Mentally disturbed gift shop employee Steven Grant investigates the hidden mysteries of the Egyptian Gods with mercenary Marc Spector from one single human body.
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So far in my experience, Moon Knight seems like an ultimate masterpiece in terms of the storyline and the theme from Marvel Studios. It’s a world that embraces pageant over character, and usually tends to melodrama when it’s trying to pull at the viewer’s heartstrings. There’s no space for true acting. However, there are many reasons to hope that the Disney+ series could help shift this esteem.
Directed by Mohamed Diab, Moon Knight ends up one of the stronger Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ shows till date, even if it suffers from the seemingly inevitable mid-season subside narratively. To be more precise, The protagonist in Moon Knight portrays a combination of Eddie Brock from Venom and Arthur Fleck from the film Joker. Like that of the transformation into another character and deep mental illness or strength we may say in the story.
Oscar Isaac plays the role of lead character Steven Grant, an ordinary employee in a museum gift shop who has been suffering severe black outs, and sleep disorders, so bad that he chains himself to bed at night and puts tape on the door so he knows the next morning if he left. In many ways, he is a classic alter ego. Steven keeps waking up somewhere else, unsure if he’s still dreaming as he regains control of his own body. Eventually, he discovers that he is also Marc Spector, the alpha part of his personality who is aware of the full deal about his powers as Moon Knight, the avatar for Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham), the ancient Egyptian God of Moon and Time. Following the narration, it turns out that the Gods can still control people on Earth through their avatars and, well, Khonshu is a little aggressive being when it comes to how he uses Marc as his Avatar, especially with the emerging threat of a man named Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), an evil religious cult leader who try’s to resurrect the god Ammit.
Isaac and Hawke are two phenomenal performers who balance each other’s part chronically in fascinating ways. Steven/Marc are extroverts—the awkward and the aggressive, in order to elaborate, Stevens version of Moon Knight resembles more like Deadpool, filled with craziness and psychopathic behaviour whereas Marc’s version is more matured and acts like a professional soldier of God—on the other hand Harrow is the calm sociopath, the introvert who kind of, will drive the knife in body slowly while explaining why you need to die this way. In the midst of the story we get to know Layla (May Calamawy), someone important from Marc’s past whom Steven has never met—it’s complicated. As the first four episodes get to puzzle-solving ancient riddles in Egyptian tombs, it all takes on a very Indiana Jones aesthetic, and Layla is the Marion to Marc/Steven’s Indy.
The golden elements of “Moon Knight” outside of Isaac’s excellent performance are when the writing allows Diab and Benson/Moorhead to get weird. This is an undeniably strange show that at times leans into its concept as a horror film—and the directors get to have some fun in action scenes involving shifting personalities and invisible foes. The way Issac dissolves into different phases of character till the last episode, the twists and turns in his acting style truly add an essence to the story. And after all, in the world of movies a very selected number of people are able to play a tremendous amount of emotions in one film, like that of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean and Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool. Good things apart, one thing for sure is to be said that Ethan has to be appreciated as he has worked in an excellent manner while portraying the villainous side of the story with awesome expressions and emotions.
At the end of the day, each episode has it’s own very specific part of the story, that connects the puzzle piece by piece. And indeed, it’s a well maintained streamline of suspense created one after another.