Moon Knight – Series
~50 Min/episode (6 total), TV-14
Created by Doug Moench
Written and Directed by Various
**NOTE: this post will be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, enjoy this brief look at my thoughts. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
A former U.S. Marine, struggling with dissociative identity disorder, is granted the powers of an Egyptian moon god. But he soon finds out that these newfound powers can be both a blessing and a curse to his troubled life.
Well, Disney+ has now dropped their fifth live-action Marvel series for us (Wanda/Vision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and Loki): Moon Knight.
Admittedly not an A-list Marvel hero, Moon Knight has been around a long time, and honestly, Disney seems to really have success bringing out some great second-tier characters and making them work.
I mean, Iron Man wasn’t a “top-shelf” hero for most people until 2008 when RDJ stormed the world as Tony Stark. He was one of my favorites, along with the “First Family of Marvel,” the Fantastic Four (whose return to cinema we may soon know more about…).
But with this newest, 6-part series, Marvel gives us another conflicted hero to enjoy.
Now, having watched the first four episodes, let me just start by saying: “I hope the last 2 episodes aren’t rushed to get to the end.” Yes, this is yet another truncated series, similar to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but…
It might be my favorite of the four.
Hear me out before you light those torches.
All of the Disney+ Marvel series have delt with the concept of Identity in some way. In Wanda/Vision, Wanda couldn’t figure out who she was, in and of herself, and in her grief and confusion, she (re-)created the love of her life, Vision, who is subsequently forced to deal with his own, already questionable, internal sense of identity. They are forced to ask themselves “WHO AM I?” And then they have to answer that question, which they haven’t yet.
In The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, both Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are forced to reckon with their identities outside themselves, who they are in society-at-large. Sam, as a Black man reckoning with his place as an ordained-yet-denied Captain America, and Bucky as a reformed assassin, wanted around the world by governments and private organizations for his past (admittedly out of his control) actions. They ask themselves “WHERE DO I FIT?”
Loki, by contrast, takes a man confidently self-assured in his identity as the God of Mischief, King of Asgard and/or Joden Heim, and suddenly strips all that away by revealing to him that he is merely one of countless variants of a character who ultimately means nothing to the multiverse. He is, for lack of a better phrase,
"[...] but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. [...] a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing."
Any excuse to invoke the Bard, yes?
Regardless, it’s true that Loki is forced to reconfigure his sense of identity in light of the multiversal revelations forced upon him by the TVA and its creator, Kang.
Which brings us to Moon Knight, in which mild-mannered Steven Grant discovers that he is not who he believes he is, either. Not that he is especially happy with who he is, but to learn that at least half of your life is not yours, but belongs to someone else, who has then dealt their life AND YOURS to a supposed god…
It’s a lot to take in.
Oh, and you’re married. Right?
But as a series, I find this turn back into the internal definition and reconciliation of Self and Identity to be more interesting. Sure, there are external events which may play into the larger Marvel universe, but for the series, this is the crux of Steven/Marc. Here we are, again, watching our “hero” learn abou themself, laying the groundwork so that the larger, grander, more “important” stories don’t need to retread this same ground, and will allow for an even more nuanced performance from Oscar Isaac down the road.
Speaking of Oscar, as good as I found him to be in The Card Counter, I am really impressed with his work here as both the meekly English Steven Grant and his American “other self,” Marc Spector. He switches seamlessly between the two, not just in easily manipulated voice-overs, but in those instances when he talks to his image in reflective surfaces. Again, this can be attributed to editing (for flow, and whatnot), but the work he puts in to making each phrase play perfectly in tone and intent against his “other” lines is really impressive.
I look forward to the seeing the final two episodes when they stream in a month (ugh!), but I’m pretty sure I’ll be more than okay with them.
Moon Knight will stream exclusively on Disney+ beginning March 30 and air new episodes every wednesday.
Moon Knight stars Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, May Calamawy, Gaspard Ulliel, F. Murray Abraham, Fernanda Andrade, Sofia Danu, Diana Bermudez, Ann Akinjirin, Rey Lucas, Antonia Salib, and David Ganly.
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tags: movies, movie review, moon knight, oscar isaac, ethan hawke, may calamawy, gaspard ulliel, f murray abraham, fernanda andrade,sofia danu, diana bermudez, ann akinjirin, rey lucas, antonia salib, and david ganly, Doug Moench,action, philosophy, thriller, egypt, identity, marvel, disney,
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