James Cameron joined Empire magazine for a discussion about the 40th anniversary of “The Terminator,” and he had the perfect clap back for moviegoers who sometimes complain about the cringe dialogue in his movies.

“I don’t see “The Terminator” as some kind of masterpiece, not at all,” the director said. “When I look back at it now, there are parts that make me cringe, but other parts I think, ‘You know what? For the limited resources we had, we did pretty well.’”

“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 added. “You know what? Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films — then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness.”

Cameron was referring to his record-breaking box office successes: “ Avatar ,” the highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.9 billion, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the third highest grossing movie of all time with $2.3 billion, and “Titanic,” the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.2 billion. He pointed out that even though some find his scripts to be somewhat cheesy, it hasn't stopped his films from dominating the box office.

The Oscar winner is known for defending his films. In a 2022 interview with Empire magazine , he lashed out against moviegoers who complained about the three-hour runtime of “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

“I don’t want anyone complaining about the length when they can sit and watch [television] for hours on end,” Cameron told the magazine. “I can almost predict what some reviews will say: ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ Come on, give me a break. I’ve seen my kids watch five one-hour episodes back-to-back. We need a shift in our mindset: it’s perfectly okay to get up and take a break.”

Cameron also expressed his frustration with moviegoers who continuously criticize the original “Avatar” movie. Despite its immense box office success, nine Oscar nominations, and three wins, “Avatar” is often ridiculed for lacking cultural relevance, even though its long-awaited sequel still became the third highest-grossing movie of all time.

“The critics will say nobody cares, that they can’t remember the characters’ names or anything that happened in the movie,” Cameron said. “Then they see the movie again and go, ‘Oh, okay, never mind, I'll just shut up now.’ So I’m not worried about that.”

Cameron’s third “Avatar” film, “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 19, 2025 from Disney.