Cory Massimino

Short Review: Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (2019)

November 1, 2020 by Cory

★★★½

“Wonder Woman: Bloodlines” somewhat struggles to balance its delightful amalgamation of characters and plot threads, which includes the interesting decision to tell Wonder Woman’s origin in a modern context along with introducing and establishing multiple supporting heroes (the prominence of Etta Candy is refreshing and the modern take on Steve Trevor was pretty good) and antagonists — categories which occasionally overlap as in the case of the hilarious Minotaur Diana graciously frees from the maze’s slavery rather than destroy.

Given the overabundance of characters and plot threads and the apparent studio decision to limit themselves to a runtime far too short, the first act consequently jumps through time sporadically and could use more fine-tuning — maybe a prologue showing us some of Diana’s life Themyscira before Steve Trevor arrives? But about midway through it really finds its groove and nails the landing with a truly imaginative, unpredictable third act which delivers some awesomely creative action (especially compared to the DC Universe Original Batman movies’ rote ninja battles as of late) and delightful character development and emotional growth on the part of Diana, her mother, and and her surrogate daughter, wrapping everything up with a nice bow… or lasso.

I particularly love this more layered interpretation of Wonder Woman, who is first and foremost Diana Prince, who sometimes struggles with her own confidence and anxiety, and who strikes a lovingly delicate balance between warrior and nurturer; between the aggressive fighter ready and willing to use violence on the one hand and the mediator who values peace and love on the other — a false dichotomy which Wonder Woman is often reduced to either side of.

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