James Cameron: Hero or Villain?

[Lake View Too]

I must admit, James Cameron has made a lot of great movies:

Terminator: A very good, innovative movie with great suspense

The Abyss: An almost great movie that sputtered at the end

Terminator 2 : A great movie, with great effects and some of the best action sequences of all time.

Aliens 2 : A very good movie but I thought there should never have been sequels to the superb "Alien".

Titanic : I still think it is tied (with "Apocalyse Now") as the best movie of all time.

Avatar: A visual stunning movie, with some slight problems.


My problem: I personally don't like James Cameron. He's seems like an egotistical jerk. A bit too absorbed into the technology,etc. What I've gleaned from the "behind the filming of Avatar" shows on TV is that he invented this "advanced motion capturing" technology and I sense that he is going to market it to other directors, and try to spread it industry -wide.

Is this a good thing?

Do we really need a plethora of phantasmagoric movies even more fantastic than the last?

My son commented that "Pirates of the Carribean" might have been a better movie if they had just stuck to a fun pirate's tale, without all the magic, and demons, and supernatural voodoo. I really saw his point.

What do ya'll think?

 

[scooterbug44]

I don't think he's either hero or villain.

Heroes have to do more than get rich making mainstream movies and openly profiting off your invention isn't truly villainous IMO.

Don't think he's that great of a movie maker - mainly because while his special effects or topics are great, his actual plots/dialogue are pretty lame.

 

[Lake View Too]

That's kinda my point. He's got the emotional range of a fourteen year old, but he's also master of the cool new toys in movie-making. I'm very wary of movie-making when the people are only stick figures to hang computer generated images on. Whether we notice or not, movies are affecting our perception of reality.