Few would deny that James Cameron is perhaps one of the greatest filmmakers of our day. Known for his constant technological innovations and larger-than-life style of filmmaking, Cameron has crafted alien worlds, fought time-traveling futures, unveiled historical epics, and even explored the deepest depths of the ocean — well, all on the screen, anyway. His contributions to CGI, not to mention his continued success at the box-office, certainly deserves high praise. From franchise films to single, potent portrayals of the human condition, James Cameron knows how to deliver that true “movie magic.”
When it comes to the famed director’s own work, there are plenty of great movies to choose from. Whether you prefer his collaborations with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sigourney Weaver, the dude has some serious big-screen style. It’s with that in mind that we decided to highlight Cameron’s most undisputed masterpieces. You may prefer some of these to others, or may wish that another flick was cataloged here as well, but when it comes to his vast filmography, these are the movies that always stand out the most. So, without further ado, strap yourself in, because we’re about to embark on a cinematic adventure like no other!
‘The Terminator’ (1984)
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Image via Orion Pictures</figure>
Few films can so masterfully blend the worlds of sci-fi and horror with a distinctly ’80s aesthetic, but when you consider those that do, The Terminator is probably at the top of your list. Before this film, Cameron’s own directorial claim to fame was Piranha II: The Spawning, which doesn’t exactly scream “innovative cinematic masterwork.” This Arnold Schwarzenegger-led action thriller, however, does. When Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is relentlessly pursued by a killer cyborg from the future, only a human resistance fighter, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), stands between mankind and total annihilation.
In his first major outing, Cameron takes the horror slasher and reinterprets it through a speculative sci-fi lens that stunned audiences. Of all the Terminator models to grace the screen, the classic T-800 is still perhaps the most menacing for its hulking presence and no-nonsense attitude as it plows through entire police precincts and “Tech-Noir” nightclubs like they were cardboard. Cameron excelled at making his titular “movie monster” a cinematic icon, solidifying why so many are still drawn to this somewhat campy but downright delightful ’80s flick.
‘Avatar’ (2009)
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Image via 20th Century Studios</figure>
Perhaps Cameron’s most successful cinematic entry, Avatar blew audiences out of the water when it hit theaters in 2009. Nobody knew what Pandora would entail the moment we stepped into the theater, but upon seeing the breathtaking alien world for ourselves, we could understand why the filmmaker wanted to spend more time there. Jack Sully’s (Sam Worthington) adventures with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and the Na’vi as they fight for independence from Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and the RDA spurred an entire saga worth exploring in this intergalactic world.
From the exceptional visual effects that took years to pioneer (and over a decade to improve upon for the sequels), Avatar may not be everyone’s favorite science fiction epic, but it certainly showcases Cameron’s impressive vision as a filmmaker. As one of the best-looking movies of all time, the original 2009 feature has spawned two sequels thus far, subtitled The Way of Water and Fire and Ash, which continue to improve upon the visual aesthetics of Pandora — even if they do tend to repeat the same plot over and over again. Still, there’s a reason the first Avatar was once the highest-grossing film of all time.
‘Aliens’ (1986)
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Image via 20th Century Studios</figure>
As we established before, Aliens isn’t James Cameron’s first sequel, but it is his first good one. The first (and best) follow-up to Ridley Scott‘s original Alien (perhaps the best sci-fi/horror blending), this feature picks up many years after the original as Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) awakes to find that her life and family have been stripped away from her — and there are more Xenomorphs out there. Joining the android Bishop (Lance Henriksen) and Coloniel Marine Hicks (Biehn), she helps rescue the young Newt (Carrie Henn) and takes the fight to the Xenomorph Queen herself.
Aliens moves the Alien franchise away from its initial horror aesthetics and pioneers the action-packed type of sequel that Cameron would later perfect with another entry on this list. The filmmaker takes everything we loved about Ripley and infuses her with a tragic backstory that gives her enough motivation to see this new mission through. The entire cast is exceptional, with Henriksen and Biehn becoming franchise staples as well, and Cameron uses the slight genre shift to successfully reinvent the wheel. If you love aliens vs. military action movies, then Aliens is perfect for you.
Four love stories, four completely different ideas of what it means to
be somebody’s person. This is the one that matches how you actually fall, and what it would ask of
you.
You do not fall for strangers. You fall for the person you have
already been talking to for years, which is the slowest and by some distance the most
durable way anybody has found to do this.
- When Harry Met Sally made the case that the best romance is an argument you enjoy,
conducted over a decade, by two people refusing to admit what is happening. - You want to be known rather than swept away. Somebody who remembers your worst story is
doing better work than anybody arriving with flowers. - The film is unusually honest about timing. These two are wrong for each other repeatedly
until suddenly they are not, and neither of them engineered it. - You would still be talking about everything at eighty. That is the entire promise.
You want a partner, not an audience. Somebody who wants their own
life as badly as you want yours, and who would never ask you to be smaller to make the
relationship easier.
- This is the rare romance where both people have a real career and the film takes both of
them equally seriously. - You would rather be pushed than protected. The right person for you is also a bit of a
rival, and that never entirely goes away. - It understands the actual problem in ambitious relationships. Not whether you love each
other, but whose turn it is this year. - You would still be competing at forty. That is how you would know it was working.
The intensity was never the problem. The secrecy is. You are
drawn to a love that lives entirely in private, and to the particular ache of wanting
somebody you are not supposed to want.
- Heated Rivalry runs on the oldest engine in romance: two people on opposite sides,
meeting in secret, getting far more attached than either of them planned. - You keep your private life genuinely private, and something in you finds hidden things
more real than public ones. - The tension is not only between the two of them. It is between what they have and what
it would cost either one to say it out loud. - Years of this, and the whole story is really about whether either of them will finally
stop hiding.
You do not do this cautiously. When it happens for you it is
immediate and total and it rearranges everything, and you would not accept a smaller version
of it.
- Titanic gave us the biggest romance in film history and then made it last about five
days, which is precisely the point of it. - You measure love by intensity rather than duration. A few days of the real thing beats
decades of something merely comfortable. - The film is not only about the romance. It is about a woman who went on to live an
enormous life afterwards because of it. - You would still be telling this story at a hundred years old, and telling it exactly the
same way.
‘Titanic’ (1997)
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount Pictures
Image via Paramount PicturesIt’s true that one of these things is not like the other, and even if you don’t love Titanic, one cannot help but appreciate the sheer scope and scale of James Cameron’s successful historical epic. Sure, it’s not his usual sci-fi-flavored fare, but the attention to detail involved in constructing such a disaster picture (not to mention the technological achievements) remains quite impressive. Like Avatar, Titanic was not only one of the most expensive films made in its day, but also rose to prominence as the highest-grossing film of all time — nowadays, it falls fifth behind the first two Avatar films and two Marvel blockbusters, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star alongside an ensemble cast — including Kathy Bates, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, and Bill Paxton — as star-crossed lovers aboard the doomed ship during its inaugural crossing in 1912. A classic forbidden “upstairs, downstairs” romance between a young couple, this historical epic went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards for its efforts. No doubt, Titanic is an essential Best Picture winner, one that proved that Cameron did not have to limit himself simply to the sci-fi genre. However you feel about that ending, this is a movie that has been considered by many a masterpiece for a reason. Titanic certainly made film history.
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ (1991)
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Image via Tri-Star Pictures</figure>
Arguably the greatest action movie of all time, Terminator 2: Judgment Day subverts all your expectations from The Terminator but does so in a way that builds on the material rather than completely rewriting it. Sarah Connor is now a fierce warrior fighting to stop a dark future from occurring so that her son, John (Edward Furlong), might escape his own destiny. So, when Skynet sends back another Terminator, this time the liquid-metal T-1000 (Robert Patrick), the resistance sends back not another human being, but a reprogrammed cyborg of their own, once more played by Schwarzenegger.
Reversing course, Schwarzenegger’s T-800 is now the hero of the story, leaning into the star’s growing portfolio of action flicks at the time. But T2 is more than just an action movie, it’s a sequel that takes its time to expand on the original material in meaningful ways that stretch our characters beyond their limits. Not only did Cameron wait years to make the film for technical reasons (The Abyss pioneered the CGI liquid technique before he utilized it here), but those extra years gave the story room to breathe. As one of the most important sequels of all time, there’s a reason we continue to revisit Terminator 2 again and again all these years later.
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