James Cameron’s imprint on movie culture is a big, beautiful mess. Though he started making hard-scrabbled, R-rated action and sci-fi fare (The Terminator, Aliens), he has evolved into the rarest thing in Hollywood these days: a visionary. We could even go a step further: he’s a true auteur who not only gets his weird and expensive original projects greenlit—he also reliably turns them into massive hits.
Now, that’s not to say everyone loves Cameron’s work. There have been legions of Titanic haters since it came out in 1997 and went on to sweep the Oscars. Avatar awed audiences the world over with pure technophilic spectacle, but 13 years later, some feel cheated by what was essentially a 3-D spin on the Pocahontas story.
Sniping at Cameron is easy—sometimes too easy. The early reactions to the long-awaited, three-hour Avatar: The Way of Water (out December 16) indicate that he’ll wow critics and regular folks on his way to the bank once again (You can read our review right here.). Forget Marvel CGI; Cameron is motion-capturing whales for your eyes’ enjoyment! On the occasion of his latest Na’vi-vs.-human blockbuster, we decided to rank every feature-length, theatrically released movie Cameron has directed (the under-one-hour documentaries and collaborations with other directors, including ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, don’t count).
Love him or hate him, in a sometimes bumpy yet always forward-thinking career, Cameron has continued to find ways to leave a lasting impression.
9
Piranha II: The Spawning (1981)
James Cameron’s feature debut as a then-27-year-old director (alas, you can’t blame him for the writing on this one) is his only movie that looks like it cost $5 to make. But it does establish his career-long fascination with oceanic excursions: In the opening set piece featuring extremely murky underwater camerawork, two scuba enthusiasts staying at a seaside resort get it on while diving around a wrecked ship, only to be violently interrupted by the killer fish in question.
Oh, and in this (not quite delightfully) junky sequel, from which Cameron has understandably distanced himself, the freshwater piranha have not just evolved to live in the ocean—they also can fly… with wings… picking off unsuspecting humans at the jugular. Cameron would go on to become a sequel king, but not here. This is for Cameron completists and campy horror fans only.
Stream It Here
If you were alive and addicted to action movies in the ‘90s, it was hard to deny the rush of True Lies: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis going toe to toe in a madcap espionage plot that at least it knows it’s silly.
But while the over-the-top set pieces, each one outdoing the last, are rigorously engineered, the terrorist big bad narrative and emotional core feel like leftovers from a more generic Hollywood thriller. Sorry, Arnold and Jamie Lee, but you’re both better than this material, and you know it.