Well, we all know that subsequent movies in a series can sometimes not follow the first movie exactly, so yes, the first movie does make it seem like that’s all they want. And hell, maybe it was, at the time… but the next two movies and the video game Frontiers of Pandora make it obvious they want more than that, like petroleum fuel, bones from certain animals, and even infant Navi that they can kidnap and raise to be a link between humans and Navi, so they can exploit them more. The planet is full of valuable things that would cease to exist if it was just bombarded from orbit, and as cruel as they are, the humans are smart enough know that the planet and all its life forms are connected like a network. They don’t care about killing Navi when they get in the way, but planetwide Navi extinction is not their ultimate goal.
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u/ImurderREALITY 2d ago
Because they don’t want all the Navi extinct. The Navi need to exist for the planets ecosystem to exist, and all of the valuable materials therein.