Moon Knight ended last week and the internet is still not over it. Moon Knight is truly Marvel’s Standalone TV Show. That’s because, it doesn’t address important MCU events like THE SNAP & THE BLIP. Neither does it reference The Avengers in any way.
Here’s my review for Moon Knight:
Moon Knight Review:
The series begins with us getting into the life of Steven Grant. As things start getting weirder, we get to know that there’s more to his life. Finally as the series progresses we get the glimpses of Steven Grant’s other persona.
The transition effects when the personalities switch in the beginning are top notch. They add more darker vibes to the character.
The plot of Moon Knight is slow & steady. But just after the third episode, the plot starts to lose its grip. It seems as if there’s nothing left in the story to explore. Episode 4&5, hardly anything to the plot, rather they add more depth to Marc Spector and Steven Grant’s connection. These two episodes are the weak links to the climax in Moon Knight.
The climax is good, but still it could have been much better. Moon Knight doesn’t have any highs in terms of emotion and it’s also not overly dramatized. The back story of Marc Spector when Khonshu chooses him to be his Avatar could have been more dramatized. The story also doesn’t make that moment to be exciting. It happens in a jiffy.
Explanation is missing in many scenes, particularly in the climax. It was as if the script was written in a hurry.
Character Development
Marc Spector/Steven Grant
Moon Knight is more about developing these two characters and ending with a cliffhanger. Marvel also changed the plot a bit for Marc Spector. So, instead of addressing the split personalities as a psychological problem, the series is a journey of accepting both the personalities.
Now, the plot does establish a bond between the split personalities but it doesn’t explore Marc’s work as a mercenary nor do we get to see Layla’s father dying. What we do get to see is what happens later.
Layla
Layla is teased in the first episode of the series but then introduced in Episode 3. But other than a few dialogues, her backstory is fuzzy and no explanation is given about her fighting skills. Even in the climax, the plot omits her totally. This is what exactly happened with White Vision in WandaVision.
Arthur Harrow
The antagonist Arthur Harrow also gets the same kind of treatment as a character. Moon Knight actually begins with Harrow in the first scene. But his shown more as a psych character who believes that everything he does is right. Other than the fact, that he explains that he was Khonshu’s previous Avatar, the plot doesn’t do any justice for him.
Khonshu
It’s also important that we as a audience get to know the Moon God Khonshu. But he’s presence is more of a mysterious character who knows everything but chooses to say only what’s important.
Music
The background music of Moon Knight is fantastic and has got a nice ring to it. The music adds a dark vibe to Moon Knight. By the time you watch the second episode, you’re already loving the theme.
Cinematography
I feel that Marvel could have done a better job with Moon Knight’s cinematography. It’s on and off. Some shots are pretty good while some are average.
It’s not the best work from Marvel. Both Loki and WandaVision had superior cinematography.
Direction
Moon Knight could have used better direction as overall it’s not great and feels rushed. It has a good start but is weak in the middle. It lacks good action, long takes and explanation.
As it was an origin series, it was supposed to be more about Moon Knight than Marc Spector. I expected explanation about his powers and abilities. But none of these is explained. The fact that his powers are affected by Moon is also omitted. It’s more of learn as you go.
Screenplay
The script was weak and it’s just a miracle that Marvel actually decided to go ahead with it. Moon Knight is saved from being a failure only because of Oscar Issac who is terrific both as Marc Spector and Steven Grant.
The script doesn’t do any justification to any other character. It just gives a brief hint as to why Khonshu chose Marc in the first place. It also omits the history of Gods, where they are currently and how their Avatars are able to see them.
Action
This department has been the weakest in every Marvel show & only Disney is responsible for that. Because Moon Knight aims to please a greater audience, it has downscaled all the fighting scenes. The bloodbath is almost absent, despite Moon Knight being Marvel’s darker character.
The camera is pretty stable but there are many short takes for the action scenes. This is very poor from Marvel and again everyone’s pulling their punches.
Effects
The effects for Moon Knight are also on and off. The CGI for Moon Knight’s suit could have been better. The scene when Steven runs with a truck has very poor CGI. It’s easy to tell that the scene was done in a studio.
But as the series progresses, the visuals start to improve. The scene where Khonshu is re-creating the the stars’ alignment from the past is remarkable and so is the entire climax scene.
Moon Knight ends with a cliffhanger and leaves doors open for a second season. However, Marvel doesn’t have any plans for it yet.
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