7 James Cameron Blockbuster Movies to Watch Ahead of "Avatar 2" Release

James Cameron is a highly skilled director who has made some of history's most memorable and famous films. His attention to detail and ability to tell fascinating stories established him as a real master of his art. I respect his commitment to his craft and am constantly amazed by the sheer scale and magnitude of his projects.

His films are visually spectacular and offer compelling storylines that keep spectators on the edge of their seats. His ability to build immersive worlds and complicated characters is simply unparalleled. He is a great artist and a cinematic legend. As a tribute to this legend, let's explore his greatest blockbusters from Titanic to Avatar and beyond.

7 Cameron Classics

1. The Terminator (1984)
2. Aliens (1986)
3. The Abyss (1989)
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
5. True Lies (1994)
6. Titanic (1997)
7. Avatar (2009)

1. The Terminator (1984)

A human soldier is dispatched from 2029 to 1984 to defeat a nearly indestructible cyborg killing machine that has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to mankind's future survival.

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, The Terminator is the first film in the franchise. The movie is violent, and we're talking '80s-style violence: people are shot, run over, and blown up in extremely horrific ways.

In the film, Schwarzenegger speaks only 17 lines and less than 100 words. Schwarzenegger's famous line, "I'll be back," originated from The Terminator script, which was originally written as "I'll come back."

The Terminator has a rating of 100% "fresh" reviews at the critic aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes.

2. Aliens (1986)

What thrills me about "The Way of the Water" is that no one does sequels better than James Cameron. Aliens, a sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 original, Alien, was released on July 18, 1986, to great acclaim and starred Sigourney Weaver. Weaver's performance, like those of Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein, was widely acclaimed.

Cameron was approached in 1983 to develop a plot for Aliens based on his writings for The Terminator (1984) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). Aliens is currently regarded as one of the best 1980s films, as well as one of the best science fiction, action, and sequel films ever created, perhaps equal to (or greater than) Alien.

The film was followed by two sequels, Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997), as well as two prequels, Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2013), none of which was a commercial success.

3. The Abyss (1989)

A civilian diving crew is hired to look for a lost nuclear submarine, but they confront dangers when they come across an alien aquatic species. Starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Biehn, The Abyss is Cameron's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a big-hearted sci-fi epic about humanity's interactions with aliens of unknown purpose.

The visual delights of The Abyss haven't been dulled by time, although the CGI looks far better in the deep, black water than above the surface at that level of advancement.

Though not as popular as Cameron's other films, The Abyss pushed blockbuster art forward, foreshadowing the shift to digital effects that dominated Hollywood in the following decade—beginning with Cameron's own Terminator 2: Judgment Day two years later.

4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Speaking of which, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was the second installment in the Terminator franchise and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong.

Malicious Artificial Intelligence Skynet sends a Terminator—a highly evolved killing machine—back in time to 1995 to assassinate John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance. To safeguard Connor and preserve humanity's future, the resistance sends back a less-advanced, reprogrammed Terminator.

Terminator 2 is now regarded as one of the finest films ever made, as well as one of the best science fiction, action, and sequel films, and as being on par with or better than The Terminator. It is also regarded as one of the most significant visual effects films of all time, ushering in the shift from practical effects to the use of computer-generated images CGI

5. True Lies (1994)

A brave, globe-trotting, terrorist-fighting secret agent finds his wife may be having an affair with a used-car salesman as terrorists smuggle nuclear warheads into the United States. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Arnold True Lies successfully blends a thriller and a household comedy, which is a challenging task.

Director James Cameron delivers a fascinating drama about love, marriage, and honesty inside the premise of a spectacular action thriller. However, parents may regard the messages more than their children.

6. Titanic (1997)

Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as individuals from different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its tragic inaugural journey. Cameron was inspired to make the film by his obsession with shipwrecks; he believed that a love story interwoven with human tragedy would be necessary to express the emotional effect of the catastrophe.

Titanic was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won 11, including Best Picture and Best Director, setting a record for the most Oscars won by a single film. Titanic was the first picture to break the billion-dollar barrier, with an original global total of more than $1.84 billion. It held the record for the highest-grossing film of all time until another Cameron production, Avatar, overtook it in 2010.

7. Avatar (2009)

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver, Avatar is about a paraplegic Marine sent to the moon Pandora on a special assignment, and he's torn between following instructions and safeguarding the place he considers his home.

With a total of more than $3 billion, Avatar is the second-highest-grossing film of all time, after only Gone with the Wind. It was also the first film to gross over $2 billion and the best-selling video title in the United States in 2010.

Avatar received nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects.