‘Moon Knight’ is a delicate balancing act that too often collapses

With so much possibility for the best MCU show yet, this review explains why I feel it squandered all of that with a deeply flawed narrative

Synopsis: The series follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc's enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

Where To Watch: Exclusively streaming on Disney Plus

With Moon Knight, the marketing department at Marvel Studios had been making promises to us for months. Kevin Feige stated that the show would be “brutal” and a “different thing”. Oscar Isaac has expressed that it will be a deep exploration into mental illness and “psychological horror”, while much of the crew said that it will harken back to the grittiness of Daredevil. And with the whole show out, ehhhh…

In the end, Moon Knight felt so desperate to live up to all of those expectations while following so many different aspects of the lead character(s) that it fell victim to its own ambitions, resulting in a convoluted, lifeless mess. Granted, full credit to Isaac, channeling every ounce of his inner McAvoy to make these characters complex and crazy, vicious and vulnerable within every single scene. Due to his devotion, he made Marc/Steven compelling when the surface-level intrigue wore off, at least until the second half of the season made a genuine effort to make them…characters. Episode 5 shined through a focused, authentic look at the backstory of Marc that strips the spectacle away for more personal stakes. Likewise, when the character could be trusted to solely rely on Isaac’s charm, he could flesh out the comedy and drama to distinguish himself as fully unique.

Though the goal of the writers to take a riskier approach with the premise payed off with the main character building, it never fully gelled with the superhero aspects of the show. Once again, seeing the MCU take a gamble by embracing such a distinct character with weird mythology was welcome, and felt like it had a more cohesive tone within the universe than other chances like Eternals. The DID personality of Steven/Mark made the show feel disorienting in its earlier episodes, but keep the audience’s interest in the character afloat as the series’ storylines started to culminate. On the other side, nothing memorable stood out when the show decided to embrace its comic-book roots. Much like the pitfalls of WandaVision, everything that makes the story unique was drowned out by forgettable, lackluster action that underused the title character and felt neutered by the constraints of PG-13 blood and the need of a lighter tone. Add in shoddy CGI that feels ripped straight from Morbius and clunky exposition about Egyptian gods that felt enticing at first, but became muddled in the convoluted exposition that plagued the show’s dialogue far too much.

Since the opening minutes, too much of the show felt emotionally distant and dull to ever be resonant, which is disappointing considering the amount of potential they had in front of and behind the camera. Take Ethan Hawke’s character, an actor with enough charisma to be a truly effective villain but is never given anything remotely investing, solely relying on the actor’s talent to carry the weight like so many other MCU villains. Much of the blame should be put on the writing and directing, as the tone and story radically switches between episodes that it never feels consistent, save for the powerful episode 5 that wisely honed in on one arc. Is it a globe-trotting adventure show in the vein of Indiana Jones? Is it a dark, mature exploration into mental illness? Is it a trippy, psychedelic adventure in the vein of Mr. Robot or Legion? Is it primarily about Steven’s difficulty adjusting to his life? Marc having to overcome his regrets and past darkness? The series never chooses any one of these, so the audience feels shortchanged by all of them and always prevented yours truly from connecting to the central core. Unlike the earned exploration of grief in WandaVision or the intriguing unraveling of the multiverse in Loki, the scattershot approach to the concept eventually devolved into a dreary mess.

Look, my overall frustration is overpowering most of my positive feelings towards this show. Instead of simply phoning it in as a generic product, the writers had high ambitions and tried to take a creative approach with a darker look at the MCU, resulting in a stylized production with bursts of intensity. Generally, the quality is bolstered by Oscar Isaac’s captivating performance that makes the audience genuinely invested in the characters of Marc/Steven, especially when the human shades of them are allowed to be expressed that can be genuinely poignant. As a whole, Moon Knight was a dreary disappointment, culminating in a shockingly rushed and aimless finale that suffers from the faults of the over Disney+ finales, which is failing to do any proper setup and favoring hollow visuals over any potency. That limp sense of closure encapsulated all of my issues, which is the overall disconnect from messy storytelling and a tedious tone that misses any of the greatness that could’ve come from the premise. When I simply acknowledged that I didn’t care about what I was watching, and that the finale wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of the previous emotional highs, I realized what I was ultimately watching—a boring TV show.

Grade: C+ (MCU and Oscar Isaac fans only)

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