The Top Directors Working Today: James Cameron

My first thought has to be is there anybody here who isn’t interested in what he’s up to after such a long hiatus? Cameron likes to raise the bar each time out, not just on his directing but on the way images are put to film. He’s a pioneer; I don’t think you can argue that. But is he still relevant?

I think it's just hard to judge a director's current relevancy after such a long vacation. (Remember how the absence of Tarantino between Jackie Brown and Kill Bill brought up uncertainty?) Luc Besson (who you'll notice I passed over) took a similar long absence from directing before releasing Arthur and The Invisibles and Angel-A. There's a similar situation with Robert Zemeckis, who I wish would abandon his digital animation fetish and get back to flesh and blood filmmaking.

That being said, Cameron has one of the strongest records of excellence of anybody out there, and while he’ll always be the guy who gave us Titanic, his 3-hour cut of The Abyss is what I think proves he is always capable of creating, not only a masterpiece but a technical marvel of emotionally shattering impact.