereupon Neytiri's mother Mo'at (C. C. H. Pounder), the clan's spiritual leader, orders her daughter to initiate Jake into their society.

Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), head of RDA's private security force, promises Jake that the company will restore his legs if he gathers intelligence about the Na'vi and the clan's gathering place, a giant arboreal called Hometree, on grounds that it stands above the richest deposit of unobtanium in the area. When Grace learns of this, she transfers herself, Jake, and Norm to anoutpost. Over three months, Jake grows to sympathize with the natives. After Jake is initiated into the tribe, he and Neytiri choose each other as mates, and soon afterward, Jake reveals his change of allegiance when he attempts to disable a bulldozer that threatens to destroy a sacred Na'vi site. When Quaritch shows a video recording of Jake's attack on the bulldozer to Administrator Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), and another in which Jake admits that the Na'vi will never abandon Hometree, Selfridge orders Hometree destroyed.

Despite Grace's argument that destroying Hometree could damage the biological neural network native to Pandora, Selfridge gives Jake and Grace one final chance to convince the Na'vi to evacuate before commencing the attack. While trying to warn the Na'vi, Jake confesses to being a spy and the Na'vi take him and Grace captive. Seeing this, Quaritch's men destroy Hometree, killing Neytiri's father (the clan chief) and many others. Mo'at frees Jake and Grace, but they are detached from their avatars and imprisoned by Quaritch's forces. Pilot Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez), disgusted by Quaritch's brutality, carries them to Grace's outpost, but during the escape, Quaritch fires at them, hitting Grace.

To regain the Na'vi's trust, Jake connects his mind to that of Toruk, a dragon-like predator feared and honoured by the Na'vi. Jake finds the refugees at the sacred Tree of Souls and pleads with Mo'at to heal Grace. The clan attempts to transfer Grace from her human body into her avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls, but she dies before the process can complete.

Supported by the new chief Tsu'tey (Laz Alonso), who acts as Jake's translator, Jake speaks to unite the clan and tells them to gather all of the clans to battle against the RDA. Noticing the impending gathering, Quaritch organizes a pre-emptive strike against the Tree of Souls, believing that its destruction will demoralize the natives. On the eve of battle, Jake prays to Eywa, via a neural connection to the Tree of Souls, to intercede on behalf of the Na'vi.

During the subsequent battle, the Na'vi suffer heavy casualties, including Tsu'tey and Trudy; but are rescued when Pandoran wildlife unexpectedly join the attack and overwhelm the humans, which Neytiri interprets as Eywa's answer to Jake's prayer. After Jake destroys a makeshift bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls; Quaritch escapes from his own damaged aircraft, wearing anAMP suit and breaks open the avatar link unit containing Jake's human body, exposing it to Pandora's poisonous atmosphere. Quaritch then prepares to slit the throat of Jake's avatar, but Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake from suffocation.

With the exceptions of Jake, Norm, Max and a few other scientists, all humans are expelled from Pandora and sent back to Earth, after which Jake is transferred permanently into his avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls.

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Mission: Impossible IV – Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (also known as Mission: Impossible IV) is a 2011 American action film. It is the fourth film in the Mission: Impossible series. It stars Tom Cruise, who reprises his role of IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, and is director Brad Bird's first live-action film. Ghost Protocol was written by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, and produced by Cruise, J. J. Abrams (the third film's director) and Bryan Burk. It saw the return of the first film's editor, Paul Hirsch, and is also the first Mission: Impossible film to be partially filmed using IMAX cameras. The film was released in North America by Paramount Pictures on December 16, 2011.

Upon release, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol became a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Mission: Impossiblefilm, and the highest-grossing film starring Tom Cruise.

In Budapest to intercept a courier working for a person code-named "Cobalt", IMF agent Trevor Hanaway is killed by assassin Sabine Moreau. Hanaway's team leader, Jane Carter, and newly promoted field agent Benji Dunn extract Ethan Hunt and Ethan's source Bogdan from a Moscowprison. Ethan is recruited to lead Jane and Benji to infiltrate secret Moscow Kremlin archives and locate files identifying Cobalt. During the mission, someone broadcasts across the IMF frequency, alerting the Russians to Ethan's team. Although Benji and Jane escape, a bomb destroys the Kremlin, and Russian agent Sidorov arrests Ethan, suspecting him as part of the attack.

The IMF extracts Ethan from Moscow. The Russians have called the attack an undeclared act of war, and the US president activates "Ghost Protocol", a black operation contingency that disavows the IMF. Ethan and his team are to take the blame for the attack, but will be allowed to escape from government custody in order to track down Cobalt. Before Ethan can escape, the IMF's secretary is killed by Russian security forces led by Sidorov, leaving Hunt and intelligence analyst William Brandt to find their own way out. Brandt identifies Cobalt as Kurt Hendricks, a Swedish-born Russian nuclear strategist who plans to start a nuclear war. Hendricks bombed the Kremlin in order to acquire a Russian nuclear launch-control device; however, he now needs the activation codes from the Budapest courier in order to launch a nuclear missile at the US.

The exchange between Moreau and Hendricks' right-hand man, Wistrom, is due to take place at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. There, Ethan's team members separately convince Moreau and Wistrom that they have made the exchange with one another. However, Moreau identifies Brandt as an agent. While Ethan chases Wistrom—only to realize that Wistrom is actually Hendricks in disguise, escaping with the codes—Jane detains Moreau. Moreau attempts to kill the inexperienced Benji, and Jane kicks her out a window to her death. Brandt accuses Jane of compromising the mission for revenge against Moreau, but Ethan accuses Brandt of keeping secrets from them, as he has displayed fighting skills atypical of an analyst. While Ethan seeks more information from Bogdan, Brandt admits that he was assigned as security detail to Ethan and his wife Julia while they were on vacation in Croatia. While Brandt was on patrol, Julia was killed by a Serbian hit squad, prompting Ethan to pursue and kill them before he was caught by the Russians and sent to prison.

Bogdan and his arms-dealer cousin inform Ethan that Hendricks will be in Mumbai. Hendricks facilitated the sale of a defunct Soviet military satellite to Indian telecommunications entrepreneur Brij Nath. The satellite could be used to transmit the order to fire a missile. While Brandt and Benji infiltrate the server room to deactivate the satellite, Carter gets Nath to reveal the satellite override code. But Hendricks has anticipated Ethan's plan and infects Nath's servers with a virus before sending a signal from a television broadcasting tower to a Russian Delta III-class nuclear submarine in the Pacific to fire at San Francisco. Ethan pursues Hendricks and the launch device while the other team-members attempt to bring the broadcast station back online. Ethan and Hendricks fight over the launch-control device before Hendricks jumps to his death with it to ensure the launch. Benji kills Wistrom, allowing Brandt to restore power to the station and enabling Ethan to deactivate the missile, while the fatally wounded Hendricks witnesses the failure of his plan. Ethan is then confronted by Sidorov, who sees he has stopped the missile, proving the IMF is innocent in the Kremlin bombing.

The team reconvenes weeks later in Seattle. Ethan introduces the team to longtime colleague Luther Stickell and then issues new assignments. Benji and Jane accept, but Brandt refuses. Ethan reveals that Julia's death was staged, as he knew he could not protect her, and used her death as a pretext to infiltrate the prison and get close to Bogdan, an IMF source on Hendricks. Relieved of guilt, Brandt accepts his mission while Ethan watches Julia from afar. They share a smile before he embarks on his next mission.



      

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Action , Paramount , Spy ,

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Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III (marketed as M:i:III, M:I-3, or Mission: Impossible 3) is a 2006 American action spy film co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams, his first film as a director, starring Tom Cruise, who also served as a producer, in the role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt. The film was first released on April 26, 2006, at the Tribeca Film Festival, and widely released in the United States on May 5, 2006. The film was a box office success, and it received mostly positive critical reviews. The film is the third installment of the Mission: Impossible film series and was preceded by Mission: Impossible II (2000) and followed by Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011).

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from active field work for the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) and instead trains new recruits while settling down with his fiancée Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse at a local hospital who is unaware of Ethan's past. Ethan is approached by fellow IMF agent John Musgrave (Billy Crudup) about a mission for him: rescue one of Ethan's protégés, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), who was captured while investigating arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Musgrave has already prepared a team for Ethan, consisting of Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Zhen Lei (Maggie Q), and his old partner Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), in Berlin, Germany.

The team raids the warehouse where Lindsey is kept and collects two computer laptops during their escape. As they flee on a helicopter, Ethan discovers a micro-explosive implanted in Lindsey's head. Before Ethan can use a defibrillator to disable the device, it kills her. Ethan and Musgrave are reprimanded by IMF director Theodore Brassel (Laurence Fishburne). Ethan learns that Lindsey mailed him a postcard before her capture, and discovers a magnetic microdot under the stamp.

IMF technician Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) recovers enough from the damaged laptops to determine that Davian will be in Vatican City to obtain a mysterious object called the "Rabbit's Foot". Ethan plans the mission to capture Davian without seeking Brassel's or Musgrave's approval. Before leaving, he and Julia have an impromptu wedding at the hospital's chapel. The team successfully infiltrates Vatican City and captures Davian.

On the flight back to the United States, Davian threatens to kill Ethan and his loved ones. Ethan then threatens to drop Davian out of the plane (during which Davian overhears Luther calling Ethan by his first name). After landing, Ethan learns that the microdot contains a video of Lindsey warning that she believes Brassel is working with Davian. Then the convoy taking Davian across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is suddenly attacked, and Davian escapes. Ethan worries for Julia's safety and races to the hospital, arriving to find that she already has been taken. Davian calls Ethan to give him 48 hours to recover the Rabbit's Foot for Julia's life, but then Ethan is captured by IMF for his rogue actions.

Musgrave takes part in Ethan's interrogation, but discreetly mouths instructions for Ethan to lip-read about Shanghai, China where the Rabbit's Foot is located, and provides him with the means to escape IMF. Ethan and his team raid the building where the Rabbit's Foot is secured, and inform Davian that they have the Rabbit's Foot. Ethan goes to deliver the Rabbit's Foot alone, and is forced to take a tranquilizer. While sedated, a micro-explosive is implanted in his head. Ethan awakens to find Davian apparently holding Julia at gunpoint (the full scene opens the movie). Despite Ethan asserting that he brought the real Rabbit's Foot, Davian apparently kills Julia and leaves.

Musgrave then arrives and explains to Ethan that the woman killed by Davian was not the real Julia, but Davian's head of security (Bahar Soomekh) in a mask — the execution carried out for failing to protect Davian in Vatican City, and the mask was used in order to force Ethan to confirm the authenticity of the Rabbit's Foot — and that the real Julia is alive. Musgrave reveals himself as the mole, having arranged for Davian to acquire the Rabbit's Foot to sell to terrorist groups, after which IMF would have reason to launch a preemptive strike. Musgrave then asks Ethan about the microdot Lindsey sent. Musgrave dials his phone for Ethan to hear Julia's voice. Ethan then bites on Musgrave's hand and knocks him unconscious, ultimately freeing himself and stealing Musgrave's phone, using it to track down the location of Musgrave's last call. Ethan finds Davian there and pushes him into the path of a truck, but not before Davian triggers the micro-explosive. Freeing Julia, he instructs her to electrocute him in order to deactivate the explosive, and then revive him. He also instructs her in using a gun for her protection. While attempting to revive Ethan, Julia shoots and kills Musgrave. Julia successfully revives Ethan, and he explains his true IMF career to her as they leave.

Brassel congratulates Ethan as he leaves for his honeymoon with Julia. Ethan is unsure if he will return to the IMF. Brassel promises that he will tell Ethan what the Rabbit's Foot is if Ethan will promise to return. Ethan smiles and walks off with Julia.

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Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye is a 2008 American thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller (Julianne Moore) into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The film was released in regular 35mm theaters and IMAX theaters.

Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a Stanford University dropout who learns that his identical twin brother Ethan, a US Air Force first lieutenant, has been killed. Following the funeral, Jerry is surprised to find $750,000 in his bank account. He later finds his apartment filled with weapons, ammonium nitrate, classified DOD documents, and forged passports. He receives a phone call from a woman who says the FBI is about to arrest him and that he needs to run.

Disbelieving, Jerry is caught by the FBI and interrogated by Supervising Agent Tom Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). While Morgan is conferring with Air Force OSI Special Agent Zoe Pérez (Rosario Dawson), the woman on the phone arranges for Jerry's escape and directs him to Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan), a single mother. The woman on the phone is coercing Rachel by threatening her son Sam (Cameron Boyce), who is en route to the Kennedy Center with his school band. The woman on the phone helps the two avoid the Chicago police and FBI, with the ability to control networked devices, including traffic lights, mobile phones, automated cranes, and even power lines.

Meanwhile, the woman on the phone redirects a powerful DOD crystalline explosive (hexamethylene) to a gemcutter who cuts and fits it to a necklace. Another man (Anthony Azizi) is manipulated into stealing Sam's trumpet from Chicago and fitting the crystal's sonic trigger into the piping before forwarding it to Sam in Washington, D.C.

Agent Perez is summoned by Secretary of Defense George Callister (Michael Chiklis) to be read into Ethan's job at the Pentagon. Ethan monitored the DOD's top secret intelligence-gathering supercomputer, the Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst (ARIIA; voiced byJulianne Moore). Callister leaves Perez with Major William Bowman (Anthony Mackie) and ARIIA to sort out the Ethan Shaw investigation. Simultaneously, Rachel and Jerry learn that their mysterious woman is actually ARIIA, and she has "activated" them under the Constitution's authorization to recruit civilians for the national defense.

Perez and Bowman find evidence Ethan Shaw hid in ARIIA's chamber the night he died. After they leave to debrief Secretary Callister, ARIIA smuggles Jerry and Rachel into her observation theater under the Pentagon. Both groups learn that after her recommendation was ignored and a botched operation in Balochistan resulted in the deaths of American citizens, ARIIA concluded that "to prevent more bloodshed, the executive branchmust be removed." Acting on behalf of "We the People", and citing the Declaration of Independence ("whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it"), ARIAA acted in compliance with Section 216 of the Patriot Act which "allows us to circumvent probable cause in the face of a national security threat, in this case, the chain of command itself."

Too late realized, Jerry has been brought by ARIIA to circumvent biometric locks his twin placed to prevent the system from realizing Operation Guillotine, a military simulation of how to keep the government running with the loss of all presidential successors. Because of Secretary Callister's concurrence with ARIIA's abort recommendation regarding Balochistan, he has been chosen as the designated survivor after the hexamethylene detonates at the State of the Union address (SOTU).

One of ARIIA's agents (Nick Searcy) extracts Rachel from the Pentagon and gives her a dress and the hexamethylene necklace to wear to the SOTU. Sam's school band has also been redirected to the United States Capitol to play for the president, bringing the trigger in Sam's trumpet and the explosive together. Jerry is recaptured by Agent Morgan, who has become convinced of Jerry's innocence. Though Morgan sacrifices himself to stop an armed MQ-9 Reaper sent by ARIIA, he first gives Jerry his weapon and ID with which to gain entrance to the Capitol. Arriving in the House Chamber, Jerry fires the handgun in the air to disrupt the concert before being shot and wounded by the Secret Service.

Days later, Secretary Callister reports that ARIIA has been decommissioned and that he recommends against building another; the Shaw twins, and Agents Perez and Morgan receive awards for their actions; and in the final scene, Jerry attends Sam's birthday party, earning thanks and a kiss from Rachel.

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The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour is a 2011 Russian-American science fiction thriller film directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. The American-based production depicts an alien invasion and stars Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella, Olivia Thirlby, Joel Kinnaman, and Rachael Taylor as a group of people caught in the invasion. The film was released on December 25, 2011 in the United States.

Americans Ben and Sean (Max Minghella and Emile Hirsch) travel to Moscow to sell their social networking/party locating software. As they approach the airport the plane short circuits due to an electrical storm but regains power. They find their Swedish business partner, Skyler (Joel Kinnaman), has betrayed them and already made a deal with the Russians, using a knockoff application. They go to a nightclub and meet Natalie (Olivia Thirlby), an attractive American and her Australian friend Anne (Rachel Taylor). Outside, they witness what appears to be an aurora. But some of the light begins to fall from the sky, landing everywhere. The lights then disappear, and when a police officer walks up to investigate he suddenly disintegrates along with many others who were near the lights. The lights are aliens protected by almost invisible force fields. They start hunting and disintegrating everyone, sending everyone into a panic.

Ben, Sean, Natalie, Anne and now Skyler hide in the club's storeroom for several days. With most of their food gone, the group plans to go to the American Embassy. On the way, they find a police car which Ben and Sean search for supplies while the others hide in a nearby mall. While searching the car, they see a barking dog that gets killed. Ben and Sean hide under the car as the alien moves closer, causing its lights and siren to turn on. The alien moves on and the guys run to the mall. Sean realizes that lights gives the aliens away. The group takes shelters in one of the stores. Sean and Natalie go to look for clothes and they almost run into an alien who can't see them through a glass wall. Sean theorizes that the aliens can only see their electrical charge, but not even through glass.

The group finds the American Embassy has been gutted. All except Skyler goes to the roof to get an aerial view. They find a logbook telling them the invasion is worldwide. They also find a radio broadcasting a message in Russian. They hear gunfire Natalie and Anne try to warn the boys an alien is approaching Skyler. The boys then find him. Two aliens approach the three. Skyler shoots the alien in front. Two aliens disintegrate him...one half per alien. When the others go outside they see a light in a nearby apartment tower and go to investigate, bringing the radio they found. They find a young woman named Vika (Veronika Vernadskaya) and a male named Sergei (Dato Bakhtadze), an electrical engineer. He made his apartment into a giantFaraday cage that hides everyone from the aliens. He also developed a microwave gun that weakens the aliens' force field so they can actually reveal and kill it. Vika and Sergei translate the message; which announces a nuclear submarine K-152 Nerpa is waiting in the Moscow River to take survivors to safety.

As Sergei shows the boys the microwave device, Vika, Natalie and Anne go to other apartments to gather supplies for the submarine journey. An alien senses them outside the Faraday cage and gives chase, but Anne hesitates following Vika and goes another way, causing Natalie to follow her back inside. When they get to the apartment, Natalie is unable to close the door and the alien gets inside. Sergei shoots the alien with his gun and finds that it is only stunned. The alien disintegrates Sergei while the others get out by the fire escape, but Anne hesitates again and is disintegrated while trying to escape. Natalie sets the apartment on fire as they climb down and meet up with Vika.

They meet up with Russian police who managed to wound an alien with conventional weapons, and Sean collects a piece of it. The police were also able to build another Faraday cage at the local library. The team eventually agree to help the remaining four to get to the submarine. The policemen believe that the aliens are strip mining for conductive metals since giant light columns can be seen drilling all over Moscow.

While moving through the subway an alien discovers them and they escape on the tracks. Vika hides behind a pillar, unable to join the others without being seen. Ben helps her climb down to the tracks, but gets disintegrated as Sean watches his best friend perish.

The survivors make it to a boat on the river, planning to travel downstream to the waiting submarine. The boat soon gets stuck and a new light beam destroys a building right next to the river, causing them to capsize and be thrown into the water. Swimming for the submarine, Sean discovers Natalie is missing. They see a flare fired from Natalie's flare gun and Sean is determined to get her, possibly missing his chance to escape. The police agrees to help him rescue her after the Russian submarine crew builds another microwave gun with stronger batteries.

Sean finds her hiding on a bus as the police and Vika destroy three more aliens using the microwave guns. As Sean is about to get off the bus with Natalie, an alien climbs on board, locks the door and sends the bus speeding around the city. It almost kills Natalie after pulling her towards it. Sean kills the alien after destroying its shield. He discovers their weakness - throwing a piece of a wounded alien he had collected earlier at the unshielded alien kills it instantly. The two manage to stop the bus back where the others are, narrowly avoiding a collision.

After returning to the submarine, the team decides to stay and fight for their city, telling the kids the war has begun. Sean, Natalie and Vika, the only three protagonists still active, plan to spread what they learned about the aliens - the microwave guns and their weakness to pieces of other dead aliens - to the rest of the world. Sean and Natalie nearly share a kiss on the submarine. They soon learn that Paris managed to destroy an alien mining tower and the film ends on a hopeful note.

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2012

2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson, among others. It was produced by Emmerich's production company,Centropolis Entertainment, and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver, although it was originally planned to be filmed in Los Angeles.

The plot follows Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) as he attempts to bring his children, Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily), ex-wife Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet), and her boyfriend, Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy) to refuge and attempt to escape the heightened change in the elements. The film includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012. Emmerich has announced that the film will be his last involving disasters.

After a prolonged marketing campaign comprising the creation of a website from the point of view of the main character, Jackson Curtis, and a viral marketing website on which filmgoers could register for a lottery number to save them from the ensuing disaster, the film was internationally released on November 13, 2009. Critics gave 2012 mixed reviews, praising its special effects and tone but criticizing its length (158 minutes) and screenwriting. Despite this, the film, budgeted at $200 million, has a worldwide theatrical revenue that reached approximately $770 million.

In 2009, Adrian Helmsley, an American geologist, visits astrophysicist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani in India and learns that neutrinos from a massive solar flare from the sun are causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase rapidly. Adrian reports to White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser, who takes Adrian to meet the President of the United States.

In 2010, President Thomas Wilson and other international leaders begin a secret project to ensure humanity's survival. More than 400,000 people are chosen to board "arks" that are constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the southwest Chinese Himalayas under the guise of building a dam. A Buddhistmonk named Nima is evacuated while his brother Tenzin joins the workers in the Ark project. Additional funding for the project is raised by selling tickets to the private sector for €1 billion per person. By 2011, humanity's treasures are moved to the Alps under the guise of protecting them from terrorist attacks with the help of art expert and First Daughter Dr. Laura Wilson.

In 2012, Jackson Curtis is a science fiction writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for the Russian billionaire, Yuri Karpov. Jackson's ex-wife Kate, and their children Noah and Lilly, live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon Gordon Silberman.

Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. After an encounter with Helmsley, they meet Charlie Frost, who hosts a radio show from the park. Charlie plays a video of Charles Hapgood's theory that polar shifts and the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predict that the2012 phenomenon will occur. He has a map of the ark project in addition to information about officials and scientists from around the world who were murdered because they wanted to reveal the truth to the public. The family returns home as seismic activity increases along the San Andreas Fault. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a Cessna 340 to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth crust displacement begins with a magnitude 10.9 earthquake, and they narrowly escape Los Angeles as California collapses into the Pacific Ocean.

As several hundred million die in catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map, escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie stays behind to broadcast the eruption and is killed. Learning that the arks are in China, the group lands in a devastated Las Vegas to find a larger plane. They run into Yuri, his twin sons Alec and Oleg, girlfriend Tamara and pilot Sasha. The group secures an Antonov An-500 aircraft and they depart for China as the Yellowstone ash cloud engulfs the city. Helmsley, Anheuser and Laura Wilson are aboard Air Force One, also heading to the arks. President Wilson remains in Washington D.C. to address the nation one last time. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser assumes de facto leadership. While the ash cloud engulfs Washington, earthquakes strike Washington, Japan and Rome. President Wilson is later killed by amegatsunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House.

Arriving in China in a crash landing that kills Sasha, the group is spotted by helicopters from the Chinese army, carrying animals for the Arks. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the arks, leaving the Curtis family, Gordon and Tamara behind. They are picked up by Nima and are taken to the arks with his grandparents. They stow away on Ark 4, where the contingent of the United States is on board, with the help of Tenzin. As a megatsunami approaches the site, an impact driver becomes lodged in the gears of the ark's hydraulic doors, preventing a boarding gate from closing and preventing the ship from starting its engines. In the ensuing chaos, Yuri, Gordon and Tamara are killed. Tenzin is wounded by the hydraulics, and Ark 4 is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver and the crew regains control of the ark before it collides with Mount Everest.

After flood waters from the tsunamis recede, the arks travel to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where the African continent has risen in elevation. Jackson rejoins with his family, and Helmsley starts a relationship with Laura

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Max Payne

Max Payne is a 2008 American noir action film loosely based on the 2001 video game of the same name by Remedy Entertainment. It was written by Beau Thorne and directed by John Moore. The film stars Mark Wahlberg in the title role as Max Payne, Mila Kunis as Mona Sax, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Jim Bravura, and Beau Bridges as BB Hensley. The film revolves around revenge, centering on a policeman's journey through New York City's criminal underworld, as he investigates the deaths of his wife and child.

Filming took place between March and May 2008. Extensive visual effects were used in many scenes throughout the film. Max Payne was released on October 16, 2008 in Australia, one day prior to the United States release date. Reviews in the U.S. were mostly negative, and some critics cited the film's numerous differences from the video game on which it is based. Despite the negative reviews, the film was able to take the top spot in the box office in its opening weekend and gross more than $110 million worldwide (including DVD sales). Max Payne was released for home video on January 20, 2009.

Detective Max Payne is a three-year veteran in the Cold Case unit of the New York Police Department (NYPD). He is consumed with investigating and finding the murderer of his wife Michelle and their infant child Rose. Max's snitch, Trevor, supplies information that leads Max to three drug addicts in an empty train station. They attempt to rob Max in a bathroom; instead, Max interrogates one of them about his family’s murder, with no results. While one of the drug addicts runs away he is attacked by shadowy, winged man-creatures and is hit by a train. At Trevor's apartment, Max meets Natasha Sax, who gets into an argument with her sister, Mona. When Natasha storms off, Max searches for her in the back where partiers are using the drug "Valkyr". Max is silently confronted by Jack Lupino, but Natasha takes Max back to the party. Max notices Natasha’s tattoos and wants information about them, so he invites her back to his apartment. However, when Natasha tries to seduce Max, she makes insensitive comments about his wife, and Max kicks her out. Natasha leaves through an alley, and is attacked by the winged shadow creatures.

The next morning Natasha is found dead, and Max's wallet is discovered at the crime scene. Max becomes the prime suspect in the case, with his old partner, Alex Balder, taking part in the investigation. Alex notices the tattoo on Natasha's arm is similar to one found in the case file of Max's wife. Alex tries to contact Max, but getting no response, he quickly leaves for Max's apartment. When Max arrives home, he finds the door ajar and his place a mess. Alex lies dead inside, and as Max investigates, he is knocked unconscious from behind.

Max wakes up in a hospital with his trusted friend BB Hensley, his father's former partner in the NYPD, at his bedside. Hensley is now head of security of the pharmaceutical company Aesir Corporation. Max leaves the hospital early to pay his respects to Alex, but is kicked out by Alex's upset wife Christa. While being questioned by Lieutenant Jim Bravura of Internal Affairs, Max storms out and searches Alex's desk, finding Owen Green's name in Natasha's case file. Later, Max is confronted by Mona, who assumes Max killed her sister, but Max persuades her to help him find the actual killer. Max and Mona find Green but cannot save him, as Owen was hallucinating and as a result falls out of a building to his death.

Max and Mona visit Natasha's tattoo parlor. The tattoo artist tells them Natasha's tattoo represents the wings of a Valkyrie, which, in Norse mythology, are creatures that decide the fate of warriors in battle. Max then goes to take some of Michelle's belongings out of storage and ends up discovering documents from when she worked at the Aesir Corporation. After taking some of the documents, Max meets BB at a diner and demands the name of Michelle's old supervisor.

Max interrogates the supervisor, Jason Colvin, in his office at Aesir and learns that Michelle was associated with a military contract to create super-soldiers using the highly addictive drug Valkyr. Only a few subjects showed positive results; the rest saw hallucinations and eventually went insane, so the project was terminated. Jason agrees to testify, as long as Max protects him. When a skeptical Max asks Jason who he is supposed to be protecting him from, Jason answers: "The man that killed your wife!" Max agrees, and starts to escort Jason out of his office, but as they leave, a group of armed NYPD ESU officers appears and kills Jason. Max escapes with the evidence and shows the video to Mona. It explains the Valkyr project; Lupino is a former Marine and his testimony explains that, while taking the drug, Lupino feels invincible, with no side effects (unlike most other test subjects). Max goes to Lupino's hideout, Ragna Rok. While fighting Lupino, Max's defeat appears to be certain until BB arrives and kills Lupino. Max gets knocked unconscious after the brawl as he is leaving the hideout.

BB explains that he is selling Valkyr and admits to killing Michelle because she inadvertently came across incriminating documents. BB plans to drown Max in the river, with a weight secured to his ankle and Valkyr in his pocket, hoping to make it look like a drug-induced suicide. But before he can be tied to the weight, Max escapes by jumping into the icy river. He swims to shore and, to prevent hypothermia, consumes both vials of Valkyr, transforming himself into a super-soldier with visions of Valkyries. Max follows BB back to the Aesir building. Assisted by Mona, he kills many Aesir security employees. Max eventually confronts BB on the building's helipad and kills him.

After the credits, Max is shown arriving at a bar where he meets Mona. She shows him a newspaper article about Aesir's stock prices rising, next to a photo of Aesir CEO Nicole Horne

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Shooter

Shooter is a 2007 American conspiracy thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua based on the novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. The film concerns a former U.S. Marine Scout Sniper, Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg), who is framed for murder by a rogue secret private military company unit. It was released in cinemas on March 23, 2007.

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is a U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant who served as a Force Recon Scout Sniper. He reluctantly leaves a self-imposed exile from his isolated mountain home in the Wind River Range at the request of Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover). Johnson appeals to Swagger's expertise and patriotism to help track down an assassin who plans on shooting the president from a great distance with a high-powered rifle. Johnson gives him a list of three cities where the President is scheduled to visit so Swagger can determine if an attempt could be made at any of them.

Swagger assesses each of the locations and determines that a site in Philadelphia would be most conducive to a long-range assassination attempt. He passes this information to Johnson, who purportedly arranges for a response. This turns out to be a set-up; while Swagger is working with Johnson's agents — including local police officer Timmons — to find the rumored assassin, the Ethiopian archbishop is instead assassinated while standing next to the president. Swagger is shot by officer Timmons, but manages to escape. The agents tell the police and public that Swagger is the shooter, and stage a massive manhunt for the injured sniper. However, Swagger has a stroke of luck—he meets a rookie FBI special agent, Nick Memphis (Michael Peña), disarms him, and steals his car.

Swagger uses the first aid supplies in the car to treat his wounds and escapes by driving into the Delaware River while being chased. He then takes refuge with Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara), widow of Swagger's late spotter and close friend Donnie Fenn, killed years before in a mission in Africa that Swagger himself barely survived. She saves his life by cleaning and stitching Swagger's gunshot wounds, and he later convinces her to help him contact Memphis with information on the conspiracy. Memphis is blamed for allowing Swagger's escape and is informed that he will face disciplinary review. Memphis argues that given Swagger's training and experience, it is surprising that the president survived and the archbishop standing several feet away was killed. He independently learns that Swagger may have been framed for the assassination by finding several inconsistencies in the evidence and witness statements provided to the FBI by an unnamed private agency. His suspicions rise further when the officer that shot Swagger was murdered hours later the same day, having it staged as a simple mugging.

When the rogue agents realize their secret is compromised, they kidnap Memphis and attempt to stage his suicide. Swagger tails the agents and kills Memphis' captors. Swagger and Memphis then join forces and visit a firearms expert (Levon Helm) in Athens, Tennessee, who provides valuable information on the FBI's ballistics report and a short list of people capable of taking a shot from a distance of one mile or more. Armed with this information, Swagger and Memphis plot to capture the person who they think is the real assassin, an ex-sniper allied with Colonel Johnson. Once they find him in Lynchburg, Virginia, he commits suicide after revealing that the archbishop was actually the real target and he was murdered to prevent his speaking out against U.S. involvement in the massacre of an Eritrean village. The massacre was carried out on behalf of a consortium of American corporate oil interests headed by corrupt Senator Charles Meachum (Ned Beatty). Swagger learns that the mission in which Fenn was killed was also a part of the massacre, as they were tasked to cover the withdrawal of the contractors assigned to the job. Swagger records the ex–sniper's confession of his involvement in the African massacre. Then, with Memphis' assistance, Swagger escapes from an ambush by killing 24 mercenaries.

Meanwhile, other rogue mercenaries, led by Johnson's psychotic right-hand man Jack Payne (Elias Koteas), have kidnapped Sarah to lure Swagger out of hiding. With his new evidence and cat and mouse strategy, Swagger and Memphis are able to rescue her when Colonel Johnson and Senator Meachum arrange a meeting to exchange their hostage for the evidence of their wrongdoing. After killing Payne and several enemy snipers in an isolated mountain range and rescuing Sarah, Swagger and Memphis surrender to the FBI.

Later, Swagger (in a prison jumpsuit) is brought before the attorney general and the FBI director in a closed-door meeting in Washington. The Colonel, Memphis, and Sarah also present. Swagger quickly clears his name by loading a rifle round (supplied by Memphis) into his rifle (which is there as evidence since it was supposedly used in the killing, even though the calibers between the M200 - .408 - and the Barrett actually used - .50 BMG - are completely different. An anomaly that would have shown up in the ballistics report), aims it at the Colonel, and pulls the trigger—which fails to fire the round. Swagger explains that every time he leaves his house, he removes the firing pins from all his guns, replacing them with slightly shorter ones, thus rendering them unable to fire until he returns. Although Swagger is exonerated, Colonel Johnson cannot be charged with a crime as the Eritrean massacre is outside American legal jurisdiction and he walks free. The attorney general approaches Swagger and states that he (the attorney general) must abide by the law. He also admonishes Swagger, saying, "It's not the Wild West anymore, you can't just clean up the streets with a gun, even though sometimes, that's exactly what's needed." Swagger remembers his words.

Afterwards, Johnson and the Senator Meachum plan their next move while at the Senator's vacation house—only to be interrupted by an attack by Swagger. He kills both conspirators, one of the Colonel's aides, and two bodyguards, then breaks open a gas valve before leaving. The fire in the fireplace ignites the gas, blowing up the house.

The final scene shows Swagger getting into a car with Sarah and driving away.

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Action , Thriller ,

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