James Cameron has range. Terminator, Aliens and Abyss are action/thrillers, Terminator 2 is a straight up action popcorn flick, True Lies is an action comedy, Titanic is a drama, and Avatar is an epic. Michael Bay just makes the same film over and over again.

James Cameron is constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be done. Abyss and Terminator 2 did things with CGI that had never been done before. Avatar did the same with 3D. Michael Bay has never done anything innovative whatsoever.