"Avatar", "Hurt Locker": They're no "T2" or "Point Break!"

The Academy Awards nominations are out and the battle has begun; it's James Cameron vs. Kathryn Bigelow in a fight to the death for Oscar gold!

Fans, critics and movie enthusiasts alike cannot say enough just how much James Cameron’s Avatar means to the world for its visual feats.

And the same critics have finally come to accept solid filmmaking by women with the recognition of Kathryn Bigelow’s great accomplishment with The Hurt Locker. And how fun is it that these two ex-spouses get to go head to head this year at the Academy Awards for their achievements?

But this isn’t the first time they’ve battled it out at the box office. And I’m here to say that this isn’t their best match-up either. In fact, I’d like to argue the reality that Cameron and Bigelow did it so much better in 1991—when they blew our minds with Terminator 2: Judgment Day (T2 for those in the know) and Point Break.

Let’s look at Cameron's T2 first. John Connor still lives, this time in the form of a young, wise-mouthed Eddie Furlong, and must be destroyed by an all-new terminator model known as the T-1000. Arguably the best Terminator film in the franchise, do you remember where you were that summer when you got your first look at what Cameron accomplished? Remember how mind-blowing it was to see Robert Patrick’s T-1000 slink out of that checkered floor in the mental institution holding Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor; first like liquid tile, then mercury, then into a person! Or when he slaughters John Connor’s foster parents by forming his hand into a silver sword straight through the carton of milk into the man’s head with a quick flick of his arm? And that was just the first quarter of the movie.

Terminator 2 was unlike anything that came before it (until Michael Jackson wowed us again with the same visual effects used in the “Black or White” video a few months later) and it still triggers the giddy 15-year-old inside of me who caught it the first time around when I see it today--and I’m a girl! Watching that movie felt like a historical moment where the bar was reset and if anyone was going to cut it in action film-making, T2 better be a guide. And I believe most successful action flicks that have followed have done just that. No way would Tranformers be anything without the special effects groundwork Cameron made with T2.

Plus, the plot was actually solid, unlike the currently weak one in Avatar apparently being ignored by real critics worldwide.

On the flip side of that big-bang T2 bonanza was Point Break. Special FBI Agent Johnny Utah is tapped to infiltrate a gang of surfers (led by the late great Patrick Swayze) who may or may not be responsible for a string of bank thefts. He's paired up with a veteran (a brilliant Gary Busy. No, seriously.) and together the two try to get to the bottom of the crimes.

Released the same year, Kathryn Bigelow relied on solid stunts to make a really entertaining thrill-ride and using Keanu Reeves helped cement his place in the world of action films. The surfing shots were one thing, but go ahead and re-watch that skydiving sequence or chase scene again. That was definitely breaking new ground using some great stunt and camera work.

Bigelow may be feeling the critical love now for The Hurt Locker, but I doubt it will reach cult classic status the way Point Break has. Thanks to those borderline-iconic, cheesy lines, it’s even managed to spawn a tongue-in-cheek traveling live production called Point Break Live! One lucky audience member is chosen to play Reeves’ Utah. Reeves’ delivery of his lines with that same “Bill and Ted” bravado lends itself to hilarity for this live show which holds up in laughs and good times, just like the movie itself.

In honor of full-disclosure, I must admit that I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker yet, but I can tell you that I still remember the first time seeing Point Break (as well as Point Break Live! which is now playing in San Francisco at the Metreon), and I think that says a lot. Sure, I was 15 at the time and I had a penchant for all things Keanu and Winona Ryder, but still, a good action flick is a good action flick and this is one of them.

I’ve already said my piece on Avatar and I do look forward to The Hurt Locker, but I feel confident in saying that they’re no T2 or Point Break and they never will be.