From ‘Terminator’ to ‘The Abyss’: 5 James Cameron films you need to watch before ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ drops in theatres

James Cameron is best known for his action-packed features and work as a writer as well as a director. May it be work of fiction or documentary films, Cameron has explored a lot of fields. ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is perhaps one of Cameron’s most popular works, though his next release on December 19, ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, may bring tough competition. Before the release of the new sci-fi film, here are a few films by James Cameron that you should binge-watch first.

‘The Abyss’ stars names such as Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester, and many others. The story revolves around the U.S. Ohio-class submarine USS Montana, which, in 1994, during one of its rounds, encountered ‘something’ in the sea, and sank to the depths of the ocean floor. A group of SEAL team are sent to the secret underwater unit Deep Core to retrieve the sunken submarine, though their journey is nothing short of perilous as the same ‘something’ comes back for them. The film is available on Prime Video for viewing.

‘True Lies’, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead, tells the story of Harry Tasker, who works for a top-secret U.S. counterterrorism agency. To his daughter and wife, however, he is an introverted computer hardware salesman. The film follows as Tasker struggles to balance his life as a family man as well as a spy, as his wife starts suspecting him of something else entirely, putting both of them in danger. You can watch 'True Lies' on Apple TV and Prime Video.

James Cameron is the mastermind behind some of the films in the ‘Terminator’ franchise. He has worked on the first film, along with ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’, as well as ‘Terminator: Dark Fate.’ The film series follows Terminator, a robot from the future who has been sent back in time in order to kill John Connor, who will lead a human resistance against the synthetic intelligence known as Skynet. ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ was the final installment in the franchise and was released in 2019. It followed on as a sequel to ‘Judgement Day’, and ignored the films which were released prior to it (‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’, ‘Terminator Salvation’, ‘Terminator Genisys’).

All three films are available for viewing on Prime Video. 'Terminator: Dark Fate' is also available on JioHotstar.

This Keanu Reeves-led action-thriller film was another one of Cameron’s big hits at the time of its release in 1991. The film follows undercover FBI agent Johnny Utah, who is sent to infiltrate and investigate a group of bank robbers. While undercover, he ends up developing a complex relationship with the leader of the group, Bodhi 'Bodhisattva'. The 2015 film is available for online streaming on Prime Video.

Last but not least, there’s ‘Alita: Battle Angel’, which was released in 2019, and is another one of Cameron’s sci-fi themed features. The story revolves around a post-apocalyptic Earth where the rich live in the sky on a floating island, while the poor suffer on the congested surface. It follows Alita, a high-strength cyborg who is rescued by scientist Dr. Dyson Ido and finds herself waking up in a new mechanical body with no recollection of who she is. The live-action film is streaming on both Prime Video and JioHotstar.