It is inevitable (and unquestionably intentional) that the corporate employed military in Avatar should be compared to our US Marines. The thuggish brutes in the film seize whatever they want by force, at the behest of a corporation, destroying and killing every beautiful thing that gets in the way. Obviously, there are plenty of ignorant fools around the world (and here at home) who think similarly about our own military.

I think the reality is that there are relatively few bad apples in our military. The film, on the other hand, shows us a total of TWO good apples (not counting the scientists, who are perennially portrayed in movies as the enlightened ones opposed to everything military). Other than this small handful, basically every other human in the film is portrayed as soulless and bloodthirsty.

It’s still a fun movie, but I’m getting pretty sick of that theme. Give me another Aliens or Starship Troopers!