We are on the cusp of the debut of one of Hollywood’s most anticipated releases in years, James Cameron’s Avatar. With concern about being the “most expensive movie in feature film history” and its likening to the wars overseas (essentially a movie-inspired take on the conquest of big oil over the small but feisty, native inhabitants of “Pandora”), there is a lot for Avatar and James Cameron to overcome even before its official release. Like most things however, one can find many potential answers from a review of the previous history of just about anything. Whether it’s the potential of a person to pay back money they might receive or the value to be reaped from a multi-million dollar blockbuster, answers can be found in what’s come before.
We’ll take a look at the movie history of director James Cameron to showcase how they succeeded, and what those trends mean for Avatar – a film that could be one of the most ground-breaking films all time or a very expensive, experimental crash-and-burn experience for James Cameron.
If you ask anyone interested in movies to name a film by director James Cameron, the listing is filled with staples in feature film lore. The Internet Movie Database allows visitors to populate a listing of directorial showcases for Cameron that make the mind reel.
Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981)
Those that thought the love affair with between James Cameron and water started with The Abyss clearly didn’t know about Piranha 2: The Spawning, his first film. While it’s easily one of the most off-the-radar films for Cameron, it’s a sample of a horror film he admits he’d like to see made that he refers to in several of the director commentaries in his movies.
The Tantalizing Teaser: Bodies found inside a sunken ship. A new breed of genetically-enhanced flying fish being used as the “ultimate weapon.” The race to destroy this new breed of death before they can wreak havoc on an unsuspecting annual beach-bound fish fry and the world.
What’s to See? Did you miss the part where we talked about “genetically-enhanced flying fish?” While this movie is a bit short on story, the imagination, filmmaking characteristics, and early building blocks of Cameron’s career are all brilliantly showcased here. When the answer to not be eaten was to leave the water in Jaws. Cameron’s solution to ultimate peril is to give the flying flock of death – wings. Cameron’s “Guerilla filmmaking Skill Set” is ultra-present here and a sight to see. You also get to see a very young Lance Henriksen whose hairdo and voice alone is worth the 1hr and 24min run time. Also note that Piranha 3D is currently in post production with friend Scott Buckwald at the Prop Master helm.
The Score: While clearly the most obscure and weakest option included in the Cornucopia, this film earns a made-28-years-ago 4 of 10 score.
The Terminator (1984)
The Tantalizing Teaser: A young twenty-something, who will bear the savior of a post-apocalyptic world is eventually running from a killer robot sent from the future. A lone protector is sent back to help her stay alive, by her not-yet-born son named “John Connor.”
What’s to See: One of the finest science fiction films of all time. When you consider the ground-breaking story, an evolved, gritty, guerilla filmmaking look that everyone now points to as genesis of their careers, the launch of another cornucopia of famous actors and support staff and characters that continue to be approximated in movies today, The Terminator is a must-have on the film collection tool belt. The special effects also upped the ante in Hollywood that people refer back to even in our CGI-laden realm.
The Score: When lumped with the other distinguished stacks of cinema brilliance from Cameron, this earns a 9 of 10 score.
Aliens (1986)
The Tantalizing Teaser: Ripley escaped a doomed ship and was able to blow the remaining Alien out the airlock of her lifeboat spacecraft and was heading back to Earth in space-travel-sleep-induced bliss. Her craft is found by a deep space salvage team and returned to Earth – 57 years later. Gone are her family, life, and reputation. To reclaim it, she must return back to the planet her crew found the Alien eggs on to see what’s happened to the 150+ colonists that have lived there – or HAD lived there? In tow are a pack of Colonial Marines, ultimate badasses to protect her and find out what happened. Will it be enough? Nope.
What’s to See: The Lord of the Rings trilogy provided film audiences with the brilliance of forced perspective. What you and most don’t realize is that Aliens was a tour de force of forced-perspective filmmaking. Add on some of the most revered miniature craftsmanship, a copied-by-almost-all-movies-for-temp-score soundtrack, some amazing acting by people doing their first film, and some of the most memorable lines ever – you have the makings of another whole-hog classic by director James Cameron.
The Score: It’s impossible to not admit that this is the best of all of the Alien franchise films. It’s very likely that this film sits atop Cameron’s skill set as far as a showcase. The Terminator franchise has much more popularity, but this film easily scores a 10 of 10. The director’s cut of this film could easily score an 11.
The Abyss (1989)
The Tantalizing Teaser: An eclectic deep-sea drilling team finds itself sent on a salvage mission to investigate a recently downed US Submarine. Paired with a small team of crack SEALs, they find much more than they bargained for in the deep reaches of the dark confines of the Atlantic ocean – both of the terrestrial, and extra terrestrial kind.
What’s to See: The ladder of computer generated effects was originally begun here inside of The Abyss, with the famous “water tentacle” scene. It was and still is the base element that so many gurus point to, and it was another how-it-should-be-done concoction from director James Cameron. Another ensemble cast of incredibly gifted actors is featured in The Abyss , as is the love of scuba-diving and underwater research that continues to appear in so many Cameron films.
The Score: The Abyss is a solid piece of science-fiction, reality-based filmmaking that Cameron truly has a sweet spot skill for. The relationships built, the details of the peril, the pace and overall level of talent depicted in this film are another on a very special listing of films that should not be overlooked. We give The Abyss an 8 of 10 score.
Terminator 2 (1991)
The Tantalizing Teaser: We’ve always known that Kyle Reese saved the day and prevented Judgment Day in The Terminator. Or did he? This time TWO killer robots are sent back in time, however each is programmed with a different goal: One sent by Skynet to kill John Connor himself when he was a boy. The other? Sent back by John Connor himself to protect.
What’s to See: There are so very few samples of American movie brilliance to see and revel in, but this is surely on top of the proverbial cornucopia’d list. Brilliant storytelling, career-making acting, non-stop peril, unparalleled practical special effects, and the seeds of what has become today’s CGI movement that is still referred to from the masters of the state-of-the-art CGI studios now. The soundtrack is also something of a staple and turning point where the music actually helps to enhance the story and mystique of characters. If there was a must-see American film, this is it.
The Score: Were someone else writing this up, we would tell them to shut up and give it a 10 of 10 score. A 10 of 10 score it shall be.
Continue to page 2 for Cameron’s more recent movies and what we can expect from Avatar…
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James Cameron is not only a brilliant director, but he’s also an accomplished storyteller. He’s able to take all those special effects and weave them into the context of the story so well that you don’t really notice them.
There’s always an emotional core at the heart of his films, including Aliens and The Abyss (I prefer the Directors Cut of both films, imo…), and it’s because of this emotional core of the story that he brings forth so well which gives his movies such staying power.
Thanks for your comments, Stephie! I agree totally on the Director’s Cut comment and wanted to make sure most understand that the “cut” of both of those and just about every other film is the result of “standards” that are established by studios who know that it’s all about money. Fitting in X number of times the movie can show or X+2 times a day is “the bottom line” I get that, but the value of the Director’s Cuts (in particular Aliens) is really something to behold. Thanks for chiming in and tell your friends about this article and have them chime in!
I feel this was created to enlighten the haters of Avatar to Camerons previous track record which is excellent. Great Idea!
Hi Fenix! Hollywood is all about odds-making and those that wish to discount an effort by Cameron, that’s taken so long, that’s going to raise so many bars in technology and the craft is going against everything that going with the “odds” dictates.
It’s going to make money. It’s going to be successful, it’s going to provide us with new, untold steps in the craft of filmmaking so lets enjoy it already.
Thanks for your note and don’t miss Screen Rant’s review of Avatar after you see it this week. Cheers!
Hey mike thanks for the insight! I am curious to how much different the directors cut of aliens and the abyss are. I have seen aliens multiple times (the theatrical version) but sadly I never have caught the abyss. Is it something I should go check out ASAP or could it wait? I’d like to know your thoughts
I recommend both of them strongly. There is much to be garnered from both, and The Aliens Director’s Cut (that is actually a port of the LaserDisc) is easily one of the best movie commentaries there is. The Abyss is also an excellent film that got bit by the “must be less than 2 hours” beasties.
Thanks for your comments and please keep them coming!
Ok great thanks a lot Mike!
Just watched T2 the other night on tele and was stunned at how powerful that film is. Even though I own it and have seen it countless times, the ending struck me in a way (now that I have a teenager) that it never had before.
Good post!
Thanks Crom. Make sure that you take the time and effort to check out the “Extreme” edition of that film. Originally it came in a brushed aluminum case, but recently I’ve seen it in stores in a standard plastic case for $5. The commentary and “extreme mode” are the stuff of filmmaking legend and not to be missed.
Your comments on how “profound” that movie were in your life are totally shared. T2 had a literal alter in my college dorm room complete with figures trading cards and “crap” that I had purchased to be an even more recognized fan of the Terminator Franchise. It is default DVD player material to this day and my office here at 2GuysTalking is adorned with Terminator stuff. Cheers, and keep those comments a’comin’!
James cameron is a KING at what he does.He is like a brillinant architect.He designed some of the best action set-pieces in movie history. James Cameron’s skills as a story teller are superlative.He has the talent that legends are made of.After watching T2 as a kid i couldn’t care much about other action movies like die-hard,lethal weapon or speed.I am sure AVATAR is as powerful.In the past few years though many blockbuster movies released i never had the feeling of watching an epic,a sort of fullfilling feeling that you experience after watching a T2 or a Jurassic part or a Titanic. I hope AVATAR is that epic that we’ve been waiting for.
I’m a bit torn on the T2 extended cut. While the extra footage is definitely worth seeing, I feel there were some scenes that were cut for good reasons, not just time constraints while other scenes should have been in the movie.
For example, the scene of the T1000 “feeling around” in John’s room, that was cut for good reason I think. Then the scene of the T1000 killing the dog to look at the collar, that wasn’t needed, we understand what trick the Terminator pulled on the T1000.
Then there was the short scene of the T1000 taking another police car, that could have been kept in, although not that important. Then the scene with them removing the chip from the T800′s head, that scene definitely should have been kept in the movie.
The scene of them teaching the T800 to smile I can see why that was removed.
Then toward the end, after the T1000 is frozen and reforms, originally they wanted to show the T1000 malfunctioning. They did this through a few scenes where the T1000 will mimmick things unintentionally, like the things he touches, his feet mimmicking the floor as he walks, etc. From the commentary, Cameron said that the original idea is since the T1000 has been so invincible and so impossible to kill, they wanted to give the audience a glimmer of hope that he’s not invincible after-all. But in the end, they decided to cut them so he does indeed seem invincible all the way up until the very end to keep the audience on their toes.
Personally, while I was glad I’ve seen those scenes, I felt that their decision to keep the audience on their toes was a good decision. So I think the perfect cut of the movie would have some of the deleted scenes but exclude some of them. But of course that’s just my opinion of those scenes.
Regarding Aliens, the director’s cut with all of the extra footage was definitely all worth it. With The Abyss, I honestly think that not only was the deleted scenes helpful, but they were REQUIRED for the movie to be cohesive. The theatrical cut without the whole wave part didn’t make any sense…
@ Mike
First off, thank-you for this wonderful retrospective.
I’d like to add that the director’s cut of The Abyss is SO incredibly superior to the theatrical release. It almost merits an extra point or two on the “x out of 10″ scale.
One thing I love about Cameron’s films, is that at the root of each film, you can find a simple message. I’ve always viewed The Abyss as first and foremost a love story.
Keep up the great work. This article is top notch.
I think this is a very thoughtful and thorough summary of Cameron’s pictures.
A few quick notes:
1) If people like these pictures, I also strongly recommend ‘Strange Days’ and ‘Point Break’, because he wrote both of them (an extensive, uncredited re-write on the latter) and was the producer of each. The final cut of ‘Strange Days’ entirely retains the ideas and feels of Cameron’s “scriptment”.
2) Extended Versions vs. Theatrical Versions:
Cameron has said this: He prefers the extended version of ‘Aliens’. He prefers the theatrical version of ‘Terminator 2′. He likes both versions of ‘The Abyss’. (Ironically, the very one that he said which he prefers the theatrical version of, ‘T2′, is actually the one that is most easily available. The only DVD of ‘T2′ that’s on the market now, the “Extreme DVD” offers the extended version – which Cameron says is inferior – by default! You have to type in a mini code to get to the theatrical version.)
Personally, my opinion is that ‘The Abyss’ is the only one that is notably better (or different) in the extended version. ‘Aliens’ is a little less visceral in the extended version and most of the added material to ‘T2′ is, I think, kind of poorly acted and lousy. However, ‘The Abyss’ adds so much important new content to it that, after watching it, you’re amazed that the theatrical version was coherent at all! (But it was, which I guess demonstrates how durable movies are.)
3) For those people who haven’t the money to go to Universal Studios to watch T2:3D, note that the screenplay is available on the internet and it is hilarious! (You can actually find the segment of the show that’s entirely projected (as opposed to a combination of projected footage and on-stage stunt work) on various file-sharing sites.)
Can’t wait for Avatar!
I still Terminator is better than T2, but thats a personal opinion.
And True Lies shows what a versatile film maker Cameron can be. As for Titanic, the whole movie is worth watching for the guy who falls off the back and hits the propeller, what a wonderful noise it makes.
I’m giving Avatar a chance, soley on his previous work, because I still think it looks cliched and silly.
DrSamBeckett
No Avatar criticism is complete without “Dances With Smurfs.” I mean, if it’s funny the first time, it must be funny the next 42,000 times you hear it right?? Right??? lol
I hope you enjoy Avatar, heck, I hope I enjoy Avatar, got my tickets for Saturday, fingers crossed. Trust me, if it’s bad, I’m not going to defend it, I’ll probably be pissed. Nothing worse than a let-down…
Ken J
I never actually agreed with the dances with smurfs argument, and I never said it myself.
I always prefered comparing it to Fern Gully!
LOL, can’t you feel its pain? Yah, that movie was soooo stupid, lol.
Helios: I’m super-jazzed about Avatar and you mention a lot of great movies that you should go back and view again. Die Hard alone is worth an entire article here at Screen Rant for Xmas value. Thanks for your comments!
Thanks for your input, Ken. I think I’d have added some kind of spoiler note on your additional scene retort, but shrug, water under the bridge. I loved the additional stuff in T2, and he didn’t kill the dog to read the collar
He grabbed the dog collar to kill the dog (neck snappage), and an added benefit/clue of him doing so was that he saw the dog’s name, thereby cueing him in on the trick played by the other Terminator/John Connor.
Thanks again for your detail and your commentary!
Mike E – Thanks for your kudos! Those of us that write here at Screen Rant love to see people satiated and to see your commentary on our stuff. As far as having “root” in his films, Cameron is quick to tell everyone that all of his films are “love stories”.
They’re not always man loves woman love stories, but love stories nontheless. Aliens for example is about the love of a daughter and mother (Ripley’s daughter who died a mere 2 years before her return to Earth her).
The stories and storytelling are eluded to by others here and I join them in calling for way more attention to the spectrum of Cameron talent.
Thanks for sharing, Mike!
DrBeckett – I think you’ll have a differing opinion when you’re done viewing Avatar this Friday.
And yes, the “!Pong!” of the man who falls to his doom is up there on the “glad that wasn’t me” meter. Cheers and thanks for your comments! They are appreciated!
Nice writeup
Cameron is one of my favorites and an amazing creative mind
Abyss uncut is still one of my favs
NOTE: in an interview with Cameron I heard on the radio years ago, he talked about being an assistant for Roger Corman’s group and working on Galaxy of Terror – his trick of running wires to a prosthetic arm that had been cut from a body to make the maggots jump around in the shot got him some extra attention from the suits. Eventually he wound up with the Piranha II job – but you can’t really judge much from that.
According to Cameron, he kept trying to shoot things his way but Producers kept coming in and messing with his footage and his way of working. He said he lasted maybe two weeks on the movie and then was out. His name is still on the movie but they brought someone else in to shoot the rest.
@Mike Wilkerson – 2GuysTalking…
That’s exactly what I meant when I said that Cameron’s films have that emotional core which allows us to get inside the minds of the characters, and see the deep emotions which motivate them. He’s able to tell their stories so well, and it’s that emotional “hook” which is so mesmerizing.
This is one of the reasons why I prefer the Director’s Cut of Aliens to the theatrical version. The additional footage with Ripley and her daughter not only give us an insight into Ripley herself and her backstory, but it also provided the emotional foundation for all of her subsequent actions when she encountered Newt. It’s a perfect example of how Cameron is able to tell a story and do it so well.
Great article, I really liked. On a side note, when you said Aliens was the best movie in the series, you meant apart from Alien, right? Because there’s no way Aliens, although great, can be compared to the greatest sci-fi movie ever made.
I like Cameron, good article.
However, I take issue with the statement “It’s impossible to not admit that this is the best of all of the Alien franchise films.”
This is obviously your opinion and one with which I disagree strongly. Aliens is a fun film, but absolutely no match for Ridley Scott’s much superior Alien. The original created a mystique which the sequel destroyed by bombarding us with hundreds of aliens. Then you have the unconvincing family dynamic Cameron tries to create with Ripley, Newt and Hicks.
So in other words I admit that Aliens is clearly NOT the best of all of the Alien franchise films.
Yep, that was an opinion, and Alien being “absolutely no match” for Alien is your opinion. My opinion is basically in-line with Mike’s. Aliens is one of my favorite movies, of any genre, of all time. Alien was great, I’m super excited to see what Scott has in store for us for the new Alien movie, but I would be downright giddy like a freakin school girl if Cameron was making the new Alien movie…
And I disagree that he “destroyed” the Alien’s mystique… In the original, one Alien killed a bunch of unarmed oil rig workers more-or-less. Honestly, while it made for a very thrilling and suspenseful movie, if you REALLY wanted to judge the Alien on its deadliness based on that alone, it’s not really such a big deal. It could have been a movie about a very resourceful human murderer hiding around the ship picking off people one by one and probably would have still worked.
In Aliens, sure there were a lot of Aliens, but they were up against an entire squad of bad-ass space Marines armed to the teeth. I think Aliens did a better job of creating this reputation for the Aliens of being bad-ass hard to kill monsters of the dark than Alien did. That final fight with the Queen is freakin’ epic. And has been imitated and copied several times since then, most recently (besides Avatar since he’s allowed to copy himself) is Matrix Revolutions. But that’s just my opinion…
Oops, Aliens being “absolutely not match” for Alien is what I meant, lol. You know what I meant, dammit.
But speaking of Scott doing the new Alien movie, why couldn’t they have gotten John McTiernan to do the new Predator movie? I think Rodriguez is going to majory F it up… I mean, they have Adrian Brodey in it, which already means I’m not going to watch it… lol.
Fox made the right decision bringing Scott back to do the new Alien movie, but I think they dropped the ball with Predator… Oh well…
Lets get the obvious out of the way….I love James Cameron.I love Sci-fi and I have been anticipating AVATAR like no one else could.This is my Jurassic park,My star wars!!!
Now,what I fail to understand is why does everyone seem to hold Aliens in such high regards?
Granted,its a good movie(though it treads the line of being a guilty pleasure the more I watch it these days) and a solid 8/10 but anyone who thinks its better than the original does not know or care squat about Sci0fi.
Alien is one of the finest movies of all time and it surely deserved a more serious sequel,what Cameron delivered was fun but try to look at it now and not cringe at the attitude of those space retards…umh I meant marines?
Honestly the crew from the Abyss would have done a better job.
Alien is the best by far although Aliens is definately a second so please dont assume that It’s impossible to not admit this is the best of all of the Alien franchise films…..I dont think so and neither do most serious science fiction fans
and I am not a pseudo snob either….I love Cobra as much as I love 2001 ASO but lets call a spade a spade
Sorry for the rant,I cant wait for AVATAR and JC is a visionary director for the most part
@ Rishi
Sorry dude, Aliens is a seminal movie. The attitude of the marines is atypical of the way space marines are depicted in films and games, but all that came from Aliens in the first place.