Some kind of kaiju attack Trevor’s air squadron, but Princess Diana (the original one, who didn’t live off UK tax revenue) saves his life. Her mother Hippolyta intends to keep him imprisoned, because she fears “Man’s World.” Yet, ironically, it will be a rogue’s gallery of female supervillains who eventually threaten the hidden Amazonian civilization of Themyscira.
This is indeed a female-dominated story, except for Trevor, but he is definitely a manly kind of guy. Recognizing his sense of duty, Diana helps Trevor escape, so she can help him fight the invading monsters. Presumably, they are successful, since that subplot mysteriously vanishes.
To prepare herself for her career as a superheroine and member of the Justice League (who are mentioned in passing but never seen) Trevor places her with archaeologist Julia Kapatelis, who will teach her about our world and to learn about her civilization. Unfortunately, Kapatelis’s teen daughter feels like Diana steadily steals her mother’s affections—to an extent that creates super-villains.
Indeed, Dr. Poison and Dr. Cyber exploit her rage, mutating her into the Silver Swan. Of course, the transformation process will eventually kill her, but they do not care. They just want to use her as a pawn to find Themyscira and plunder its advanced tech.
Adapted from the Down to Earth comic story arc, Bloodlines works best when it focuses on Princess Diana’s slow-building relationship with Trevor. They really represent one of the great comic book romances. On the other hand, it is a little off-putting to hear Trevor’s intelligence colleague Etta Candy explicitly lusting after Amazons (this is a film kids will watch, after all). In contrast, the old school William Marston-esque scene of a hog-tied super-villainess come across like a knowing wink to Wonder Woman’s history.
Regardless, Rosario Dawson and Jeffrey Donovan nicely express the personas of Wonder Woman and Trevor. It is also cool to hear Michael Dorn as the fan-favorite character, Ferdinand the Minotaur.
She is an icon for a reason—almost as much as Superman and arguably even more so than Batman. However, the newer uniform mostly featured throughout Bloodlines is not nearly as iconic as Lynda Carter’s red, white, and blue. Still, this Wonder Woman is clearly quite willing to work closely with the American military and intelligence services (especially Trevor), which makes her super-heroic. Recommended for the heroism and romance (despite a few rough edges), Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is considerably better than the live-action films (and currently available on DVD/BluRay).
