Michael - of all the Avatar reviews I have found by the adverage movie-goer, yours is by far the best. I found your posts to be especially interesting because you seem to be tugged in two different directions. Although you deride the "radical left", and the "left-wing enviro wackos" you have embraced many of the left's ideas about the environment and man's place in it. Take this quote from your first post: "This story was a brilliant illustration of the fact that greed, hatred, disrespect and lack of empathy will lose every time to morality, decency, love and respect for nature in the long run. " Wow Michael! You sure sound like a tree-hugging, nature lover to me. Someone from the Sierra Club could have written this. Al Gore could not agree with you more. Your distain for college-educated professionals was a bit distrubing though. "The overwhelming message about the Marine Corps was that a basic Marine, while maybe not a college graduate yet, can rise above the evil power structure which is driven by all manner of college wizards who are running over with scholastic information but who don’t have a shred of common sense or decency" It was actually these college-educated professionals in the Avatar program that became Jake's allies, and were always on the side of the right, way before Jake himself came around. Grace may have had her doubts about Jake in the beginning, and that was understandable, given the sensative nature of the Avatar program. "I found the respect for nature and it’s harmony with the Na’vi in this movie to be precisely how I feel about the beautiful aspects of nature, animals, plants and other life forms. " I echo your sentiments Michael, sentiments which are totally at odds with right-wing ideology, and the right-wing criticism this film has had to endure. There is no doubt in my mind Avatar is a brillian film, if it can reach out to those who otherwise would be hostile to it's message. I thank you for your review, and for your service to our country. My father was an enlisted man in the Air Force.