James Cameron

 

A metaphor, perhaps.
By Willy Stöwer - Magazine Die Gartenlaube, en:Die Gartenlaube and de:Die Gartenlaube, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97646

(contains a minor spoiler for the movie Titanic)

James Cameron was one of the best writers and directors in cinema for over a decade. I loved the Terminator series, Aliens, The Abyss, and True Lies. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I think he was generally a victim of his own success. After a certain point, he was able to finance anything he wanted and indulged every creative impulse with little regard for schedule or financial discipline. As a director, I don't think he's made anything good since True Lies, plus a little writing after that.

Later Cameron started making ambitious but slow movies that frankly are too long. Titanic was a huge success but I didn't care for it much and I don't think I'm alone. It wasn't terrible but it was overrated and it's become an object of ridicule. The plot, archetype characters, and silly ending were too predictable. People still make fun of Jack not climbing onto the floating door with Rose. Cameron has had to address the criticism in the years after the movie's release. Yet even so, Titanic was better than Avatar.

I watched Avatar about twice and although it reaches an exciting crescendo, I felt it was too long and there was too much exposition and indulgent special effects. I tried to rewatch it recently in preparation to watch the sequel and didn't get an hour into it. It's unwatchable, in my opinion, slow and cringey. It feeds off the "noble savage" trope which was worn out long ago and has not held up to modern sensibilities about race and "indigenous" people. As a consequence, I have no plans to watch the sequels.

The last good work James Cameron did was as a writer was Strange Days, released a year after True Lies. I'd love to see him make a comeback but it won't happen until after he gets the Avatar franchise out of the way. Unfortunately that is going to take several more years and Cameron will be quite old. Hopefully he will get away from the languid, preachy sloth, and just make a cracking action comedy or horror which are the things he is good at.

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