8 Milestones in the Evolution of James Cameron
The Abyss (1989)
The Abyss, often considered one of Cameron's best films, is also considered one of his greatest financial failures. Given a $70 million budget, The Abyss only earned $54 million domestically. Hurt a bit by a similar underwater themed film, Leviathan, released only a few months before -- and being Cameron's only film to that point not to feature monsters or space aliens front and center -- audiences did not immediately connect with The Abyss. The movie's legacy might be more for its technological breakthroughs in underwater filming than any box-office result could have produced. Cameron, not surprisingly, did not hold back on his next project despite the financial setback.
Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991)
I hate including two films from the same franchise on these lists, but it's hard to ignore what the first and the second Terminator films meant for Cameron's career. These were the early days of CGI and Cameron (along with Jurassic Park a couple of years later) introduced the world to this new way to produce effects in the form of a new liquid-metal, shape-shifting Terminator. Also, a kick-ass song by Guns 'n' Roses didn't hurt, either.
Titanic (1997)
I am an adamant defender of Titanic. Look, anytime a film becomes as big -- and thus overexposed -- as this did, combat backlash will ensue. But, on its own, Cameron took a film that -- keeping in mind the budget, cost overruns and production delays -- shouldn't have done anything but failed and somehow made it into the most successful movie of all time -- for the next 12 years, anyway. Even today, Titanic doesn't look dated, an attribute cursing most Cameron films. Ultimately, Cameron proved once and for all that not only is he the most stubborn filmmaker in Hollywood, but he's also one of the smartest. Also, a kick-ass song by Celine Dion didn't hurt, either.
Avatar (2009)
Avatar may be the first James Cameron film that we look back on in 20 years and say, "Hmm, well those effects look dated." Which is probably going to be the case with any mostly CGI-rendered film considering how much technology improves every passing year. But beyond being the highest-grossing movie ever made, James Cameron ushered in a new era of movies -- the upscale 3-D movie. This was Cameron's point about the new Piranha film -- that "it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the '70s and '80s." Agree or disagree, it's obvious that Cameron isn't entirely pleased about the plethora of 3-D films today unless they're certain types of films -- which is to say, films produced the Cameron Way. (Enter Sanctum.) Love Cameron or hate him, he did 3-D right.
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ARTISTdirect has compiled a top ten song list in honor of James Cameron's Sanctum! The list includes Five Finger Death Punch, Korn, Kanye West & Metallica! http://bit.ly/gaSljk
Glad to see the love for TITANIC. I remember when it came out and every review was a rave. Then suddenly it got popular, and it became cooler to bash it. Yes, some of the dialogue was a bit wooden, but the structure of that script is amazing, breaking so many rules yet working like gangbusters.
I wonder personally if some of the backlash against Titanic really owes to it being genuinely moving, for it involving you and drawing you out, a fact "you" cover by understanding it as just schmaltz -- as essentially disrespectful to the powerful themes it engages with. I think Cameron knows a lot about love, and a love about freedom, and generously shares both in this picture. I suppose his scripting needs some more work -- though I find some of it really engaging -- and he could disengage for awhile and learn some more respect for nuance, for listening, for not taking delight in seeing the "second man" being shut down. But Titanic mostly shows how much he has to give. Our current critical disregard for this film, I think, shows some of this: we're for the sidelines, cover, and don't want a prompt to confirm our suspicion that while necessary, this may not be the place we should want to be.
I can't say any of the same for Avatar. I found the love story touching, affecting, beautiful, but it says something about a film when you end up mostly worried that is with the villain, Selfridge, where everything we needed to experience, to know more about -- in this case, sanity, sane objection -- was projected, and here, dispensed with. What he did to the aristocrats in Titanic might look the same, but didn't bother me as much -- he did too much that was right with the impossible pleb and the fallen lady.
That should read: "knows a lot about love, and a lot about freedom ..." Oops.
The original Terminator (even though I saw T2 at least half a dozen times in 1991, it hasn't dated that well really) and the theatrical version of Aliens will always be his best movies in my humble opinion.
You gotta explain to me how James Cameron could have technically based his 1978's first short movie on a books trilogy that was first published in 1987...
Anticipated Plagiarism Telekinesis?
So...just list his major movies and call them milestones?
JC FTW. 🙂
He's DEvolved since the Terminator.