Review: "Moon Knight" (Disney+)

 

Overall Thoughts: A little weird, a little undecided in tone, but an overall solid, unique entry.

NOTE: Being a TV show, I have reviewed each individual episode in a couple of small paragraphs apiece. I will do my best to avoid spoilers!

Episode 1: The Goldfish Problem

In this premiere, Steven is trying to figure out his job and his social life. Meanwhile, Marc is on a mission to try and stop a mysterious zealot named Arthur Harrow (an appropriately deceiving/sinister Ethan Hawke). Ultimately, Steven figures that something is wrong with his life, and cannot bring things into balance. Eventually, Steven finds out that he has a different "side" to himself that he needs to survive.

This well-paced premiere brings a strong sense of mystery, suspense and action. Isaac is immediately likable as Steven, while leading up to a strong reveal of Moon Knight. The visual effects are strong, and the mystery unraveling is intense. The end credits are also appealing.

On the downside, there are a couple of jarring "easy way out" moments that throw things off a bit. And there's a couple of intentional horror nods that don't exactly work either. However, this is a pretty impressive premiere overall, setting up the mystery and leading characters well.

Grade: B+

Episode 2: Summon the Suit

First, Steven is fired from his job. Second, he runs into Layla (May Calamawy), Marc's estranged wife, which leads to some confusion and drama. And finally, Marc reveals himself as an avatar for the Egyptian god Khonshu (voice of F. Murray Abraham). Both let Steven know that there's more to the story behind Arthur and what he's trying to do.

This episode keeps the overall suspense and mystery going, while giving solid amounts of exposition to Marc/Steven, as well as the underlying mystical and otherworldly underpinnings. There's also moments of humor that really do a nice job balancing things out as well. There's also a couple of strong action scenes with Moon Knight (including a strong distinction between both Marc and Steven's versions of the hero. Kudos to the costume design!).

The exposition goes on a little long, but it is necessary to help understand the stakes. And, the episode does attempt to do a little much with its' reveals and character study that could have been placed in the next episode. But altogether, this is just as entertaining and exciting as what came before.

Grade: B+

Episode 3: The Friendly Type

After being sent to Egypt, Marc/Stephen is asked by Khonshu to go to a meeting between the Egyptian gods to warn them of Arthur's intentions. The meeting does not go well as Arthur successfully reasons his way out of it, but Marc/Stephen is given sympathy from one of the gods to help him keep up with Arthur. This later leads Marc and Layla to a dealer who owns a key sarcophagus.

This episode does not quite reach the heights of the first two, as this feels more like a wild goose chase rather than a cohesive plot. However, the first act is strong. The meeting inside the pyramid of Giza is pretty nicely done, and there's an entertaining action scene towards the end.

At the same time, there are a couple of drawn-out slow scenes. And, there are a few things that are either unexplained or not explained enough to make it make sense. However, most of it remains fairly interesting.

Grade: B


Episode 4: The Tomb

Following Khonshu's unexpected capturing, Steven and Layla find the goddess Ammit's tomb, with the hope of finding information before Arthur does. The duo finds out that Ammit's last avatar was Alexander the Great by finding his tomb. Meanwhile, Arthur attempts to break Layla and Steven apart by getting into their heads.

This episode takes the series in a bit of a darker, more harrowing direction. The pace slows down, and there's some weird revelations that feel a little off. It feels quite a bit like an offshoot of The Mummy. There's even some creepy mummified priests in the mix that further reinforce this.

That being said, there's a few interesting revelations, and the overall proceedings become even more unpredictable. The ending is quite surprising (keeping in tune with the Episode 4 "shock and awe" for Marvel Disney+ shows), and has a weird element to it as well. Overall, I found this to be a step down from the first three episodes.

Grade: C+

Episode 5: The Asylum

Following a deadly encounter, Marc and Stephen both find themselves in crazy, weird locations with little hope of escape to stop Arthur from releasing Ammit.

This trippy episode features some weird, yet unique elements. Elements of the psychological thriller genre make their way into the proceedings. These work at times and confuse in others. There's a few solid visual effects, and the ending is surprising. It works emotionally, while also leaving things off in surprising, unpredictable fashion.

On the very positive side, this episode does give much-needed backstory to Marc/Steve's condition, which also works emotionally. The episode does drag at times, however, and is low on the action side. While this episode is an improvement on the last one, it's still not as good as the first two.

Grade: B-

Episode 6: Gods and Monsters

In the season (or perhaps series) finale, Marc and Stephen and others face off against Ammit and Arthur to save the world.

This finale definitely ups the ante. It's thrilling, carries cinematic visual effects, and brings the storyline full circle. It's also surprisingly short, coming in at about 40 minutes without credits. The ending action scenes do have "easy way" cutouts, but it does lead to a mid-credits scene that is nothing short of surprising and helps cover up plotholes at the same time.

One character's superhero armor is lazily-designed, with too much resemblance to Falcon. There are also some weirdly-placed transitions which make the overall plotline a little confusing. However, at the same time, there's also some soli emotional payoffs as well, which work well in the first half.

Ultimately, this one does manage to step up from the last two episodes, but is still not the best entry for the series.

Grade: B

Overall Thoughts

When I saw the trailer for Moon Knight, I thought it was a little "too DC". And, it seemed like it was too similar to the trailer for The Batman which came out pretty close to the trailer for this one. Thankfully, however, that didn't end up being the case. Moon Knight is more than an in-the-streets superhero, and there was a lot that it's trailer and marketing campaign was hiding.

Overall, I really liked the concept of this show. And I thought the story team did a terrific job developing Marc and Steven, and explaining their dynamic so incredibly well. Steven is an immediate winner of a character. And while it takes Marc some time to catch up, we do sympathize with the situation (the main character struggles with dissociative identity disorder, which is handled tastefully and sympathetically well here). Ultimately, Oscar Isaac gives a career-best performance here as two personalities inhibiting one body.

Tone-wise, the series sometimes struggles with figuring out what kind of show it is. The first two episodes are straight action/fantasy thrillers while remaining light on its' feet as some of the best Marvel shows/movies do. And then it turns full Mummy afterwards, and fully embraces a weirder, darker focus that works sometimes, and sometimes doesn't. The pacing also suffers a bit late in the game.

However, at the same time, I appreciate the show for embracing it's own sense of "weirdness", and for keeping things fairly unpredictable. I also liked how it did not rely on prior MCU entries or events to get stronger buzz or chatter. It developed it's own story and carved its own path as an origin story. The supporting cast is pretty solid, and the visual effects are very cinematic.

In the end, Moon Knight might not be the best MCU Disney+ effort, but it's certainly the strangest and most unique. And that's far from a criticism.

Grade: B