The latest Marvel series to adorn the small screen as part of the Disney+ catalog is “Moon Knight”. The show launched on March 30 after much speculation surrounding its intriguingly mysterious promotional material, and heretofore unfamiliar protagonist.
The titular linen-clad Marvel superhero first came into existence in the 1970s and was granted his own line of comic book stories in the early eighties. The character began as a mercenary by the name of Marc Spector who is chosen by the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu. In this early version of the mythos Spector merely assumed the aliases of a cab driver named Jake Lockley and a billionaire named Steven Grant. However, in later versions, these aliases became separate personalities as part of the character’s dissociative identity disorder.
In the Disney+ series, created by Jeremy Slater and starring Oscar Isaac, the viewer is introduced to the world from the perspective of the Steven Grant personality. However, unlike its printed counterpart, the streaming series showcases Grant as a humble gift-shop employee, suffering from a foggy memory and sleep-walking.
Slater highlighted this liberty to experiment, alter and be creative with the mythos as one of the greatest advantages of working with a character who was novel to much of the audience.
This creativity is indeed seen on the screen as the pilot is truly well crafted and a clear indicator of the work put into the series. The narrative is presented unconventionally with abrupt cuts jumping forward in time as the perspective shifts from the meek Steven Grant to the confident Marc Spector. Even Grant himself is an unreliable narrator. Such an obscure narrative pattern, at times reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s “Memento”, is edited to be intentionally confusing yet manages to maintain an extremely engaging pace that never loses its grasp on the viewers’ attention.
Isaac delivers an enthralling performance that manages to showcase his acting prowess as well as his ability to present a sympathetic point-of-view character to whom the audience can relate. Isaac’s physical acting in a scene where two of the personalities amusingly fight for control of Steven’s body must be particularly noted.
Egyptian film director Mohamed Diab was brought in to direct four episodes including the pilot while Egyptian composer Hesham Nazih composed music for an English-language production for the first time. The detailed production design and cinematography are also standouts in the episode, most notably in its use of reflections to provide symbolism and keep the audience on their toes.
The introduction of a dark project such as “Moon Knight” to the Disney+ sphere is right on the heels of the adoption of some of Marvel’s darker Netflix productions such as “Daredevil” and “The Punisher” onto the same platform. While it was speculated that these shows would wind up on Hulu, it is pleasantly surprising to see them placed alongside Disney’s best-known films and shows.
If the pilot is any indication, “Moon Knight” provides an original MCU production to spearhead Marvel’s inclusion of darker content and hopefully opens a pathway for more mature and off-beat content to reach the mainstream.
