James Cameron may not be the most elegant filmmaker, but his films have an assured grace that elevates them above their many inferior imitators. That’s been the case ever since 1984’s The Terminator, in which Cameron delivered a rough-and-ready sci-fi horror action film that felt simultaneously refreshing and befitting of the era it was born in. Throughout his career, Cameron has made films that don’t reinvent the wheel so much as operate so smoothly they remind us why we have wheels in the first place.
