Today US audience finally get a chance to see James Cameron's Avatar, exactly 12 years after the release of Cameron's last film, Titanic, which opened on December 19th, 1997. Why 12 years later? Having claimed the most prestigious honor a film can hope for, highest grossing film ever, as well as some minor accolades like best picture and best director, Mr. Cameron had a tough act to follow and was forced to be more selective than usual. I make light of Titanic achievements but they are worth itemizing, in March 1998 the film tied Ben-Hur to be the only film awarded 11 academy awards including the top honor, Best Picture(Return of the King has since join that duo). Both Titanic and Return of the King are considered by many to be unworthy of their distinction (perhaps that was also the sentiment when Ben-Hur was released) and their failure to secure any statues for acting inhibit both films from the respect and admiration other films with less statues, like Silence of the Lambs and Network still command.
On the finance side of things Titanic overtook both Jurassic Park's record ($357m in 1993 dollars) and Star Wars' (episode IV) record ($460m over multiple releases) with its final haul of $600m in its 41 week domestic run, the first 14 of those were consecutively as #1. It broke Jurassic Park's and Star Wars' records in its 9th and 13th weekends respectively. Its overseas grosses are even more impressive, not only was it the first movie to have a worldwide gross of over a BILLION DOLLARS, it made $1.2 billion outside of the US alone, factor in the US gross and it made nearly TWO BILLION DOLLARS. Though its critical awards may be contested, in terms of sheer revenue it undisputed (Gone with the what?) that Titanic is the most profitable movie ever!
Prior to the unprecedented success of Titanic, Cameron had wasted no more than 3 years between the release projects after becoming a successful director with The Terminator in 1984. Cameron had been active between Titanic and Avatar directing nature documentaries for IMAX such as Aliens of the Deep and Ghosts of the Abyss, developing the TV series Dark Angel that put Jessica Alba on the map, as well as developing films that never made it into production including remakes of Solaris, Planet of the Apes (with Arnie) and I am Legend(with Arnie). Notable among these attempts was a treatment for Spider-Man, though his draft was ultimately rejected (curse you Sony!) minor elements were still used i.e. the organic web shooters. The following are 4 other films that either the directors or studios decided I had to wait 12 years to see.
Terminator 3 (3 July 1991 - 2 July 2003)
When the first Cameron-free Terminator film finally arrived in theaters I was skeptical to about the creative team's ability to produce something worthy of the first 2 films, having lost all of the contributors from the previous films except the Governator himself (and that psychiatrist dude). I was encouraged by director Jonathan Mostow's previous 2 films and the fact that CGI has evolved steadily 12 years since. Pleasantly enough the film started pretty somber and was doing respect to the franchise, then Arnie walk into a gay bar. The film turns into a mishmash of good and bad ideas with unwanted slap stick humor sprinkled on top, what we got was an expensive but silly homage to the T2.
What elevated the franchise to its status at the top of the sci-fi genre was its T2's villain, the T-1000. A mostly silent villain, Cameron created a character like nothing anyone had ever seen on film (ok, except maybe in the Abyss), a shape shifting, liquid metal robot. T3 offered us a villain that had a liquid metal layer over a solid exoskeleton and spent most of its time as a blond female wearing red leather (that is less massive than Arnie yet some how stronger and more intimidating). This villain seemed less of a progression from the 1st two antagonists and more like a combination of previous ideas, both the good and bad elements, all wrapped up in an unnecessary layer of sex appeal (Visit http://www.jamescamerononline.com/T3special.htm for a side by side comparison of T2 and T3). This too is characteristic of the film. Rather than taking the franchise forward, it mainly recycled good and bad elements from the previous films and added unnecessary sexuality and humor. Immediately after seeing T2 in the early 90's I felt that a true progression of the villain could have been a robot that can pass through solid objects (i.e.walls) which may sound silly but the idea was brought to the screen twice that summer with Nightcrawler in X2 and 2 weeks later with the Twins in Matrix Reloaded (A solid then a liquid then a gaseous terminator, makes sense to me).
T3 was not a complete wreck though, it seems that over the years and various script revisions the producers had many good and bad ideas and decided to use all of them. The FX are more advanced than they were in 1991, the action is still huge and the ending is pretty strong. Though not a film to be respected, it can be enjoyed as a guilty pleasure.
Live Free or Die Hard (19 May 1995 - 27 June 2007)
Unlike T3, Die Hard 4 was being actively developed soon after Die Hard 3, it was based on a script by David Marconi (Enemy of the State) but was stalled after the Sept 11th, 2001 attacks due to its plot revolving around terrorist plans within the US. In 2003 when Tears of the Sunwas released Willis expressed that part of the negotiations to get 'Tears' made revolved around his commitment to staring in another Die Hard and between then and the film being put into production Willis gave updates to fans including the films frequent name changes.
In the decade of superhero franchises and blue screen mania, John McClane returned to multiplexes to kick ass the old fashion way. Apparently John McTiernan is not allowed to direct the even installments of the franchise (or maybe because he was in court for most of 2007 presumably for remaking Rollerball), so Fox decided to enlist the services of Len Wiseman, director of Underworld and arch nemesis of Michael Sheen, to helm the 4th installment of this most hard boiled of action franchises. Like T3, I was skeptical of the new director's style, the possible overuse of CG or blue screen, the PG-13 rating and the fact that they seriously considered casting Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Justin Timberlake at different points to play McClane's child (or was Timberlake to play Lucy McClane too?).
Though a far more solid addition to its franchise than T3 was, Die Hard 4.0 (as it was known overseas) is not a serious continuation of the franchise but can be thoroughly enjoyed as a guilty pleasure (except for McClain flying a helicopter and murdering a F-35, those are unforgivable). Wiseman did earn my respect as an action director and I was thoroughly entertained. In my opinion the most original scene in the film is the one that involves the Capitol builing being destroyed on TV with McClane and FBI Deputy Director Miguel Bowman frantically racing to the site to confirm its demolition, the scene was strangely intense, ominous and atypical of a film like this. The film would have been far better received had it been a stand alone story and not forced into the continuity of the Die Hard series and may have started another Republican action hero franchise that was so absent from this decade if you don't count Jason Bourne in Bourne 1,2,3 and Quantum of Solace.
Clerks 2 (19 October 1994 - 21 July 2006)
Kevin Smith widely sites a promise to his friend Jason Mews (that he would resurrect Jay and Silent Bob one more time if Mews stayed off drugs) as the main decision to make a sequel to Clerks, but it is pretty obviously that the newly formed 'The Weinstein Company' as well as Smith needed as sure hit. Bob and Harvey Weinstein formed The Weinstein Company in 2005 after a very successful and impressive reign over Miramax as part of the Disney family. The Weinsteins clearly called in favors from the very directors whose careers they made with Miramax to help put their new studio on the map, directors such as Quentin Tarantino forDeath Proof (Pulp Fiction), Anthony Minghella for Breaking and Entering (The English Patient), Robert Rodriquez for Planet Terror (Spy Kids) and of course Kevin Smith. Smith's directing career was also in need of a sure hit after both Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back andJersey Girl turned out to be back-to-back duds.
But how do you make a direct sequel to a cult hit that was so sharp and refreshing? The originality of Clerks is difficult to repeat so Smith ultimately made a satisfying but unnecessary sequel. Smith previously had the right idea by expanding the View Askew universe rather than making direct sequels to his successful films. Though Mallrats and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back are unremarkable movies, Chasing Amy and Dogma maintained Smith's signature humor while escaping the direct comparisons to any of the other films in the Askewniverse and have proven to be far superior films to Clerks (indeed I think Dogma is Smith's masterpiece and most underrated film). Clerks 2 is moderately funny, the shock factor of Dante and Randal's dialog has been lost and most of the jokes seem either forced or predictable. If we are to see Jay and Silent Bob in the future I hope it isn't in Clerks 3.
Eyes Wide Shut (26 June 1987 - 16 July 1999)
Like Avatar, the 12 year gap is not between sequels but between the director's efforts. Eyes Wide Shut was released 12 years after Full Metal Jacket and introduced this writer to the world of Stanley Kubrick. In the 18 odd months between the debut of the (most unique) teaser in early 1999 and my finally watching the film on HBO in the summer of 2000 I familiarized myself with the works of Kubrick by finally seeing his greatest masterpieces such as A Clockwork Orange, 2001, Dr. Strangelove and Lolita (I saw Barry Lyndon and the balance after EWS). EWS was my first experience with a major Hollywood release that offered so much to be studied (with the aid of this article http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0096.html). Though the quality of the film is debatable both in terms of its individual merit as well as where it stands among Kubrick's accomplishments if at all, this single film (by putting Kubrick on my radar for the first time) is responsible for changing both my taste and how I perceive a film. I can only imagine the experience EWS's release must have been to a long deprived Kubrick fan.
Share your experience with these 5 films below or add other films I should have included.
