Embrace Chaos – Moon Knight Review By Conrad Gardner
Image by Emre Turkan from Unsplash.
As Moon Knight begins, it doesn’t open with a heroic shot of the titular protagonist. Instead, we witness the villain of the miniseries, Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), break a glass, pour the shards into his sandals, and wander off. Challenging the classic superhero tradition that demands the antagonist must be committing an evil act if they are to open the story, this situates Moon Knight as a darker addition to the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe from the very beginning.
Soon after, we are introduced to Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac). 'I can't tell the difference between my waking life and dreams,' he says, referring to the frequent blackouts that plague his mind, to the point that he must sleep with an ankle restraint and draw a circle of sand around his bed to track his movements.
Steven's bumbling personality makes viewers forget how charismatic Oscar Isaac tends to be, as his already-complicated life only worsens when he wakes up in a different country with a dislocated jaw. And, without trying to spoil too much, his life is certainly not about to get easier once he starts hearing voices.
Moon Knight is a complicated comic-book character who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and his various personalities perform specific functions as he becomes embroiled in a quest for justice as The Fist of Khonshu. If this does not make much sense, this miniseries may not be for you, as from the Moon Knight premiere, it is clear that things aren’t going to get any less complex.
Multiple elements of the show are also unrelated to the comics, where Steven Grant is a billionaire who infiltrates high-status and white-collar crimes. So, any prior knowledge of this character may serve as a double-edged sword.
The miniseries - and character - raise some intriguing questions around identity, with a few sprinkles of horror added to the mix. Heavy shadows and the thrusts into Steven's perspective assemble a constant sense of unease through the forty-five-minute-long episode. This tension does not ease once the action begins, setting the series apart from many other MCU properties; the violence displayed is also less child-friendly than some viewers may expect from the franchise.
‘There’s chaos in you,’ Steven is told, and the episode’s numerous plot elements and exposition, which keep viewers in the dark, help reflect this theme. But, while other works have attempted similar techniques of expositing yet keeping things unanswered, Moon Knight pulls this off very well. It embraces this chaos without succumbing to vaguery. And although the number of questions raised by the first episode may be underwhelming or mishandled by the end, they are currently maintaining my curiosity.
There is not much to be said about the miniseries as a whole yet, but the premiere has me hooked, and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing where things go for Steven and his journey as Moon Knight. If the promise established in this first episode is met by the miniseries’ end, then this will be one of the strongest additions to the MCU in recent years.
Moon Knight is streaming on Disney+ now.
Edited by Tia Jade Woolcock