He may have at one time been the self-declared king of the world, but when it comes to his screenplays, James Cameron’s dialogue has long been the target of criticism by fans and critics — hey, there’s a reason that one of the few Oscar nominations Titanic didn’t get was for its screenplay. But — and as you can imagine, James Cameron doesn’t give one bowl of PCP-laced chowder what you think.

In a new interview with Empire that celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Terminator, James Cameron said he wishes the movie’s production values had aged better but doesn’t think the dialogue is nearly as bad here — or in any of his movies — as most people seem to think. “I don’t cringe on any of the dialogue, but I have a lower cringe factor than, apparently, a lot of people do around the dialogue that I write. You know what? Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films — then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness.” Game over, man!

Look, we love James Cameron and his insane streak of hits, but it is hard to defend the dialogue in most of James Cameron’s movies, even the ones we love (see also: Lucas, George). My personal favorite is what I consider the best action movie of the ‘90s: True Lies. But I’d be a fool and a liar if I said the dialogue stood out, Tom Arnold delivery be damned…Hey, at least movies like True Lies, Aliens, Titanic, and The Terminator had some cool one-liners; meanwhile, we’re wondering which had worse dialogue: The Way of Water or Piranha II?

James Cameron’s haters do bring up some interesting questions, though. If we can be easily enough dazzled by the action on screen, does bad dialogue really matter? Certainly we’d hope so, but for the most part, is it an issue for the target audience?

Do you think James Cameron’s films suffer because of the dialogue or is it easy enough to overlook? Which movie is his most quotable for you? Give us your thoughts in the comments below if you want to live.

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