QFT! There's never a doubt in my mind that this is Cameron's best work; possibly the best movie ever made by anybody. Schwarzenegger is perfect as the inhuman killing machine. Michael Biehn carries the movie with his wild-eyed performance as Kyle Reese. But one of my favorite parts is how fleshed out the entire thing feels. Even with supporting characters like Vukavitch, Traxler, & Silberman, it's clear that they are living, breathing human beings with a life outside of what we see on screen. And because it's so dark and the stunts & effects are so relatively low key, it gives the film a sense of realism, like this could really be happening out there right now and we'd never know it.
For ranking Cameron's 2nd place work, I have a tough time picking between Aliens & Terminator 2. I have more affection for the Terminator franchise as a whole but I love the eclectic, if 1-dimensional, cast of Aliens. Plus, more Michael Biehn & Lance Henriksen is always a good thing.
Yes. In 2-D, it's long, bloated, & rediculous. In 3-D, it's a totally immersive experience. I give the plot 2 stars but a full 5 stars for the visual ability to fully transport you to Pandora. And I am usually not someone who falls for visual spectacle. (Transformers is nothing but obnoxious noise.)
From a plot perspective, I really liked Avatar at the beginning. But as it goes on, the MESSAGE becomes far too heavy handed for my tastes. All of the Dances with Wolves & Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest comparisons are very apt. Personally, I'm sick of the noble savage routine. Sure, they're "in tune with nature," but I guarantee you that their infant mortality rate is appalling.
Message movies like this don't work because the ideal that they advocate is simply one that will not be accepted by 99% of its audience in the real world. While we might be persuaded that deforestation & the displacement of indigenous peoples are bad things that need to be stopped, I think very few people in the audience are willing or able to go straight from modern consumerism to jungle minimalism. For one thing, if we did, we wouldn't be able to watch movies!
Still, from a visual perspective, Avatar is the most impressive thing I've ever seen, which is why I rank it above Titanic. While Titanic has some great spectacle with the ship sinking and all that, there's a lot of stupidity here too. In particular, if Rose had just stayed on the lifeboat in the first place, then Jack would have had the door all to himself, and they both would have survived. Ultimately, it was her grand romantic gesture that killed him!
Also, the movie is far too cloying and Cameron should know better than to take such cheap shots. When he cut right from Jack's death to a shot of all the people in the present day crying, it was such a blatantly emotionally manipulative moment, I wanted to punch Cameron in the balls.
I think that's been the problem a lot of people have had with this movie. They were expecting Aliens and what they got was Close Encounters.
Personally, I can't really judge The Abyss or True Lies since I haven't seen either of them in over a decade.
Piranha II sucks. It's more Roger Corman than James Cameron.
So, in summary...
1. The Terminator.
2. Aliens.
3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
4. Avatar.
5. Titanic.
6. (tie) The Abyss & True Lies.
8. Piranha II: The Spawning.
Although, owing to some PG-13 technicality, he could only show us one of Winslet's nipples, leaving us to merely INFER that she has a matching set!
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