of course the Na'vi are better.. otherwise the marins would have fought in a fair way.. guns vs. bows and arrows is just the easygoing way - but i think too that Jake and his Friends have only won because of the actions of Eywa.. otherwise it would have gone to hell completly.

...I don't know about that. What if the marines were all fighting in Avatar bodies? It's said that the marines used "so much technology", when the Na'vi used tech too. It's called a bow and arrow. ;) Take a Na'vi warrior up against a marine as an avatar. No weapons. Who would win the fight? The marine. I think Jake made that pretty clear when up against Tsu'tey, the best warrior in the clan.

Yet the marines don't have avatars. Even if they did, those are technology which they need to be equal - and costing tens of millions per person :P
Without the technology, humans are inferior in EVERY way.
Take the greatest human against an average Na'vi, assuming no advantages like surprise or better weapons given to either side, and the Na'vi wins without a problem.

I just found an interesting article in an unlikely place about Stephen Lang and his take on Quaritch. He did an interview for Energy Times, (December 2010) a small health magazine I passed walking through the local grocery store. I normally don't give those a second glance but ... he was on the cover! I immediately stopped and backed up three steps to pick it up. Most of the article talks about his workout regimen, both for the film and in his personal regimen.
The quote I am posting is a small sidebar close to the end of the article and about the only bit where he talked about his character.

So there ya go. A little inside track into Quaritch's character for all of you. (I don't know about that kneejerk hatred remark.. I sure had one!)

I had the same reaction as you.
Well, Quaritch did initially say his job was to keep people alive... he just forgets that himself and gets all the marines killed.

...No, he gets all the marines to win the battle. Then Eywa came in and they were all killed.

Sympathy? fans?

You misunderstand.

I hate Quaritch. If I could somehow warp into the movie, I would grab the double-bladed concealed wakizashi (a shorter version of a katana) hanging on my wall and cut him to ribbons (if it were sharpened :/).

However, as far as villains go, he (or as much of him as we've seen) is really well designed, and the last 15 minutes or so of the movie really helped to make him seem more villainous.

I have a drawing of a "mecha-quaritch" if quaritch's mind was uploaded to a large, AMP-like mech, and I think he's a great villian, but that only means I hate him more and I was all the happier when he was killed.

That's the Na'vi's advantage, like the technology is the humans'. Face it, the side you were supporting got wiped out.

Who said I was supporting the RDA?

...Eywa is a biological force acting outside the Na'vi's knowledge. Deus ex machina. Eywa is not necessarily in alliance with the Na'vi. The Na'vi's technology plus their sheer number was a large advantage for them, but the RDA had technology that surpassed. However, the RDA's tech was not (and shouldn't be compared to) an outside force. With what they had, they won. With what the Na'vi had, they lost. Eywa was acting alone.

In my opinion, I'd say for as much as Quaritch is a total dick, he's a very likable character. He's a bad ass and doesn't let anything stop him from getting what he wants; total domination and destruction.

Why shouldn't it? The entire point is that it was an effort by all of Pandora. Anyway, you CAN call the marines' technology an outside force based on your very criteria because they likely don't funny understand it (and the Na'vi DO have some understanding of the nature of Eywa, as demonstrated MANY times), the marines' technology was developed by more intelligent people, the marines are just told to point it that way and press the button :P

...I thought we were talking about the Na'vi's effort against the RDA. That's what's always mentioned. No one here ever talks about the battle as an "effort of all Pandora", we talk about the battle "between the Na'vi and the RDA". And between the Na'vi and the RDA, the RDA technically won the battle. The Na'vi lost. Eywa was being self-preservative.

The RDA's technology is controlled by the RDA. Eywa is not controlled by the Na'vi. Eywa is an outside force, while the RDA's tech isn't.

You could say that the allied forces against the Nazis was all based on an "outside force" when guns, tanks, and bombs were only used by people "pressing buttons" by that analogy.

The allies didn't win WWII, guns did. :rolleyes:

You know what, I think you're right. Norris is a pansy compared to Quaritch. Even if Norris does know martial arts...

But my point (and the reason I put in the other section) is that people were rooting for the RDA. Not everyone, but many. If Cameron meant this story as more than entertainment (and he clearly did), if he meant to change people's minds with this, then he screwed up. What looks evil to a liberal looks justifiable, even honorable, to a conservative. And with the scene in SE showing that the attack on Hometree was provoked, well...civilian targets have been bombed before, and the casualties accepted as a cost of war.

Now to anyone who was following the Na'vi, sympathizing with the Na'vi, the loss of Hometree is felt as a holocaust, a horror. But to boys who idolized Quaritch, loved all the cool hardware, and felt bored (and maybe grossed out) by this "unity of people and nature" thing, it was a victorious battle.

James, you failed. You should have made Quaritch, Selfridge, and the RDA more of a clear villain if you wanted to convert people. You should have screen-tested this movie to conservatives, and tweaked it until they agreed that the RDA was in the wrong. You should have shown the true horrors that empires inflict on the innocent. Slavery and rape, even macho hardasses understand that these are wrong.