This Moon Knight review (spoiler-free) is based on episodes 1-4.
The MCU has made billions out of lesser known heroes. Even Iron Man was practically unknown to wider audiences once upon a time. But even so, there is something about Moon Knight that makes Marvel's latest venture feel a tad riskier than usual.
To some, Marc Spector is just a C-list hero, a Batman wannabe who's even more unhinged. But Moon Knight is so much more than that. While the Dark Knight hides in shadows to instil fear, Marc wears the brightest costume possible because he wants criminals to see him coming. He has no bleeps left to give, and that's what makes him so scary.
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Blend in some mental-health issues with eerie Egyptian mythology and you've got yourself one of Marvel's most unique and frightening comic book heroes – if you can even call him that.
But unfortunately, Moon Knight is not that show. Not quite, anyway.
That's not to say horror is completely absent. As the trailers suggest, a demonic, almost zombie-like entity plagues Marc Spector in every waking moment – and that's just his guardian deity. Khonsu isn't the only one who goes bump in the night though, as Marc will soon discover.
Except Marc is actually all too aware of the horrors that night time can bring. The one who's really struggling with all this is Steven Grant, a museum gift-shop worker who sounds like "the starved love child of Mr Bean and Hyacinth Bucket" (as we suggested before when that promo first dropped).
It's almost impossible to even think about Moon Knight without slipping into your best Mary Poppins accent, which is probably a damn sight better than Oscar Isaac's, if we're being honest. But there is at least some method to this madness.
Like the source material, Moon Knight can be quite jarring at points thanks to its weird, off-kilter tone. Which we love. And Oscar's strange accent(s) certainly add to that, but not always in a good way.
This show should be jarring in ways that reflect Steven's own slippery take on reality, but there's only so much chaos we can embrace before the shifts between horror and slapstick comedy just start to feel messy.
And that's especially true when it comes to one of Moon Knight's first major fight scenes in the second episode. Two hours in, we longed to see a different version of Moon Knight that lives in the Marvel/Netflix world alongside other heroes like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Instead, we're left with some key moments that are undermined by the Disney-fication of it all.
It doesn't help that the three leads all feel like they're acting in three separate shows — or four leads, even, if you count both of Moon Knight's dominant personalities.
While May Calamawy is in a light Indiana Jones-style romp, Ethan Hawke, the best of the three, shines as an intense cult leader who hints at the darker direction this show could —and should — have taken. Meanwhile, Oscar is chim-chim-cher-ee-ing all over the place with a storyline that feels more than just a bit blasé and even dismissive of the very serious mental-health issues that the script's trying to tackle.
Although answers that come later could help bring this all together — and perhaps even redeem that aspect of the show — we're already four episodes in (out of six), and only now are we starting to see Moon Knight's true potential.
Glimmers do shine through though, of course.
Between them, Mohamed Diab and directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead craft some of Marvel's best small-screen sequences to date. There's one in particular that's truly awe-inspiring in ways that stretch what the MCU is even capable of. Keep an eye out for that towards the end of episode three.
And then episode four takes you even deeper down the rabbit hole, setting up what could be a game-changing final two episodes. That's assuming you stick around that long though, which we think you will.
Because even when all this lunacy threatens to derail Moon Knight completely, there are little touches like Khonsu's snark and Steven's charm or even Marc's elaborate costume changes that will resonate with newcomers and diehard fans alike.
Much like Moon Knight himself, this show isn't perfect, but the risks it does take are commendable — even though they're a little safer than we'd like. Still, it's thrilling to see Marvel shine a light on the darker, weirder corners of their ever-expanding universe. If only the powers-that-be shared Marc Spector's don't-give-a-bleep approach when it comes to marketability. Perhaps that would have made us care more.
Moon Knight premieres on March 30, streaming on Disney+, with new episodes every Wednesday.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
