Avatar

The story of Avatar is a camera sweeps high across the treeline of a lush, green world. Intercut is a sequence of images of Jake Sully , a crippled war veteran and former Marine, waking up in a giant spaceship on its way to Pandora, a lush Earth-like moon orbiting a blueish Jupiter-like planet. He is one of a large number of passengers, all waking up after almost six years of cryosleep en route to Pandora. Drifting out of his sleeping pod in zero G he's comforted by the ship's staff. He opens his locker marked SULLY T. Then, through voice-over and flashback with both hospital and military officials, we learn that Jake has a deceased twin brother -- Tom, a scientist -- who was to be part of a highest-level program overseen by corporate and military strategists. Because Jake and his brother are an exact genetic match, he was presented with a unique opportunity: take over his brother's contract with a corporate-military entity and travel light years away to an outpost on the previously glimpsed world, Pandora. Acknowledging the notions of "being free" and having a "fresh start," Jake agrees to the deal as his brother's body is cremated.

Now being transported from the spaceship to Pandora via a shuttle, Jake is one of many soldiers and civilian personnel about to touch down on Pandora, actually a moon of the planet of Polyphemus, some 4.3 light years from Earth. We catch views of the base and its construction as Jake ponders his new role. The passengers are all instructed to wear a full-face breathing mask since the atmosphere of the planet will not support human life for long. While the other passengers disembark and take their first steps onto the base, Jake follows them in his wheelchair. He acknowledges through voice-over that he lost the use of his legs during one of his tours of duty on Earth, and while a spine can be fixed, that "takes money," which is tough to come by in the present economy.

Jake goes immediately to a military briefing where Colonel Miles Quaritch is addressing the assembled soldiers. He reminds them they're "not in Kansas any more," and he tells them about Pandora's indigenous population, the Na'vi. Quaritch says they are "hard to kill" and practically everything "out there" will try to kill you. And, while it's his job to keep his people alive, he says he will not succeed in this task "not with all of you." If they wish to survive, he continues, they will have to follow "Pandora Rules."

Jake goes to a science lab where he meets biologist Norm Spellman and Dr. Max Patel , two members of the Avatar Program. As Jake gets his first look at his own avatar, we learn about the program itself.

Humans are unable to breathe Pandora's air, but the Avatar Program enables a human to link with their own avatar, a genetically-bred human-Na'vi hybrid, and function as if they were a Na'vi native. In his avatar body, Jake will be able to walk again and breathe the atmosphere.

Jake and Norm enter the science area just about the time Dr. Grace Augustine , the program's science lead, awakens in her pod and flips open the top. Norm says to Jake he hears she likes "plants better than people." She arises from her pod and converses in Na'vi with Norm. Satisfied with Norm's command of the language, she turns to Jake. She tells him she needs his brother Tom, the PhD who trained 3 years for the Pandora mission, but she doesn't need him, since Jake had had no lab experience or has never been linked to his avatar.

Grace storms off to the base's control room to confront Parker Selfridge Ribisi), base commander and representative for the Resources Development Administration, an organization that oversees all military and other personnel on the colony. He tells her Jake will serve as a security escort on her team while they're on the planet's surface. Grace tells Parker she needs a researcher, not a "jarhead dropout." She doubts Jake will be of any use to her botanical research. Parker replies, "Grace, you know how much I enjoy these conversations with you," but in this case he disagrees, says they "lucked out" with Jake, and since he's a perfect genetic match for the avatar intended for his twin brother, they can use his military skills in an avatar body toward the overall objective of the operation -- mining the mineral "unobtanium," a potent source of energy that sells for many millions a kilo, and can bring cheap power back to a dying Earth. Parker tells Grace one way to help accomplish this objective is to win the hearts and minds of the natives, to obtain their cooperation.

Back in the lab next morning, Jake and Norm are linked to their avatars for the first time. Jake, in his avatar, wakes up in a different room with other avatars and staff. Within a few moments, Jake is making his handlers nervous because, overjoyed with his ability to move his legs again, he is moving too quickly and trying to walk, the first time he has been able to do so since becoming a paraplegic. The human lab workers cannot stop him; a Na'vi is over 10 feet tall, usually closer to 12 feet, and far stronger than humans. When his long tail knocks over instruments, a staff member tells him to stop and lie down again. Jake ignores him and bursts out of the room and into the daylight. He finds himself in a recreation area where other avatars are playing sports and staff, in their protective gear, are performing various duties. Jake meets Grace's avatar, who, better-tempered than human Grace, accompanies Jake to the barracks where he is eventually encouraged to rest. When the avatar sleeps, the link is broken and human Jake awakens.

Jake later meets Trudy Chacon , a retired Marine pilot with whom he'll spend several weeks getting used to his avatar and exploring Pandora. Jake will serve as the door gunner on her crew.

Jake reunites with Col. Quaritch, who is lifting weights. The Colonel tells Jake he's looked up his service record and was impressed with what he accomplished on some of his tours, including one in Venezuela. The Colonel warns Jake about the dangers awaiting him on Pandora. He also states his belief that the Avatar Program is a joke but that it offers an opportunity for a unique reconnaissance mission: If Jake can find out and tell the Colonel what he wants to know about the natives how to persuade them to move away from the unobtainium ore deposits and how to hit them hard if they won't, the Colonel will see to it that Jake gets the surgery he needs to regain use of his legs. Because, the Colonel says, he takes care of his own. The Colonel climbs into an AMP suit -- a bipedal exoskeleton used for missions on Pandora -- and moves off.

Relinked with his avatar, Jake is flying over Pandora's surface in Trudy's gunship, along with Grace, Norm, and others. The team lands in a forest, where Grace and Norm begin to take samples and make measurements. Jake is distracted by his surroundings and wanders into a field of helicoradian flowers, which are quite tall and shrink at Jake's touch. Trouble arrives when a titanotheres a heavily-armored dinosaur-like creature -- confronts Jake. Grace orders him to stand his ground and not shoot, or else the animal will get angry and charge. His armor is too thick for guns to have any effect anyway. Jake successfully holds his ground, but only because a larger creature, a thanator, has approached him from behind and has caused the titanotheres to retreat. The thanator then turns to Jake. Grace tells him to run, and he's pursued by the thanator in a chase that separates Jake from his crew. He loses his gun and is downed by the animal, but frees himself by releasing his backpack. Ultimately, the chase leads to a waterfall, where Jake jumps to safety, leaving the thanator alone above him.

Jake's crew searches for him but Trudy says they'll have to return to base since night ops are not allowed. Grace says he won't last the night.

It's now night and we see Jake sharpening a long stick into a spear. Jake is being watched from above, this time by a Na'vi. The Na'vi aims an arrow at Jake and is about to shoot, but decides against it when small ethereal luminescent creatures land on her bow (we later learn they are "very pure spirits" also known as the "seeds of Eywa"). The archer retreats. Jake is stalked by a pack of viperwolves. He dips the end of his spear into a combustible pitch-like liquid. He lights the end and uses it as a a torch against the viperwolves, who encircle him, teeth bared, jaws gnashing. The animals attack Jake; he fights back, kills some, is taken down by others and then the archer who was observing Jake joins the battle on his side. She kills some viperwolves and causes the rest to flee. She tenderly puts out of their misery some whimpering wounded animals and says prayers over them. Jake attempts to thank her for helping him fight off the attackers. She meets his thanks with scorn, tells him all this is his fault, that they did not need to die, and that he should "go back" to where he came from. Jake asks if she feels that way, why she helped him. "You have a strong heart. No fear," she explains. "But stupid!"

Jake attempts to follow his rescuer up into a tree, asks for her help, says he wants to learn. He's repulsed and told to "go back,".that sky people can't be taught. Just then, the seeds of Eywa reappear and start to land on Jake. He asks what they are. "Very pure spirits," she replies, and Jake is covered by them, making an impression on his companion. As the seeds start to leave, she now tells him to come.

As Jake tries to keep up with his rescuer, Neytiri , he is felled by a bolo thrown by a patrol of Omaticayan warriors. Their leader is Tsu'Tey , next in line to the throne and the man Neytiri is expected to marry. Neytiri stops them from harming Jake by telling them "there has been a sign from Eywa." Tsu'Tey tells his men to "bring him" along to "tashik" father, approximate spelling and "eywa" mother.

Jake is presented to Neytiri's parents, Eytukan and Mo'at, who are the king and queen of the tribe, respectively. Jake tells the elders that he is a warrior -- a "dreamwalker" -- and his intention is to learn from them. Mo'at tastes Jake's blood from a wound on his forehead and decrees it is the will of Eywa for him to live with the Omaticaya, and for Neytiri, however reluctantly, to be his teacher in their ways and customs. After a ritual gathering, Jake is brought to his bed, a leaf high up in the "Hometree" that encircles him like a cocoon. As he falls asleep, human Jake is revived.

At morning chow, all the scientists, including Grace, are focused on everything Jake has to say. Even the military and corporate reps have warmed to him. Hometree sits atop a massive deposit of unobtainium so Jake appears to be their best shot to convince the Omaticaya to move or advise the Colonel how he can force them to do so. He's informed that he has three months to achieve his objective before the bulldozers arrive.

The next series of scenes revolve around avatar Jake's training with Neytiri and human Jake's reporting his experiences via the videolog he dictates after every day's activity. He bonds with his direhorse, an important animal to the Na'vi. Jake must learn to mount the animal and connect his neural queue to its antenna. Human Jake continues to report on the Hometree's infrastructure and other Na'vi details.

Grace decides to take her operation "out of Dodge" into the Hallelujah Mountains a system of remote, floating islands that are sacred to the Na'vi and are also rich in unobtanium. Grace wants her turf away from the RDA officials and military types at the Base.

In his next videolog, Jake discusses his language lessons and says his time with the Na'vi is like "field-stripping a weapon." Enough repetition and you can't help but learn it. This is intercut with scenes of his continued training with Neytiri, who teaches him about the Na'vi-forest connection. She tells Jake that all energy is borrowed and one day we have to give it back. Jake seems to comprehend this, and as he says a prayer for an animal he hunted and just killed, Neytiri says that he is ready for an important rite of passage: to bond with and ride a "declan" a flying mountain banshee.

Several factors the height, the ferocity of the untamed banshees make this a dangerous lesson, but Jake's lack of fear and successful bond with his banshee earn him the grudging respect of the Na'vi warriors present, even Tsu'Tey. He makes the bond, and as he rides the flying animal, remarks that he's not much of a horseman but he was "born to do this." Jake, Neytiri, and the others ride together to the Tree of Souls, the most sacred place to the Na'vi.

While flying on a hunting sortie, Jake and Neytiri are suddenly pursued and attacked by a creature known to the Na'vi as toruk, a giant and brightly-colored flying mountain banshee with murderous intentions toward everything that flies. Neytiri says its name means "last shadow"the toruk's shadow, once seen, is usually the last shadow one ever gets to see, as its attack is almost always fatal. Back at Hometree, Neytiri shows Jake a skeleton of a precursor of the present toruk. She tells him the last person to ride a toruk was her grandfather's grandfather, who used the animal to unite the five Na'vi tribes in a time of great sorrow. Such a person would earn the title Toruk Mato, "Rider of the Last Shadow."

When Jake comes back to his human form, it's clear he's been changed by this latest experience, for he says, "out there is the real world ... in here is the dream." The Colonel comes over to him to tell him his mission is accomplished and he's to return to Earth that day. And good for his word, the Colonel has arranged for Jake to get the treatment he needs to regain use of his legs. Jake wishes to delay his departure because he says he's right at the point at which he's to be initiated into the tribe and accepted as one of them, and then would have the status to negotiate with the Na'vi to relocate. The Colonel acquiesces.

Cut to the ceremony, where Jake learns the Na'vi believe that every person can be born twice. Neytiri leads Jake to a place of prayer, the "tree of voices," where they bond with the tree. Neytiri tells Jake he can make a bow from the tree and that he can choose a woman. Jake tells Neytiri that he has already chosen her, and she says that she has chosen him. They sleep together under the tree.

They sleep together under the tree. In the morning, Neytiri awakens to falling trees, then the presence of bulldozers. Soldiers are advancing as the forest falls around Neytiri, who is dragging and carrying Jake to safety. When he finally revives, Jake climbs onto one of the bulldozers and tries to stop it, eventually blinding its camera system and drawing some gunfire. Other Na'vi warriors arrive, while the Colonel, reviewing films back at the base, recognizes Jake in his avatar form as the person who tried to stop their mission.

At Hometree, the Na'vi want war. Grace and Jake argue against it. There's an intense debate. Tsu'Tey tries to kill Jake, for he had just found out that Jake and Neytiri are mated for life. Jake declares he is a Na'vi and deserves the right to speak. Then, suddenly, both Grace and Jake's avatars fall unconscious as the links between them and their human forms are abruptly broken by the enraged Colonel.

Grace and Jake face off with RDA and military brass. Grace reveals that Pandora's trees form a network that has more neural connections than exist in the human brain. That the Na'vi can tap into that network. That the Omaticaya will never leave Hometree. And that the RDA doesn't know what they are messing with. Parker and the Colonel discuss options. Gas out the Na'vi ... turn gunships on Hometree ... Jake lobbies to return to the Omaticaya to try to convince them to leave, and he's granted one hour to achieve that objective.

Jake and Grace are not welcomed back. Neytiri rejects Jake. Both are bound and left behind by the Omaticaya, who are preparing to fight against the humans.

The humans launch gas canisters into Hometree and the surrounding area. Rockets are fired. The military is advancing on the ground and in the air. As the battle escalates, most of the weaponry is focused on Hometree, which is toppled by a series of explosions and heavy artillery. Many Omaticaya are killed. Mo'at frees Jake and Grace and asks them to save the tribe. A dying Eytukan tells Neytiri to take his bow and protect their people. Jake arrives and is rejected again by Neytiri when he tries to console her.

The destruction seems endless, and, suddenly, Jake and Grace return to their human bodies and are promptly placed under arrest for treason. Norm is also arrested for trying to prevent soldiers from disabling their avatar forms.

Some time has passed, and, Hometree having fallen, the Na'vi gather at the Tree of Souls.

Trudy arrives at the cell which holds Jake, Grace, and Norm. She dupes their guard by saying she wants nothing to do with them, only to knock out the guard an instant later. In the attempt to flee the base in Trudy's ship, Grace is shot and wounded by the Colonel. The team flies to the Tree of Souls, where the Omaticaya have relocated. Jake returns to his avatar body.

The hopeful reunion with the Omaticaya is not to be, initially. Jake is an outcast, an alien. So he makes a bold decision. He realizes that to regain the trust of the Na'vi, he has to take things to a higher level. He summons his banshee and sets off to find the toruk. We see him jumping down onto the back of the toruk, and we next see him arrive riding the toruk at the Tree of Souls in the middle of an Omaticayan ceremony. The stunned Omaticaya have never seen anything like this. Jake dismounts and makes his way through the crowd of Na'vi, who, awed, part before him. When he reaches Neytiri, each holds out an arm to the other and she says "I see you." Tsu'Tey, who is now tribe leader, is stunned at Jake's accomplishment, and concedes his qualifying as Toruk Mato. He accords Jake much respect.

Jake convinces Mo'at to help Grace, who is dying. Mo'at begins the preparations, which involve getting Grace's human and avatar bodies in place at the Tree of Souls. The idea is to permanently transfer Grace's consciousness to her avatar. Mo'at lets it be known that Grace must pass through the eye of Eywa, and that the great mother might choose to let her pass through to her avatar self, or she might opt to have Grace remain with her. The ritual is not successful, though before she dies, Grace tells Jake that she has seen Eywa. Jake, heartbroken and furious, speaks as Toruk Mato and says it's time to 'send a message' to the sky people that this is their, the Na'vi's, land. But to do so, they first must go to each of the Na'vi clans to ask them to come and fight as one.

The human military have picked up the infusion of Na'vi into the area, from a few hundred to 2000 within a day. At this rate, the Colonel says as he addresses his troops, the Na'vi will soon total 20,000, at which point their perimeter will be overrun. Rather than let that happen, he continues, they must stage a pre-emptive attack while they still can. Their plan is to turn a space shuttle into the carrier of a massive bomb. Their target is the Tree of Souls, and the attack is planned for 0600 the next day. Their thinking is if they can destroy the Tree of Souls the Na'vi will go away and never come near this place again.

Jake is busy rallying the Omaticaya. At the Tree of Souls, he asks Eywa to look into Grace's memories, and stresses that humankind killed their mother (Earth), the entity that protects the balance of life. Neytiri appears and tells Jake that Eywa does not take sides.

The story jumps to the day of the final battle. The military forces are close and the bombship is moving toward the Tree of Souls. The united Na'vi force begins to arrive from the sky and on the ground. Jake on his toruk, Tsu'Tey, and other warriors engage in battle with the military aircraft, mainly Scorpion assault ships. Casualties mount on both sides. The gunships have unmatched firepower, but are no match for the declans, who grab hold of them and smash them against each other..

A flurry of main-character action: Jake, riding the toruk, is pursued and shot at by Col. Quaritch's ship; Trudy arrives and opens fire on the Colonel's command ship; Neytiri's banshee is shot down and killed; Norm's avatar is mortally wounded and he jumps back to his human form; Tsu'Tey takes on the bombship and is killed in the attempt; Trudy dies when her ship is blown up.

Neytiri watches this action from the ground. Jake attempts to contact Tsu'Tey and is unsuccessful, as is his attempt to reach Trudy. Meanwhile, the bombship closes in on the Tree of Souls.

Jake tells Neytiri via communicator to disengage from the fight. Suddenly, through what's left of the surrounding forest, a battalion of Titanotheres, Pandora's heavily armored dinosaur-like animals, arrives and engages the Earth forces. They quickly lay waste to infantry and soldiers in AMP suits. Neytiri observes this and tells Jake that his prayer to Eywa for help has been heard as the animals rout the humans on the ground.

Jake and his toruk take to the sky to confront the bombship as the military's ground forces retreat in disarray. Jake grenades the bombship. It begins to fall and burn and crashes in flames and explosions well away from the Tree of Souls. Jake also throws explosives into vulnerable parts of the command ship. It begins to burn and go down.

Col. Quaritch puts on an AMP suit and jumps free of the command ship before it disintegrates in a ball of flames. He makes his way to the temporary camp set up by Grace and the others when they moved operations away from the base. Human Jake, of course, is inside the camp and linked to his avatar. Quaritch, set on killing Jake, is now attacked by the thanator that carried Neytiri there on its back. With the aid of his AMP suit the Colonel kills the thanator and Neytiri is trapped underneath it.

Before the Colonel has a chance to kill Neytiri as well, avatar Jake arrives. The two engage in combat, the Colonel in his AMP suit and Jake as his avatar, armed only with a piece of pipe. Jake smashes the suit's plastic canopy, the Colonel pops it off, dons a breathing mask, and, before he moves off toward the structures that house the pods, asks Jake how it feels to have betrayed his race. "You think you're one of them? Time to wake up," he taunts, as he smashes into a structure, looking for Jake's pod and intent on destroying it and human Jake. The battle resumes. Jake is grabbed by an arm of the AMP suit and hangs from his queue before the Colonel. Meanwhile, Neytiri has almost freed herself.

The Colonel now moves Jake closer to him and reaches for his knife, intending to finish Jake by slitting his throat. But Neytiri has freed herself from beneath her dying thanator. She shoots an arrow at the Colonel that penetrates deeply into the center of his chest. The Colonel reels, now unable to continue his attack on Jake. Neytiri's second arrow lodges right next to the first. It brings him in the AMP suit to the ground. However, much damage has been done to the camp, which is leaking oxygen. Human Jake is awake but having difficulty both breathing and trying to get a mask on. Neytiri arrives and helps Jake on with his mask. Cradling human Jake, she says, "I see you."

Cut to the former military base, which is now under Na'vi control. Most of the remaining humans are being marched into a shuttle to be shipped back to Earth; however, a selected few Earth people, such as Norm and Dr. Patel, are invited to stay on Pandora.

Jake signs off in his final videolog, where we learn that he has chosen to transfer his consciousness to his avatar for good. In a ceremony similar to Grace's, Jake passes through the eye of Eywa and wakes up in his avatar with Neytiri watching over him.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The story of Lord of the Rings is Sméagol, an ancient stoor, murders his relative deagolto possess the one rings. His possession eventually transformed him into the creature Gollum . Centuries later, Gollum takes Frado Baggins and Samwise Gamgee to Minas Morgul . Aragon, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Theoden, Gamling and Eomer meet Merry, Pippin and Treebeard at Isengard, now under the Ent's control, where Gandalf concludes Saruman will pose no further threat. They also recover a palantir from the ruins. The group returns to Edoras , where Théoden holds a feast in celebration of the victory at Helm's Deep . Pippin's curiosity gets the better of him, and he looks into the Palantir , where he sees a vision of a dead white tree; he is seen and mentally interrogated by Sauron , though Pippin tells him nothing regarding Frodo and the Ring. From this, Gandalf deduces Sauron is planning to attack Minas Tirith , and he rides off there with Pippin. In the meantime, Arwen, on her way to the Undying Lands , has a vision of her son by Aragorn and convinces Elrond to reforge the sword Narsil that cut the Ring from Sauron's finger at the Last Alliance . Sam overhears Gollum's treacherous plans to murder them and take the Ring for himself, but Frodo does not believe him. Gollum plays on this, trying to turn Frodo and Sam against each other.

Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith to find the steward Denethor mourning his son Boromir , and Pippin swears loyalty to him, as Boromir had saved his life at Amon Hen . Gandalf warns Denethor that Sauron is now ready to strike and urges him to call Rohan for aid. Denethor declines, fearing Aragorn and Gandalf plan to depose him. That night, Gandalf and Pippin witness a pillar of green fire rise from Minas Morgul, where the Witch-King of Angmar sends off his army, heralding the start of the war. Frodo, Sam and Gollum begin climbing the Cirith Ungol stairway. The Morgul army, led by the Nazgul, drives the Gondorians out of Osgiliath . Denethor orders his youngest and least favored son Faramir out on a suicide mission to reclaim the city. Faramir and his knights are apparently killed by the masses of Orcs waiting in the ruined city. Meanwhile, Gollum persuades Frodo that Sam wants the Ring for himself, and Frodo angrily tells Sam to go home. Back in Minas Tirith, Pippin has begun the long line of beacon signals to Edoras, where Théoden and Aragorn lead the Rohirrim to Dunharrow to prepare for battle. At Dunharrow, Legolas tells Gimli of the legend of the haunted mountain Dwimorberg , which overlooks the camp, as Éomer says, "that mountain is evil". Aragorn also meets Elrond, who informs him that Arwen is dying and her "fate is now tied to the fate of the Ring" and warns him they are outnumbered by Sauron's army. He also warns him of a fleet of Corsair Ships, that are approaching Minas Tirith secretly from the south. Elrond presents Aragorn with the newly reforged Anduril and tells him to brave the Paths of the Dead , where he may acquire the help of the cursed Army of the Dead , who owe allegiance to the Heir of Isildur. Eowyn tries to convince him not to go, confessing her love for him, but Aragorn, who already loves Arwen and knows she has sacrificed her immortality to be with him, tells her to seek love with someone else and bids her goodbye. Along with Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn ventures into the Paths of the Dead and meets the Army of the Dead at Dunharrow. Aragorn gains the loyalty of the King of the Dead and his men by brandishing the sword Andúril, proving himself as the heir of Isildur. The trio then capture the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar , who had intended to launch a surprise attack on Minas Tirith. At Dunharrow, Théoden rides off to war with over 6,000 Riders, unaware Éowyn and Merry are part of the army too.

Sauron's armies begin the siege of Minas Tirith. The Witch-king and Gothmog lead the Orcs, while Gandalf leads the defenders. The Orcs launch catapults, destroying several of the buildings. The Gondorians return fire and destroy several of Sauron's catapults and siege towers. The Nazgul arrives at the battle and destroy several of Gondor's trebuchets and also kill several Gondorian soldiers. The Orcs take heavy casualties but manage to scale the walls. A fierce battle ensues on the defensive walls. The Orcs take down the gate at night fall, and thousands of Orcs swarm through. The Gondorians fight bravely, but the attack is overwhelming, and they abandon the lower levels of the city. Denethor, meanwhile, has gone mad and prepares to burn Faramir and himself alive. Gandalf and Pippin ride to the rescue of Faramir. Just then, Theoden's army of 6,000 appears at the cracks of dawn. Theoden rallies his men, and they charge into the Orc armies. Gandalf and Pippin save Faramir, and Denethor commits suicide. The Orcs take heavy losses and are on the verge of defeat, but the Haradrim then arrives on the battlefield. The Orcs and the Haradrim charge the Rohirrim. Theoden rallies his army again, and then themselves charge. The Haradrim inflict serious losses on the Rohirrim, even though Éomer kills the leader of the Haradrim. As the battle rages, the Witch-king attacks Theoden and fatally wounds him. The Witch-king prepares to finish off Theoden, but Éowyn blocks his way. Éowyn duels with the Witch-king and kills him with Merry's help. Despite the Witch-king's death, the Rohirrim are on the verge of defeat, until Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli arrive with the Army of the Dead. In the last stages of the battle, Aragorn and Gimli kill Gothmog and the Army of the Dead annihilate Sauron's forces, ending the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in a costly Gondorian/Rohirrim victory. Theoden then dies with Éowyn at his side. Aragorn frees the Army of the Dead and their souls go to the afterlife.

Meanwhile, Frodo is betrayed by Gollum, who flees and leaves Frodo to be attacked by a giant spider named Shelob. Shelob paralyzes Frodo, but Sam saves him in the nick of time and, thinking Frodo is dead, takes the Ring from him. An Orc battalion captures Frodo and reveals that he is alive as they take him to a nearby tower. Sam rescues Frodo from the tower, mostly empty following a fight among the Orc garrison over the mithril shirt, and they begin the journey to Mount Doom. Gandalf realises that over 10,000 Orcs stand on the road between Cirith Ungol and Mount Doom, that would make Frodo's journey impossible. Aragorn leads all the men who survived the battle to the Black Gate to distract Sauron and to call out his armies. Sam carries Frodo up to Mount Doom but Gollum reappears and attacks them, just as the Men of the West furiously battle the Orcs. Frodo, at the Crack of Doom , succumbs to the Ring's power and refuses to destroy it. Gollum, who had been following them, attacks Frodo and bites off his finger, seizing the Ring for himself. Frodo attacks him to get it back, and they both fall over the cliff; Frodo grabs the ledge just in time, but Gollum falls into the lava, taking the Ring with him. Sauron is defeated once and for all, and the destruction of his form creates an immense shockwave that kills most of the Orcs; the rest perish as the whole of Mordor is wracked by intense earthquakes, leaving the Men of the West unharmed.

Frodo and Sam are stranded until Gandalf arrives with the Eagles, and they awake in Minas Tirith, finally reuniting with their friends. Aragorn is crowned King, heralding the new age of peace, and is reunited with Arwen. When Aragorn meets the hobbits , who bow before him, he stops them and says, "You bow to no one". He and the surviving Free Peoples bow to the Hobbits in honour of their heroic deeds. The Hobbits return home to the Shire , where Sam marries his childhood sweetheart, Rosie Cotton . Frodo, however, has suffered too much in his quest to return to his old life, and leaves Middle-earth with Gandalf,Bilbo , Elrond, Celeborn and Galadriel at the Grey Havens , leaving his account of the story to Sam. Frodo bids goodbye to his friends before boarding the ship, which sets sail for the Undying Lands. The three remaining Hobbits head back to the Shire and Sam is seen greeted by Rosie and his eldest daughter, Elanor .

The Dark Night

The movie begins with a gang of men with clown masks breaking into the bank where the mob has a large portion of their money stashed. It begins with five clowns, each getting a cut of the spoils. They suggest that a sixth member of the gang - nicknamed 'The Joker' - who did the planning, but sat out the robbery, doesn't deserve a cut. As the robbery goes on, the clowns begin to kill each other in order to get a larger cut, until a school bus crashes through the wall of the bank, killing another clown. A mob bank manager, who was himself shot with an automatic weapon after he tried to take out the clowns with a shotgun, tells the remaining clown that he doesn't know who he is dealing with. The clown kneels down and tells the banker, "Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you...stranger..." then removes his mask to reveal that he himself is The Joker. Joker puts a grenade into the banker's mouth and boards the bus, leaving a string attached to the pin. The bus pulls out with all of the bank's cash and the pin pops out. It is just a gas grenade. The Joker joins a long line of school buses leaving the scene as the police arrive.

Gotham is then seen at night with criminals afraid to commit crimes under the watchful sign of the batsignal projected onto the clouds. We see Lt. James Gordon manning the batsignal, waiting for Batman with Det. Anna Ramirez, who asks if he's coming. Gordon explains that it is okay if he is not, hoping that he is busy elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in a parking garage, the Scarecrow is negotiating with the Russian mob members over the sale of some of his fear-inducing drugs. The sale is interrupted when some of Gotham's citizens dressed as Batmen wanna-be's begin shooting at the men. As he gases one of the fake Batmen with his mind-altering drugs from his cuff, the Scarecrow notes that they are not the real Batman, because Batman would never use a gun. Suddenly the Batmobile/Tumbler crashes through a barricade and Scarecrow notes, "That's more like it!" The Batmobile fires rockets into a nearby office, causing the remaining mobsters to begin to flee. The real Batman arrives on the scene and bends the rifle of one of the wanna-be Batmen before knocking him out.

The Chechen sends his rottweilers to attack the Batmen, and as Batman saves them he takes the dogs out after being badly bitten in the arm. The Scarecrow attempts to flee in a white van but Batman jumps onto the van and begins cutting into the side with his device called the mangler. Scarecrow swerves into a support which sends Batman to the ground. As Scarecrow gets away down a spiraling passageway, Batman leaps onto the roof of his van, smashing it to a halt. He leaves the fake Batmen and the Scarecrow along with some of the mobsters tied up together for the police to eventually round up.

Gordon arrives at the bank the Joker held up earlier with Ramirez who shows him the Joker's picture from a security camera. Batman arrives to inspect the scene, noting that they have irradiated the drug money to make it easier to trace. When Gordon asks him if the Joker is a threat, Batman informs him that he cannot worry about one man when there is an entire mob to bring down.

The next day, as Bruce Wayne stitches himself up from the dog bite, Alfred offers his concerns, warning Bruce to 'know his limits'. He notices Bruce keeping a close watch on newly appointed district attorney Harvey Dent via some computer screens, as Bruce is trying to decide whether or not Dent can be trusted. Alfred wonders if he is really spying on the relationship that Rachel Dawes has developed with Harvey Dent.

Harvey Dent arrives in court to join Rachel Dawes in prosecuting mobster Salvatore Maroni, the alleged new leader of the Falcone crime family. One of Maroni's men takes the fall in court, and attempts to shoot Dent from the witness stand. The gun doesn't go off and Dent punches the man before he is hauled off to jail. Maroni is eventually set free, to the dismay of Dent.

Dent meets Lt. Gordon, and after a short exchange of words, they both express their distrust for those that are working in each other's offices. Harvey interrogates Gordon over his involvement with the Batman and Harvey tells him he wants to meet him. Gordon requests search warrants for five banks that are believed to be holding the remainder of the mobs money. Dent agrees to back Gordon's search warrants, forming a tenuous trust with the honest Gordon, who in turn hails Dent as Gotham's "White Knight" while Dent questions Gordon about another nickname they had for him when he was at I.A.D., a nickname Gordon claims to have no knowledge of.

Lucius Fox holds a board meeting at Wayne Enterprises, negotiating an joint venture with Lau, the head of Lau Security Investments, based in Hong Kong. After the meeting with Lau, Wayne expresses his reservations with Lucius Fox about Lau's business operation, apparently illegal based on their profits. After agreeing to cancel the deal, Wayne asks Fox for a new suit. He explains that he needs to be lighter, and faster, in case he runs into any more guard dogs.

That night, Harvey dines out with Rachel. Harvey tells Rachel he had to make a reservation weeks earlier, and even then needed to exercised his influence to get a table at the very fashionable restaurant. Bruce and his date, the prima ballerina for the Russian ballet, encounter Rachel and Harvey. Bruce has them pull a table together so they can dine together, informing Harvey that he owns the restaurant. At first, Bruce seems jealous and threatened by Harvey, based on the fact that he is dating his own love interest, but Harvey explains how he supports the work of Batman and appreciates his help. Bruce changes his tune and informs Harvey that he intends to throw a massive fund-raiser for him.

Meanwhile, all of the top mob members are having a meeting. Because of their inside sources in the police, they were aware that the banks that their money was stashed in were going to be searched. Lau appears to them on a television monitor from his plane on his way back to Hong Kong. He informs the mob that all of their money has already been moved to a single secure location, just as Lt. Gordon and company are searching the banks, finding nothing but the irradiated trace money. When the Chechen expresses concern over the man with the clown makeup stealing $68 million from one of their banks, Maroni dismisses him as nothing but a nobody.

The Joker enters in the room, and after killing a hostile mob member's crony by way of a 'magic trick', sits down and talks with the mob about how pathetic they've become since Batman came around. He tells them their one solution is to 'Kill the Batman', and offers to do so for half the mob's money. He warns them about Lau, saying he knows a squealer when he sees one, causing Lau to promptly turn off his monitor. The mob laughs, and as one of the mobsters, Gambol, rises from his seat and threatens the Joker, the Joker opens his coat, exposing grenades. Gambol tells the Joker that he's putting a price out on his head. The Joker tells the mob that when they plan to take things a little more seriously, give him a call, and presents them with 'his card', a joker playing card. And with that, he exits. But not before warning that Batman will come for Lau.

Harvey Dent, with Gordon, lights the batsignal to meet with Batman, who appears. As Dent and Gordon blame one another for the money's disappearance due to leaks from corrupt officers in the other's departments, they explain to Batman that they need Lau back, realizing that Batman is under no one's jurisdiction. They want to make him talk, and give up all the mob members' names. Batman agrees and disappears.

Fox shows Wayne his new suit, and Wayne begins planning an impromptu trip to Hong Kong. Fox will accompany him, making it look like the only reason for his visit was to cancel the negotiations with Lau's company.

Gambol is playing pool with some of his associates until one of them informs him that a group of hoodlums havd killed the Joker, and has the body. The body is brought in covered in a bag, and as Gambol is about to pay, the Joker rises up and holds a knife to his face while his men hold guns to his associates' heads. The Joker tells a story about how he got his scars from his father, and then kills Gambol. He offers the three surviving associates an opportunity to join his team, but he has only one opening. He leave the three with the halves of a broken, sharp pool stick and no choice but to fight each other for their lives.

Meanwhile, Fox arrives in Hong Kong to meet with Lau. He checks in his mobile phone at the front desk at Lau's building, as there are no cell phones allowed on the premises. Fox meets with Lau, and informs him of Wayne Enterprises' plans to cancel negotiations with his company. However, he secretly keeps one cell phone in his pocket, which has been adapted to produce a sonar map of the surrounding area. Upon leaving the building, he does not pick up the phone he dropped off, and he produces the map of the building to Bruce Wayne. That night, the phone that Fox left at the front desk emits a high frequency that shuts down all power in the building. Batman crashes in through a window in Lau's office, and after disabling some guards, grabs Lau and escapes by sending a balloon attached to a cable to a plane he has chartered flying over Lau's building.

Back in Gotham, Lau is interrogated by Rachel with Dent and Gordon looking on. Rachel presses him to give them the money Lau has taken, but Lau will not give in. After she threatens to have him moved to the County lock-up, Lau tells her that he can give them the names of the mobsters and their pooled investments. Dent then realizes that they will have the leverage they need in a RICO case of conspiracy to link all of the mob members together. Gordon decides to keep Lau in his holding cell at the Major Case Unit building and Lau agrees to cooperate with the police, and give the names of the mob members.

Gordon appears at Maroni's restaurant as the police rush in to arrest all of the mob members in attendance. As all of the mob members that Lau informed the police are rounded up for arraignment, Judge Janet Surrillo finds a Joker card in the middle of the stack of conviction papers. Dent gives a televised impromptu interview denying Batman's involvement while expressing gratitude for the police work in bringing the mob members to justice.

Dent, Gordon, and Commissioner Loeb meet with the mayor to tell him that Dent's rash indictment of the mob members will give the mayor clean streets for 18 months. The mayor informs Dent that his brash actions will bring down the full might of Gotham's underworld and corrupt citizens solely upon him. When the mayor asks if Dent is ready to be the city's target the dead body of a Batman wanna-be hanging by a noose slams against the mayor's window dressed up in a Batman suit, with makeup on his face like the Joker's - complete with the sides of the mouth sliced into a grin - and with a Joker card pinned to him reading 'Will the real Batman please stand up?'. Bruce and Alfred watch on as a video tape is played on the news of the Joker tormenting the wanna-be before killing him. He then promises that until Batman takes off his mask and shows everyone who he really is, people will die every day.

As Harvey Dent's fund-raiser at Wayne's penthouse gets underway, Rachel and a nervous Dent arrive and mingle. Wayne arrives with three models via helicopter and seeks out Harvey, whom he applauds and throws his full support behind claiming, "I believe in Harvey Dent." Minutes later, Rachel meets with Bruce on the balcony upset that Bruce is making fun at Dent but Bruce tells her that he truly believes in Harvey and that he could be the White Knight that will allow him to hang up his mantle as Batman so they can be together. Dent joins them to thank Bruce and retrieve Rachel.

Meanwhile Gordon discovers that there are 3 traces of DNA on the Joker card, from Commissioner Loeb, Harvey Dent, and Judge Surrillo, the Judge that is trying all of the mob members and found the card among the paperwork. Gordon takes this as a threat on their lives, and begins preparations to protect them. In the case of the Judge and Commissioner Loeb, however, this fails. The Judge's car blows up when the police arrive to take her into protective custody and Commissioner Loeb dies of severe poisoning from his liquor bottle before Gordon can stop him from drinking.

Dent takes Rachel aside to ask her to marry him, but she is torn and cannot give him an answer. Bruce subdues Dent and locks him in a closet while Rachel watches in shock. Bruce tells Rachel that they (the Joker and his goons) have come for Harvey and to stay hidden from sight.

The Joker and his goons burst in telling the guests that they are tonight's 'entertainment." The Joker scans the room seeking out Harvey Dent when Rachel steps forward. He grabs her and pulls a knife on her telling her a different version of the story about how he got his scars, claiming that his wife was scarred by loan sharks and that he took a razor to himself to "make her smile," but that she left him over it. Rachel kicks him away and he comes after her saying that he likes that "little fight" in her, when Batman shows up and sends him reeling. A fight breaks out between Batman, the Joker, and his goons with the Joker and the goons beating on Batman pretty well. When Batman gains the upper hand he sees the Joker holding a gun at Rachel's head as he dangles her out of a shot out window. Batman demands he let her go, to which the Joker replies "Very poor choice of words" and lets her fall. Batman dives out the window and saves her using his cape to slow their fall as they crash into the roof of a car on the street. The Joker apparently vanishes from the scene.

The next day, Wayne tries to figure out what the Joker is after. Alfred relates a story of when he was in Burma with friends attempting to nullify the local criminals by bribing them with jewels. One thief however, tossed these bribes away and continued to raid the local convoys. When Bruce seems confused over this behavior Alfred informs him that some men can't be reasoned with, they don't want anything in particular, that they kill for sport. Alfred observes that they just want to watch the world burn, as Bruce fixates on the Joker's face on a monitor.

Batman is seen on the edge of a rooftop listening in to cell phone frequencies when he overhears a plot against Harvey Dent. Gordon rushes to the apartment with Ramirez and Batman to find two policemen murdered, with the last names "Harvey" and "Dent." Ramirez begins to blame Batman, but Gordon cuts her off. As Batman removes a piece of concrete wall that contains a bullet used in the murders in hopes of finding evidence, Gordon notes that the Joker has left an advance copy of tomorrow's newspaper indicating the death of the mayor.

At Wayne Enterprises, Fox meets with Wayne's accountant Coleman Reese, who claims to know about certain problems with Wayne's funding in research and development, claiming that Wayne has some sort of government project with cell phones for the army underway. He also uncovers Fox's designs for the Batmobile/Tumbler. He tells Fox that he wants $10 million per year for the rest of his life to keep this a secret. Fox smiles and says, "Let me get this straight. You think that your client, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world is a secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, and your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck."

Fox helps Wayne reconstruct the bullet taken from the murder scene and produces a fingerprint. Fox asks him if he has reassigned the R&D department. Bruce acknowledges that he has, claiming he is playing this one "close to the chest."

Wayne traces the bullet fingerprint's owner to an apartment overlooking the funeral speeches for Commissioner Loeb and takes off on motorcycle.

As the ceremony continues on the street below, Wayne inspects a room where he believes the Joker might be, and he finds several men tied up. They tell Wayne that their guns and uniforms were stolen. Wayne inspects binoculars pointed out of a blinded window. The window blind is connected to a timer. As the timer reaches zero, the blinds quickly raise, and the police snipers positioned around the area all shoot in that direction. At the same time, the Joker, who had removed his makeup and played himself off as a member of the honor guard for the ceremony, turns and takes a shot at the mayor, but Lt. Gordon dives in the way, getting shot in the back and falling. Everyone panics and runs, but the police shoot one member of the honor guard in the leg and haul him into a truck. Dent himself climbs in the truck, and upon inspecting the criminal, sees that the name-tag on his uniform reads 'Officer Rachel Dawes'. He calls Rachel and informs her that she's been targeted, and to get to the safest place she can, which in her case is Bruce's penthouse. He tells her he loves her, but there is no answer from Rachel.

Gordon's family is visited at home, to inform them of the death of Gordon at the funeral ceremony. Gordon's wife, Barbara, shouts out at the empty sky to Batman that he has brought this craziness upon Gotham. Gordon's young son catches a brief glimpse of Batman mournfully watching the scene.

Meanwhile, Batman enters a club and grabs Maroni after beating on his men. He interrogates Maroni on the Joker's whereabouts, who claims that he should have held him from a higher location. Batman drops him off the ledge, injuring his legs and learns that Maroni has no idea where the Joker is. Maroni explains that the Joker has no friends and no one will give him up because unlike Batman, he plays by no rules.

As Dent is interrogating the captured so-called honor guard member about what he knows about the Joker, he is enraged and holds a gun to his head. He flips his father's lucky silver dollar for his life, coming up on heads. As he flips the coin again, Batman shows up and snatches the coin in midair, asking if Dent would really leave a thug's life up to chance, to which Dent answers, "Not exactly." He informs Harvey that this criminal - Thomas Schiff - is a paranoid schizophrenic patient from Arkham Asylum and that he won't learn anything from him. He also tells Harvey that if anyone saw this unjust way of interrogating someone, all that good work that Dent's done for Gotham would be lost. He tells Harvey to hold a press conference the following day, because he wants to use that opportunity to turn himself in. As Batman leaves, Harvey yells at him that he can't give in.

Bruce arrives back in his penthouse to find Rachel waiting. She tells him that turning himself in will not stop the Joker's murderous rampage, but Bruce says he has enough blood on his hands already. He reminds her that she promised him that they would be together if and when he hung up the mantle of Batman. She tells Bruce not to make her his only hope for a normal life and they share a kiss. She tells Bruce that if he turns himself in as Batman that the city will never let them be together.

Back at Wayne's secret base of operations for Batman, he and Alfred begin destroying everything that might tie Lucius Fox or Rachel to Batman. Alfred tries to talk Bruce out of it, asking him to endure these trying times and allow Batman to make the right choice that nobody else can for the good of the city. Bruce explains that Batman cannot endure the responsibility for innocents dying, especially where Rachel is concerned.

At the press conference, Harvey attempts to reason with the assembled press and police to not give in to the fear that the Joker has unleashed upon the city. He agrees that Batman is a vigilante but that the people of Gotham should hold him accountable, and not give in to the whims of this terrorist known as the Joker. However, the people are overcome with fear, crying out "No more dead cops," to applause indicating that Harvey will not be able to sway them. Upon his failure, Harvey announces that HE is the Batman, and gets handcuffed and taken away. Bruce Wayne is shown with a look of confusion on his face.

Rachel, watching the news conference at Bruce Wayne's penthouse, confronts Alfred over Bruce's seeming cowardice in allowing Harvey to take the fall when he claims to be Batman. Alfred explains to Rachel that Batman is instead allowing himself to be something else besides a hero, mainly a figure outside of the system that the people can both turn to or blame in times of need, that Batman can 'take it". Rachel gives Alfred a letter for Bruce and tells him to give it to Bruce when the time is right. When Alfred asks what it is, she tells him it is open and hugs him before departing to see Harvey as he is being transported to the County lock-up.

While being taken to a convoy that will transport him to a county, Harvey explains to Rachel that this is Batman's chance. He then pulls out the coin and says "Heads: I go through with this," and flips it, landing on heads. When Rachel tells him that he can't leave something like that to chance, he tosses her the coin, revealing that it is a two-headed coin. During this transport, he's planning on getting attacked by the Joker, and he's planning on Batman to come and save him, and to capture the Joker. The convoy takes off.

While transporting Harvey, the Joker and some goons start taking out the police cars in a large semi truck. He pulls out an RPG and beings firing at the armored truck carrying Dent. The Tumbler arrives and attempts to stop the Joker, and gets hit with the RPG in the process. His car takes 'catastrophic' damage, and he's forced to eject. However, the ejection in this car is a bike, that deploys out the front of the car. This bike becomes known as the 'Batpod'. Batman chases down the Joker on his Batpod, and after firing some cables at the truck and weaving them through some light poles and buildings, flips the truck completely over. The Joker emerges with a Smith & Wesson M76 Submachine gun and shoots at Batman, who speeds towards him on his Batpod, all the while screaming at Batman to hit him. Batman honors his own non-lethal code and swerves around the Joker then crashes into the flipped truck, falling to the ground. As the Joker jumps on him with a knife, one of the SWAT officers holds a gun to the back of his head, and upon removing his helmet and mask, shows that it was Lt. Gordon, who faked his death to protect his family. The Joker is hauled away to the MCU. Harvey gets out of the truck and into a cruiser, stating he is off to see a worried girlfriend.

At Gordon's Major Crimes Unit building, Gordon is promoted to Commissioner by the Mayor. The Joker shares a cell with a large man who complains about his insides hurting. Commissioner Gordon, after reuniting with his family, gets a call explaining that Harvey never made it home. He returns to the prison to interrogate the Joker. During the interrogation, Batman appears and starts beating on the Joker, trying to find out where Harvey is. The Joker gets under Batman's skin telling him that they are both freaks and that when the people of Gotham no longer view Batman as a necessity, they will turn on him. Batman becomes enraged and puts a chair under the door and beats the Joker savagely, but The Joker just laughs and defiantly tells Batman that there is nothing he can do to him to hurt him and that he actually enjoys the beatings. The Joker sadistically reveals that not just Harvey, but Rachel are in separate locations, both tied up and strapped to explosives that will explode in a short amount of time. He gives the locations of the two, saying that he only has time to save one of them and that he must make a choice that will violate Batman's "code" of non-lethal means...that one of them will die since Batman cannot save them both. Batman heads off, telling Gordon that he's going after Rachel. Gordon gets some men ready and heads off after Harvey.

As Batman and the police are rushing towards the two prisoners, Harvey awakens to hear Rachel's voice. Whoever captured them set up an intercom system so that the two can communicate. Harvey tells Rachel that everything will be OK, and Rachel tells Harvey that she wants to marry him. While Dent's trying to hop around in his chair trying to find something sharp to cut his ropes with, he falls over and knocks an oil drum down, and the gasoline spills all over half of his face. Meanwhile, back at the jail, the Joker tricks a cop and holds him hostage, and he tells the other cops he just wants his phone call. Upon getting a cell phone and dialing a number, the large man that was in the cell with him blows up. The Joker had cut him open and implanted a cell phone-triggered device inside of him. The Joker grabs Lau and flees the jail.

Batman arrives at the address that the Joker had told him Rachel was at, but when he opens the door, he finds Harvey Dent instead, who screams in despair at having been found instead of Rachel. Gordon arrives at the supposed location for Dent but the warehouse explodes and Rachel is killed. As Batman saves Dent by carrying him out of the warehouse, the explosion ignites the gas that saturated Dent's face, horribly burning it. Dent is taken to Gotham General Hospital. Batman visits Dent in the hospital, and leaves him the two-headed coin that they found at Rachel's site of death. One side of the coin is still shiny, while the other side is scraped and burnt.

Alfred reads Rachel's letter. She explains that she is going to marry Harvey Dent and that when she told him that she would be with him when he no longer need to be Batman that she meant it. However, she realizes that he will always be Batman so she will always be there as his friend.

Bruce expresses to Alfred his devastation behind losing Rachel and that he feels responsible for inspiring madness and death. he tells Alfred that she was going to wait for him. Alfred chooses not to give him her letter, saying the time is not right and that with Harvey Dent hospitalized, it will be up to him alone to fight the crime in Gotham City. Meanwhile, Harvey wakes up in the hospital with a large bandage over half of his face, finds his now scarred two-headed coin, and screams out in anguish over losing the one person he loved.

Commissioner Gordon visits Dent and tries to tell him how sorry he is for what has transpired, questioning why Dent refused skin grafts and how he can stand to be in unrelenting agony over his disfigurement. Harvey is filled with rage for Gordon not listening to him when he warned Gordon not to trust the corrupt officers that Dent investigated during his time in Internal Affairs which has resulted in Dent's disfigurement and ultimately Rachel's death. Dent demands Gordon tell him the nickname they had for him when he was in I.A., which Gordon ashamedly replies "Harvey Two-Face," while being forced to stare at the extensive burns and scarred tissue that have enveloped half of Harvey's face. As Gordon leaves an emotionally devastated Harvey, he runs into Maroni in the hallway who tells him that the Joker has gone too far and that if Gordon wants the clown, he knows where he will be.

Wayne's accountant Reese appears on a news show claiming to be able to tell the world who Batman is. He tells Gotham that he is going to reveal Batman's identity, but before he can, the Joker calls in to the show saying that he doesn't want this lawyer to ruin his fun. He says that if the lawyer is not killed within 60 minutes, he is going to blow up a hospital. This triggers the police to rush in and protect the lawyer, and try to carry him to safety. At the same time, other police are evacuating all of the hospitals in Gotham City. When they get to Gotham General, a police officer attempts to evacuate a nurse in Harvey Dent's room, which then turns out to be the Joker, and he kills the cop. He then explains to Two-Face how he needs to introduce a little anarchy and chaos, how easy it is to bring down all the good people in the world and how it's all fair. Joker unties Two-Face and hands him a pistol. Two-Face, bent on revenge and now believing everything in the world should be decided by chance, flips the double-headed coin to decide whether or not to shoot Joker which Joker agrees is only fair. Though we don't see it, the coin obviously lands on the clean side since the next scene shows Joker leaving Gotham General Hospital as it blows up in the background.

Afterwards, the Joker appears on TV again, forcing kidnapped GCN reporter Mike Engle to read out his plans. He reads that Gotham City now belongs to the Joker, starting that very evening. Anyone that doesn't want to be a part of his game should leave now, but they are going to have a hard time leaving the city by the bridges. He alludes to the fact that something big was going to happen that very night. During which, Two-Face enters a local bar where Detective Wuertz - the 'dirty' cop that had picked him up after the Joker was captured - hangs out. After questioning him, he flips the coin which lands on the dirty side and he kills Wuertz. At the same time, Batman uses Fox's 'cell phone sonar' technology to somehow turn every single cell phone in Gotham into a sonar device, giving him the opportunity to spy on everyone in Gotham. He calls Fox in, and tells him to monitor the screens, and give him updates on the Joker's location when he sees him. Fox is appalled that Batman would use his technology to spy on the citizens of Gotham and reluctantly agrees to help, stating that the machine must be destroyed after the Joker is captured or he will have to retire.

Two-Face continues to question mob members, trying to uncover the identity of the dirty cop that kidnapped Rachel. When confronting Maroni in Maroni's car, he learns that the other cop is Ramirez. He then flips the coin for Maroni, which lands on the clean side. "Lucky Man," he remarks before he flips it again. It lands on the dirty side and he buckles up and states, "But he's not" as he shoots Maroni's driver, causing the car to veer off the road and crash into the dockyards. Meanwhile, two large ferries leave Gotham due to the Joker's threats. One is inhabited by criminals that Harvey and Gordon helped put away, the other is packed with innocent citizens - the city's bridges apparently being wired with explosives. While sailing off, the two boats completely lose all power and their engines die. Both ships eventually realize that there are explosives strewn all about the boat, and they both find detonators. It is at this time that the Joker's voice is heard over the loudspeaker of both ferries, and he informs them that they are part of a social experiment. The detonator on each boat is for the other boat. One ferry must press the button and destroy the other boat by midnight, or else the Joker will destroy both boats. This brings about much chaos in both boats, and a lot of soul searching about morality and about if anyone could actually do such a thing.

Fox finds the Joker, who is holed up in a building still being constructed with many clown guards. Batman notifies Gordon of the location, and speeds off towards the building. Meanwhile, Two-Face forces a frightened Ramirez to call Gordon's family and tell his wife and children to meet her at the exact spot where Rachel was killed. They believe her because they trust her. Afterwards, Two-Face, angered with Ramirez's pleas to spare her life for the sake of her sick mother, flips for Ramirez's life. The coin lands on heads, so he just knocks her out, telling her that she "lives to fight another day." As Gordon arrives at the building where the Joker is, he gets a call from his family telling him they are being held captive by Two-Face in the place where Rachel was killed. Gordon rushes off to save his family as Batman breaks in to the building. After realizing that the clown guards are the actual hostages and the doctors/hostages are the Joker's goons, he beats down some SWAT members in order to prevent them from killing the clown guards, and he disables the goons as he makes his way up to the Joker's location. When he finally confronts the Joker, the Joker sends the Chechen's rottweilers after him, and while Batman fights them off, the Joker beats him brutally with a blunt metal object, and eventually throws him close to the edge of the building, trapping him under a metal beam.

At the same time, the two boats are still debating what to do with the detonators. On the 'criminal ferry', one of the largest and meanest-looking convicts makes a speech about the warden holding the trigger not knowing how to take life, then goes up to the warden and asks to take the trigger so he himself can do what the warden should have done ten minutes ago. The warden hands the convict the trigger and the convict promptly throws it out of the ferry, making it impossible for anyone on the convict ferry to blow up the 'innocent' ferry. On the innocent ferry, after having voted to use their detonator, the officials can't bring themselves to act out the decision. A man stands up, takes the detonator but is unable to press the button.

The Joker, on top of Batman while holding him down, shows signs of disappointment when neither of the ferries' passengers will stoop to his level. As he's about to destroy the two boats, Batman fires his gauntlet darts at him, knocking the detonator out of his hands, and throws him over the edge of the building. Before he can hit the ground, however, Batman fires one of his grappling gun tools at him and saves him. While hanging in front of Batman, the Joker tells him that the two of them are destined to fight forever, and how Batman really IS incorruptible. The Joker reveals to him, however, that his real plan was to engineer the fall of Gotham's White Knight, Harvey Dent, since that would introduce much more chaos when a good man like Dent is shown descending into chaos and evil. Batman heads off to find Harvey, while the SWAT team captures the Joker.

At 250 52nd St, Gordon arrives to see Two-Face holding his family hostage. Two-Face knocks him to the ground and tells him that he's going to make him suffer just as he did, as he grabs his young son Jimmy and prepares to flip the coin for his fate. Batman arrives and tells him to stop, and to blame the people responsible for Rachel's death. So then Two-Face flips the coin for Batman, which lands on the dirty, scarred side, and Two-Face shoots him. He then flips the coin for himself and it lands on the clean side. As he's flipping the coin for Gordon's son, he tells Gordon to lie to the boy and tell him that everything will be alright, just as Dent himself had to tell Rachel earlier, seconds before she was killed. Batman gets up and tackles him and they fall off of the building together. Unseen by them, the coin lands on the clean side. Batman hands Jimmy up to Gordon as Batman himself falls to the ground next to Two-Face, who lies motionless.

As Gordon climbs down to check on Batman, Batman laments that, in the end, the Joker won. By corrupting Harvey Dent and turning him evil, he tore down the best of them. If Gotham were to find out about Dent's murders, then the symbol of hope and faith he had given Gotham would diminish and all the prisoners he helped put back in jail would be let out, thus creating chaos. Batman explains that Gotham can never find out about the murders, and takes the blame of them on himself, so that the Joker wouldn't win and the city's peace would remain.

We see a montage of Commissioner Gordon and other members of the Gotham City Police Department gathered at a memorial to Harvey Dent. It is unclear whether he was killed or not. Gordon then smashes the Bat Signal above the MCU Building, while Alfred burns Rachel's note and Lucius shuts down the sonar machine with a pleased look. Batman, in the background, continues to explain that by taking the blame of the killings, the faith that the people of Gotham had in Harvey Dent can be rewarded, and they can feel justified.

Batman then runs from Gordon as the cops begin to chase him, and Gordon tells his son that while Harvey Dent was the hero Gotham needed, Batman is the hero that Gotham deserved. The bat-signal is destroyed and a manhunt is issued for Batman. Batman gets on his Batpod and speeds away, while Gordon declares:

REC movie 2007

REC revolves around a television reporter, Ángela Vidal , and her cameraman, Pablo , who cover the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the fictional documentary television series Mientras ustedes duermen. The firehouse receives a call from an apartment building about a woman who is trapped. When Manu and Álexarrive, the police break down the door, with Ángela and Pablo recording their actions. The woman becomes extraordinarily aggressive and bites one of the policemen. Meanwhile, the terrified residents gather in the entrance hall, and look on as the police and military seal off the building. The firefighter who remained at the old lady's apartment is bitten and tossed down the stairs. The camera crew, the remaining cop and the second firefighter go up again and are attacked. The cop apparently kills the old lady with a shot, which is confirmed by Ángela who asks Pablo to rewind and replay that part of the tape. The camera crew remain trapped inside the building with the residents, and continue recording in spite of police pressure. Ángela interviews a little girl named Jennifer who lives with her parents and dog in the building. Jennifer is ill with what her mother claims is tonsilitis. She says her dog, Max, is at the veterinarian because he appeared to be sick as well.

A health inspector wearing a hazmat suit arrives and attempts to treat the injured, who become fiercely violent despite their critical injuries. The health inspector explains that the time the disease takes to cause sickness depends on blood type. The health inspector also reveals that, sometime during the previous day, a dog with the illness was taken to the veterinarian; the dog became violent and attacked and killed other pets at the clinic. The dog was euthanized, and was traced back to the apartment building. Jennifer, the girl who owned the dog, then suddenly attacks her mother. The inspector tells the distraught residents that this unknown but virulent disease is infecting people, causing them to turn into bloodthirsty savages. More and more people in the building become infected, and Ángela and Pablo are forced to fight them off. They find out that some of the corpses have disappeared and soon discover that the people presumed dead are now infected and chasing them. Eventually they learn that there is a key to a door in the apartment building workshop, which leads to an exit via the sewer system. However, the key is located on the third floor in a resident's apartment.

After finding the key, Ángela and Pablo appear to be the only human survivors, everyone else being dead or infected. Rather than making their way to the workshop, they are forced upstairs to the penthouse by the remaining infected. They then search the penthouse, and discover that its former owner was an agent of the Vatican who was charged with researching and isolating a suspected virus believed to be the biological cause of demonic possession, which was later confirmed to exist in a young girl who was supposedly possessed. The agent kidnapped and brought the girl to the penthouse to conduct his research and to possibly cure her; unfortunately, during the work the virus managed to mutate and become contagious. A door to the attic opens, and Pablo uses his camera to look inside. Something jumps at the camera and breaks its light. Pablo turns on the night vision to see in the dark and discovers the sealed door referenced earlier by the priest on an audio tape. The agent abandoned his efforts to cure the girl after failing to engineer a vaccine and sealed her in the room before leaving the city for good. The girl, now a ghoulishly emaciated figure, begins searching the kitchen area, unaware of Ángela and Pablo's presence. Pablo tries to escape, but trips and is viciously attacked by the girl, making Pablo drop the camera. Ángela picks it up and runs, only to trip and drop the camera as well. She searches for it but is unable to find it. The camera continues to record as the screams of the infected girl are heard and Ángela is dragged into the darkness, screaming.