James Cameron reflected on being “just a punk” when he directed The Terminator and how, looking back now, he knows it wasn’t perfect. The Oscar-winning director spoke to Empire magazine ahead of the classic sci-fi film’s 40th anniversary next month and noted he considers the project his first,

"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," Cameron told Empire Magazine. "You know what? Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films--then we'll talk about dialogue effectiveness."

James Cameron doesn’t want to hear your complaints about his dialogue. Cameron has directed a number of the highest-grossing movies of all time, including 1997’s Titanic, 2009’s Avatar, and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water.

Although many consider it a masterpiece, James Cameron has enough distance from The Terminator to give it his honest review. Marking the 40th anniversary of his directorial debut, the 3x Oscar-winning director looked back on parts of the 1984 film as “pretty cringeworthy” as he admitted the “production value” didn’t age well.