James Cameron is back with his first new movie in over a decade as he’s finally ready to unleash his long-awaited Avatar sequel on the world. Avatar: The Way of Water will introduce audiences to the oceans of Pandora with dazzling CG effects in the hope of replicating the original movie’s success. In the years since the first one came out, fans have come to realize that the sci-fi epic isn’t so great when it isn’t being projected onto a giant IMAX screen in 3D.
From Aliens to the first two Terminator movies, Cameron has helmed some of the greatest action films ever made. But he also has some underrated gems in his filmography, like True Lies and The Abyss, as well as other overrated blockbusters like Titanic.
8 True Lies (1994)
What if James Bond had a wife and kids? That’s the premise of Cameron’s bombastic spy thriller True Lies. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a suave secret agent who leads a double life as a government spy and a suburban dad. As far as his wife and daughter know, he’s just a mild-mannered office worker. When his wife learns his secret, the two team up to take down a terrorist cell together.
While True Lies isn’t as famous as Aliens or T2, its action sequences are just as mind-blowing. This movie has Schwarzenegger riding a horse into an elevator, hanging out of an airborne helicopter, and tearing a skyscraper apart with a fighter jet. It’s a fun-filled ride from beginning to end.
7 The Abyss (1989)
In between Aliens and T2, Cameron made The Abyss. While it has far less action than those movies, it has just as much spectacle and eye-popping VFX. It’s the story of undersea monsters attacking an American submarine whose crew is awaiting rescue in the deepest depths of the ocean. The film has some dazzling, groundbreaking effects manipulating the water that surrounds the sub.
Despite its positive reviews, The Abyss was a box office disappointment on its initial release and the movie has yet to be reappraised as an underappreciated gem.
6 Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)
Cameron’s directorial debut was infamously plagued with behind-the-scenes problems. Although Cameron retains credit, there are rumors that he was removed from the director’s chair in the middle of production and the meddling producer took over his position. The low-budget indie horror sequel Piranha II: The Spawning marked Cameron’s first of many collaborations with actor Lance Henriksen. There are signs of promising talent in Piranha II, but Cameron went on to outdo himself with every subsequent film.
While Piranha II is nowhere near as great as Aliens or The Terminator – or even one of Cameron’s lesser movies like The Abyss – it’s also not as bad as its reputation would suggest. Like Joe Dante’s cult classic original, it’s a wonderfully absurd creature feature.
5 The Terminator (1984)
Cameron’s first major critical and commercial success, The Terminator, is a gritty blend of neo-noir, slasher, and sci-fi actioner. Ever since T2 turned Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 into a hero and established the sequel formula, the Terminator franchise has been defined by its second installment. But the first one is almost as great as its big-budget successor.
The original film perfectly charts Sarah Connor’s transformation from a relatable everywoman to an awe-inspiring badass. Schwarzenegger’s villainous T-800 is a chilling screen presence, and Sarah’s romance with Kyle Reese is surprisingly engaging for the love story in an action movie.
4 Aliens (1986)
After Ridley Scott turned the B-movie premise of Alien into one of the greatest horror films ever made, Cameron delivered an action-packed sequel swapping out the single extraterrestrial threat from the first one for a festering hive filled with dozens of them. Aliens didn’t just multiply the number of xenomorphs; it also has a more emotionally resonant arc for Ellen Ripley as she becomes a surrogate maternal figure for the orphaned Newt.
Since Aliens is well-regarded by fans and critics alike, it can’t be classified as underrated or overrated; it’s appropriately praised as both a worthy follow-up to the original and a spectacular sci-fi action epic in its own right.
3 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
In the second Terminator movie, Cameron went bigger, bolder, and arguably better. Terminator 2: Judgment Day has an abundance of explosive, adrenaline-fueled spectacle, but it also has thought-provoking meditations on the fate of humanity and the poignant message that the future isn’t written.
Like Aliens, T2 is neither underrated nor overrated. It’s widely considered to be one of the greatest action movies ever made, and its jaw-dropping action set-pieces live up to that lucrative modern classic status.
2 Avatar (2009)
Cameron’s last movie, the first of many planned installments in the Avatar franchise, was his second to break the record for highest-grossing movie ever made. Avatar is a dazzling blockbuster using groundbreaking CG techniques to bring its richly realized sci-fi world to life. But, as stunning as the visuals are, Avatar’s story of a white colonizer uniting with disenfranchised natives against his fellow white colonizers is derivative of earlier works like Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves. Its characters aren’t particularly compelling and its environmentalist message is delivered in a really ham-fisted, on-the-nose way.
Viewers who missed Avatar in its months-long theatrical run and instead watched it on TV, without the benefit of 3D effects and a gigantic IMAX screen to enhance the experience, felt that the movie had been massively overblown when it first came out.
1 Titanic (1997)
The first Cameron movie to become the highest-grossing film of all time, Titanic, tells a Romeo and Juliet-style love story aboard the doomed titular vessel. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are well-matched in the roles of Jack and Rose, and the sinking in the second half of the movie gives the audience a chance to experience the terror of living through one of the most tragic shipwrecks of all time.
But, ultimately, the romance is pretty predictable, the modern-day framing device drags the movie out a lot longer than it needs to be, and the characters aren’t interesting enough to supersede the impending iceberg. 11 Academy Awards might have been a few too many.