James Horner: Avatar

Released: 2009
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver

The Film: Avatar is an epic adventure action film set on the distant moon Pandora, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love — to save a civilisation.

Jake Sully, is an ex-Marine who was wounded and paralysed from the waist down in combat on Earth.  Jake agrees to travel to Pandora, for a new life as an Avatar. Pandora is a lush rainforest environment filled with incredible life forms – some beautiful, many terrifying.

The Score: James Horner is best known for his clever integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for his frequent use of traditional Irish musical influences as heard in his multiple award-winning score for Titanic in 1987.  However, Horner actually trained at the Royal College of Music in London before he moved to California and got his first big movie in 1982, Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan.