All 9 James Cameron movies ranked from worst to best

7. True Lies

True Lies might be the name of a 2023 TV series on CBS that just so happened to be produced by James Cameron, but that’s simply down to the fact that it was Cameron who brought the concept to the US silver screen in the first place (though it was based on the French comedy La Totale!). That’s right, back in 1994, he directed the dream team of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis, as they played a married couple struggling to keep their marriage alive. That is, until Harry’s secret life as a spy spices things up.

Looking at Cameron’s filmography, True Lies may well stick out for being the most different movie he’s ever directed (well, aside from Piranha II). It’s a comedy movie masquerading as a spy movie all wrapped up in an action adventure full of explosions, thrills, and marriage disputes. It’s outlandish, it’s crazy, and it’s a damn good time that makes full use of Schwarzenegger’s comedic chops, as well as his star-power as an action hero.

Curtis is equally as well-cast here, winning a Golden Globe and Saturn Award for her portrayal of Tasker’s formidable wife Helen (which is nice to look back on now that the genre queen has finally won a long-overdue Oscar).

True Lies is an adventure for the ages that literally explodes on the screen before you, benefitting a great deal from Cameron’s larger-than-life direction as a result. The only thing preventing it from a higher placement is that some of it really hasn’t aged well, and we’re not talking about the action!