James Cameron has some angry "Wonder Woman" fans on his hands.

The Oscar-winning director had some harsh criticism for the superhero flick during a recent interview with The Guardian. He went so far as to call the film "a step backwards" and to describe Hollywood's response to its success as "misguided."

"She's an objectified icon, and it's just male Hollywood doing the same old thing!" he said of the heroine. "I'm not saying I didn't like the movie but, to me, it's a step backwards."

While we won't argue that Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is the perfect feminist film, it seems extreme to suggest the movie is detrimental to women's representation or somehow worse than what we've already seen. At the very least, the movie was the first female-centric superhero blockbuster; it proved that women can carry a superhero movie -- big time.

Also problematic here is how Cameron juxtaposed the film with "The Terminator" to make his point. He brought up his film's heroine, Sarah Connor (Linda Howard), and said she was "not a beauty icon." Rather, he says, "she was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit."

Sure, Connor was tough and had many interesting character traits, but that is also true of Wonder Woman. Plus, it is hard to make the case that Connor was in no way objectified. (She did, after all, spend a lot of time running around bra-less.) Either way, though, whether or not a character is "a beauty icon" shouldn't be the litmus test. A character can be simultaneously sexy, strong, beautiful, and empowering.

Not surprisingly, reactions to Cameron's comments popped up quickly on Twitter.

"Wonder Woman" has some warriors on its side, that's for sure.

[via: The Guardian]