Moon Knight Review: The New Phase Of The MCU
When Iron Man was released back in 2008, audiences had absolutely no idea the journey they were about to go through for the next ten to fifteen years. No one could have possibly imagined the magnitude to which it would grow, to the point where we would see multiple characters from the pages of comics appear on screen, not just following their own story, but part of a much wider narrative. We have become so used to it, in fact, that many fans actually get disappointed when another character doesn’t make an appearance. However, in the beginning this is exactly how it was. As it was always before. Individual films, focusing on individual characters. Unlike the world of DC though, who had a tendency to focus on characters well known to the masses, such as Superman and Batman, Marvel decided to focus on characters not universally well known.
Marvel’s newest project, Moon Knight, is a call back to the times before the established Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). For their new show, releasing on Disney+ March 30, they have once again chosen to focus on a character very few people know much about and brought them into the ever-expanding universe, they have worked so hard to create.
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Now, whilst this may seem like a strange change in direction at this point, it’s actually a very strong selling point for the show itself. Nowadays, to watch a new series or film based within the MCU, there is usually a need to have a fair amount of knowledge of everything that has happened until that point in time to provide some context. Moon Knight seems to be an exception to this “rule”. Having been given the chance to watch the first four episodes of the brand-new show, there doesn’t seem to be any need to have watched any past projects to understand what is going on. You don’t even necessarily need to know much about the character either.
The show created by Jeremy Slater and directed by Mohamed Diab, based on a character created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin for Marvel Comics, introduces us to the character Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac). The character is portrayed as mild-mannered, but awkward and is seen as a bit of nobody based on the fact his work colleagues don’t seem to be able to address him with the correct name. It’s hard to tell if this is done on purpose out of disrespect or a genuine case of him being an easily forgettable person. He lives alone in a flat owned by his mother, in London, and not far from where his place of work. As we first see him at work, a museum akin to the British Museum, we learn he has a fairly decent knowledge of Ancient Egyptian history, making you believe he is some sort of tour guide, however that turns out to not be the case and he does, in fact, work within the gift shop. Despite his desperate attempts to remain focused and time conscious, it is made clear he suffers from fugue states in which he loses all track of time, including any memories of what he has done or where he has been during these episodes.
Moon Knight establishes from the off, that there is something deeper going on in terms of Steven suffering from some sort of mental illness, evidenced by the fact he sleeps with leg restraints and takes excessive measures to ensure he does not “wander” when he is supposed to be sleeping. One such late night excursion sees him wake up in the Alps. These measures include the aforementioned leg restraint, multiple locks and tape on his door, plus a circle of sand around his bed. This essentially confirms Steven is aware of these episodes and probably has been for some time, however, things start to get out of hand when he begins having visions of the Egyptian god Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham) stalking him as well as the introduction of what appears to be another personality within him, Marc Spector. These visions and continued fugue states leave Steven struggling to understand what exactly is happening to him.
Much like the Moon Knight comics themselves, there is an element of horror to the show in the first episode, especially when he (and we) get our first glimpse at the Egyptian moon deity. The scene is quite unsettling, however this seems to be where the horror aspect ends. As Steven begins to receive more information about what is happening and becoming more accepting of the situation, Khonshu appears more often and in much less horrific circumstances.
Despite it being well known throughout the advertising stage for the show that Isaac would be portraying different personalities, the contrast between the two is quite enjoyable to watch. As an honest opinion, I did find it quite hard to fully buy into the portrayal of Steven (the accent is a difficult one to swallow at times), but Marc was a perfect character for Isaac to portray and when they both “come together”, Isaac does get the chance to show off his acting skills, fully making you believe it is two completely different people inhabiting the same body. Steven’s reactions to what he learns are believable and mirror how most people would likely react in the same situation, with a little Marvel humour thrown in for good measure of course. When Steven agrees to allow Marc to take control of his body in order to save himself from a Jackal like creature only he can see, this is when we see our first look at Moon Knight in all his glory and I have to say, the costume is awesome.
The show could easily have focused on establishing the bond and history of the two personalities, delving more into Steven’s mental health, and given us more backstory on how things came to be the way they are, but it’s not long before we are introduced to the villain of the series, Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawk). This is where I think a trick may have been missed as it does feel like the show is rushed to fit the Marvel troupe we have come to know and it could have perhaps benefitted from building more of the story with Steven/Marc first.
When it comes to Harrow though, rather than all out master criminal, he appears to be more like a cult leader, with followers aiding him across the globe in his quest. He reveals he was once an avatar for Khonshu but did not agree with his version of justice, punishing people after committing a crime. Harrow believes evil should be stopped before it even has the chance to grow and so seeks to release the god Ammit whom he believes will eradicate evil for good. His motivations are not dissimilar to Thanos’ in that he believes his actions, no matter how horrific, are all for the greater good of the world and he is doing the right thing. In order to do this, he must find magical scarab which will lead him to the tomb, something Steven/Marc just happens to have in his possession, leading to their meeting.
May Calamawy’s character, Layla, is introduced as the wife of Marc which obviously causes issues for Steven and confusion, but despite the actress portraying her part well, it leaves viewers to question just who is the dominant personality. For most of the show the assumption is that Steven is the dominant personality, however, as we learn more about Marc we discover he has apparently been using Steven’s body for a lot longer than anyone really knew and got himself involved in some really hardcore stuff. During one scene, Harrow suggests there being even more personalities than those two, so it’s easy to become confused at times.
After having watched the first four episodes, I can honestly say I enjoyed them, however there’s one element that seems to be somewhat missing and that, ironically, is Moon Knight. The focus is on Steven/Marc and setting up this world of Egyptian gods, but the superhero himself has been fairly absent throughout his own show. Hopefully this changes with the final two episodes. Don’t get me wrong, the scenes in which Moon Knight features are pretty spectacular, there’s just not a lot of them and they don’t last very long. It’s also not clear when exactly the events of the show take place within the wider MCU. As it stands now, it feels like the show has been made in a way to merely introduce the character to viewers with the potential to have him included in future MCU team up movies. Based on the time available for a TV series versus a film, there should be more room to establish history and context, something I found to be a bit lacking, however I eagerly await the final two episodes before making any sort of overall judgement.
Until next time!