Given the rampant gun violence in the United States, James Cameron decided to take the moral high ground to cut 10 minutes of Avatar 2, because it contained an excessive amount of gun violence. Needless to say, this generally goes against the ethos of Hollywood which has glamorized firearms almost everywhere, giving rise to a culture of gun related crime.
The filmmaker said he is no longer interested in fetishizing guns in his action scenes given the rampant gun violence in the U.S. Given the fact that most Americans cherish their Second Amendment, which grants them the right to own and bear firearms, at the present moment is at the center of massive controversy. However the filmmaker went on to say, “I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action,” Cameron said. “I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”
I don’t know if I would want to fetishize guns, like I did on a couple of ‘Terminator’ movies 30-plus years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.” He further added that he is happy living in New Zealand, where all assault weapons were banned just two weeks after the Christchurch Shootings.
Both the recent Terminator movies were great disappoints, although Cameron did say he is planning to bring back the franchise, but it is still under discussion, and above all, if it ever makes it to the production stage it shall be more about the AI side rather than robots going wild and crazy.