"Moon Knight," on Disney+, Brings More Mayhem and Mystery to the MCU

Steven Grant endearingly played by Oscar Isaac is a seemingly pleasant museum gift shop employee with a passion for Ancient Egyptian history He lives in a small apartment in London takes the bus to work and doesnamp8217t seem to like sleeping all that much as we see him listen to guided meditations meant to keep people awake Oh and he restrains himself to his bed frame by the ankle pours a ring of sand around his bed and has several other security measures set up around his apartment to keep him from leaving Youamp8217d suspect heamp8217s a sleepwalker or aimlessly wanders about at night but if youamp8217ve ever watched Supernatural a ring of sand or in that show salt means heamp8217s trying to keep something out Or maybe keep something from getting outAfter a typical sleepless night full of reading up on Egyptology and solving Rubikamp8217s cubes Steven abruptly awakens somewhere in the European countryside lip swollen jaw dislocated and in possession of a mysterious golden scarab artifact Pursued by armed gunmen Steven stumbles upon a strange ceremony led by Christlike cult leader Arthur Harrow menacingly portrayed by Ethan Hawke who claims to cast judgment on his followers through their goddess Ammit Much to Stevenamp8217s confusion Harrow spots him and accuses him of being a mercenary and tries to retrieve the artifact but the booming voice of Egyptian god Khonshu voiced by Academy Award winner F Murray Abraham commands that Steven not give up the scarabEvery time Steven is nearly killed by his pursuers he blacks out and awakens with his wouldbe assailantsamp8217 limp bodies around him After a tense car chase and scuffle he awakens back in his own bed in London thinking heamp8217s dreamt all of this but soon realizes that several days have passed It seems that during his blackouts Steven is possessed by a mercenary named Marc Spector who he has to thank for swooping in to save him by the skin of his teeth Whether Steven likes it or not he and Marc have a common enemy and need to work together in order to surviveWhatamp8217s particularly interesting about this series is how we are seeing all of these events through the eyes of a narrator who may not be reliable similar to Fight Club or Christopher Nolanamp8217s Memento The main character is going through so much memory loss and so many hallucinations and delusions of grandeur that you arenamp8217t too sure who to believe This is the first time weamp8217ve encountered anything like this in the MCU Series star May Calamawy who plays Layla has referred to the show as quotFight Club meets Indiana Jonesquot alluding to not just the historical heist aspects but the use of characters who are not at all what they seem and may be revealed to be figments of our main charactersamp8217 imagination Itamp8217s interesting seeing Oscar Isaac play such a vulnerable and rather oafish character a considerable departure from his past work You truly feel for Steven as he has his quotstreet foodquot dinner while chatting with or at a gold statue street performer droning on and on about his day It goes to show how vast Isaac39s range is as heamp8217s played everything from a comic book villain in XMen Apocalypse to a modern mad scientist in Ex Machina to a sharpshooting rebel pilot in the Star Wars sequel trilogy I can also appreciate the vocal choices made from character to character with Steven having a bit of a higher pitched voice and a cockney accent while Spector sounds American and has a darker vocal quality that Isaac naturally possesses He does an incredible job portraying the various personalities we have met so far and if the marketing materials are any indication there may be another one or two that appear as the series progressesItamp8217s worth noting that Oscar Isaac is the first male actor of Latin descent to lead any MCU property and among the few Latine actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the superhero genre overall The others include Zoe Saldana Guardians of the Galaxy Tessa Thompson Thor Ragnarok and Salma Hayek Eternals In the original Moon Knight comics Marc Spector is the protagonist a mercenary of Jewish descent from Chicago and the son of a Rabbi who escaped Nazi persecution Isaac has just as eclectic an ancestry with a Guatemalan father Cuban mother and French ancestors so I especially appreciate his casting in this roleCredit for the thrilling action sequences sizzling car chases and overall tone of the series goes to director Mohamed Diab who is obviously a very visual and meticulous director with highly stylized shots when Steven blacks out and then comes to between his personalities Head writer and showrunner Jeremy Slate keeps the dialogue wellpaced and scenes moving along perfectly and Hawkeamp8217s cult scene was purely unsettling and villaindefining to a teeAs far as Disney MCU series go Moon Knight is definitely the most brutal weamp8217ve seen so far WandaVision was a genrebending dramedy Falcon and the Winter Soldier your standard MCU actiondrama fare with topics of social injustices and Loki a timewarping timelinebreaking scifi epic But the constant power struggle between Steven Grant and Marc Spector leaves us wanting for more of the duoamp8217s dynamic as the series progressesMoon Knight is a truly thrilling and intriguing new series Iamp8217m curious to see where this character and his many sides ultimately fit in the larger MCUMoon Knight streams new episodes Wednesdays on DisneyClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

"Moon Knight," on Disney+, Brings More Mayhem and Mystery to the MCU

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Juan Ayala

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

"Moon Knight," on Disney+, Brings More Mayhem and Mystery to the MCU

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Juan Ayala

Stay in the know with more from MediaVillage

TAGS:

Cookies