James Cameron: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best

8. Avatar

Battle Angel Alita
Fox

We maintain that James Cameron hasn't really made a true bad movie, but there are some that receive more recognition than perhaps they deserved.

Until recently, this tale of Native American-esque aliens contending with human colonizers was the highest grossing movie of all time, until being beaten by Disney's golden boy Marvel, and their modern classic Avengers: Endgame.

On its own, it's a decent science fiction epic that utilizes cutting edge technology to tell a story that many feel has already been told many times before without much deviation. But the fact that it was the highest grossing film of all time, despite most who went to see it barely talking about it afterwards, rubbed folks the wrong way. Surely the highest grossing film of all time should be a film we talk about for at least a year after it comes out?

But for all the snark thrown at Avatar, it cannot be denied that this film still features James Cameron at some of his highest. His technique is undisputed, his experience apparent, and the CGI in this movie from 2009 makes most films from today look amateurish in comparison.

The definition of an overrated film, but that doesn't make it bad.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?