10. “Hurricane”, The Abyss (1989)
Chalk the inclusion of this up to variety if you want. I admit it was a bit of a stretch for me to try and think of Cameron's most staid and character-driven effort in terms of action set pieces, of which it is somewhat sparse. Still, the fatal tropical storm that dislodges the giant crane and strands Ed Harris and his SEALs many leagues under the sea is expertly realized with tricky water effects. An early shot of adrenaline to last us through the ensuing slow simmer of tension and unease. I'd have called it the most dazzling underwater spectacle of 1989... were it not for The Little Mermaid.
9. “Skynet showdown”, The Terminator (1984)
The explosive chase that precedes The Terminator's iconic climax would be one-upped twice over in the sequel (note my epic list foreshadowing), but the emergence of Stan Winston's menacingly mechanical T-800 and its unflinching hunt of Kyle Reese and Sarah Conner into Skynet's factory is a justly remembered (and often parodied) set piece. Doug Beswick's stop motion model may jump out at modern movie audiences as an obvious effect, but I think the slightly choppy animation lends an appropriately robotic quality to T-800's movement.
8. “War”, Avatar (2009)
Large-scale conflicts are not actually a staple of Cameron's bag o' tricks. His conflict-based action usually revolves around the peril of either an individual or a small group of characters, which lends itself to the intimacy of the situation. But in Avatar's riveting climax, he weaved together several simultaneous narrative elements (the battle in the air, on the ground, from the Navi's POV, from the humans' POV) with an invaluable sense of rhythm and flow, before culminating in the mano-a-mano showdown between Jake and Quaritch, both of them fighting through some simulated body.
7. “Horse / motorcycle chase”, True Lies (1994)
The climax of True Lies certainly wows with its heavy pyrotechnics, but it's this equine pursuit that wins best in show as far as I'm concerned, for it best embodies the tongue-in-cheek tone of Cameron's venture into action-comedy. What starts as an assassination attempt in a public washroom spills out into the street as Arnold commandeers a mounted police officer's steed to nab the suspect. Complete with humourous side-glances to Tom Arnold and a delightful elevator gag, it's great fast-paced fun.
6. “Mall scene and chase” , Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
This sequence is not only a clinic of breathtaking stunt work, but an important narrative device that establishes both the lethality and physical limitations of Robert Patrick's T-1000. We first see his invulnerability to bullets, and then his wicked bipedal speed as he makes after John Connor's motorbike on foot before trading up for a truck. This scene also cashes in on the badass biker image Arnold teases us with near the beginning of the picture.
5. “Police station assault”, The Terminator (1984)
The setup for this set piece is almost as good as the action itself. A nice little splash of irony as the sceptical police psychiatrist passes the T-800 on his way out of the station, followed by the delivery of Cameron's most memorable one-liner, “I'll be back”. And back he came, in gung ho fashion! The squibs start going off all over the place as he stalks the precinct in search of his target, unphased by the futile bullets of surprised cops, who are no match for this one-man wrecking crew.
4. “Destruction of Home Tree”, Avatar (2009)
Timber!!! As heartbreaking a scene as it is to behold, it's also quite a rush. The deafening rumble of Quaritch's deadly armada carries a tangible sense of doom as it floats towards Home Tree like a bunch of noisy rainclouds. But that's nothing compared to the pandemonium on the ground when the tree's mighty columns go up in splinters, or the bedlam in the tree itself as terrified ikrans and their flyers dodge toppling branches. It's the second best disaster sequence Cameron put together, next to...
3. “Sinking of the Titanic”, Titanic (1997)
If you wanna get technical about it, the Titanic is actually sinking for about half the movie, but Cameron spends most of that time building suspense and tension, the ship's prow slowly but steadily dipping into the Atlantic. The excitement accelerates to an apex in the final half hour, in which we see the cruise liner point its stern aloft, crack in two, and dive into the frigid depths while hundreds leap off in desperation. Cameron had wisely presented a computer simulation of the sinking near the beginning of the film to prime us for what's to come.
2. “Helicopter / tanker chase”, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
As I claimed in the introductory paragraph, Cameron's action sequences feel like mini-movies unto themselves, no less so than in the three-act climax of Terminator 2. Linking together the raid/shootout at Skynet Labs and Arnold's fisticuffs with T-1000 at the steel refinery, this virtuoso multi-vehicular chase on the L.A. Freeway boasts a lot of the best stunts, special effects, sound, and photography I've ever seen or heard in any action film, let alone those of Cameron. It ends on the Terminator's second most memorable one-liner, “Hasta la vista, baby”.
1. “Ripley v. Alien Queen”, Aliens (1986)
Seldom does a film's big action centrepiece reflect the thematic foundations of the material as strikingly as the duel to the death between Ripley and mama alien – the war of maternal instinct. Having put us on the edge of our seats with their silent standoff a few minutes earlier, Cameron proceeds to scare us out of them when the pissed creature unexpectedly announces herself. But she's upstaged by Sigourney Weaver's big entrance (“Get away from her, you bitch!”), and just like that, it's on! The ensuing combat always dazzles me. It boggles my mind to imagine how much effort went into coordinating Stan Winston's complex alien puppet and the mechanical lift together.
