Moon Knight Episode 1: A Promising Start, And a Warning For Things to Come

Marvel’s latest is a pleasant surprise in a landscape of mediocrity.

At this point in my life my love for Marvel projects has seriously diminished when compared to my ten year old self going to see Iron Man in theaters. More and more of Marvel’s products have been a mixed bag of fun action, dull dialogue, and shallow imaginings of characters I love. In other words, the passionate world of comics has had an inconsistent transition to the screen in recent years, and it was for this reason I was expecting relatively little from the newest Marvel television series Moon Knight. Besides being one of Marvel’s most complicated heroes, he is also notorious for being one of the most violent, two aspects that the MCU have avoided in their recent outputs. Because of this, I thought about passing on the show altogether, especially because I found myself so bored with Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye that I didn’t even bother sitting on the couch to finish them. However, I was intrigued to see if Marvel could actually manage to pull this off, and honestly, I’m glad I checked it out. The pilot episode was not just intriguing, but quite possibly my favorite out of any Marvel pilot up to this point. With the MCU’s most creative camera work, an actually engaging story with consistent mystery and an interesting protagonist played excellently by already the MCU’s most talented actor, the show has proven to be a strong start despite some pitfalls, and the concerns raised for future mature Marvel projects as a result.

Starting off with the most pleasant surprise, the cinematography is genuinely creative and thematically meaningful. The show is told from the perspective of only one of Moon Knight’s multiple identities, that being the timid gift shop employee Steven Grant. This persona has no idea he is the brutal anti-hero hero of Egyptian legend, or even that he has multiple personalities. What’s so pleasing about this fact is that the camerawork supports this perspective through and through. There are moments when Steven changes personalities with jump cuts between Steven and black frames are coupled by an intense zoom amplified by motion blur, which is all capped off with a high pitched noise and increasingly intense soundtrack. After a split second of peace, Steven then wakes up in a close up, with both him and the audience being unaware of the horror he unknowingly caused until the camera slowly reveals the chaos. Moments like these are creative and genuinely enjoyable for their use of the craft, both sentiments I rarely use to describe Marvel’s cardboard cinematography. Better yet, there are several notable moments of creative cinematography, such as late in the episode when Steven is being stalked by one of Arthur Harrow’s monsters. While Steven cautiously maneuvers through the museum turned gladiator ring, the camera cuts to a high angle from the balcony of the open room. At first I was confused, but intrigued, I was wondering what this new angle afforded besides a better look at the location. Then, Steven turned towards the camera, to which it ducks behind the pillars in handheld, thus putting the audience in the perspective of the monster. I actually rewinded this part due to its creativity and the sheer surprise I felt that this technique was used in a Marvel product. Similarly, the use of reflections, wether that be in puddles or mirrors, acts as a thematically resonant stylistic choice that continued to be a meaningful treat for the eyes. Moments where Steven’s reflection doesn’t move with the main character act as surprises for the attentive viewer, something I have never seen a Marvel product utilize. Essentially, this is the first MCU piece I’ve seen have passion for its presentation, and its this sentiment that is applied to all aspects of the episode, both in its narrative and fantastic performance from Oscar Issac.

First, let’s look at the episodes story and why it works. As Chris Stuckman states in his review for the first episode, this felt like the only MCU pilot that had to prove itself, the only show that wasn’t guaranteed a money making future. For this reason, Moon Knight’s plot is perhaps the only one from Marvel’s lineup of shows where I was genuinely intrigued. I will admit that I could be biased due to the fact an unreliable narrative is one of my favorite narrative tools, but I believe the episode utilized it successfully. The show uses Steven’s memory loss consistently, meaning there are always reveals and a constant sense of mystery and confusion. It is not a story where the narrator is only proven unreliable at the tail end, but rather one that delves head first into the mind of a character whose own is incredibly unstable. From being unaware of his date only a few minutes into the episode to being placed in a location an unknowable distance from his home, Steven, and by extension the audience, is constantly struggling to make sense of this word. As a result, the show presents an engaging mystery with an empathetic protagonist who, in perhaps my favorite aspect of the show, always loses. There perhaps isn’t one strong moment of victory for Steven, and making the protagonist struggle is the number one rule for an interesting story. He struggles with his mental war zone and the consequences of that, and if the show keeps up this relentless beating of the hero, I can see this becoming one of the more impactful tales Marvel has told. There’s the inevitable fun Marvel action paired with some more violent depictions of superhero fighting, quiet moments of pain, and solemn scenes of suffering that make the episode feel, for the most part, well rounded. And, most significantly, there is a sense of engagement from the way the unreliable narrator is presented. It was truly entertaining, but this interest would not have been possible without the show’s lead Oscar Issac.

Being one of the most talented actors working today, Oscar Issac has already proven in a single episode that he has the chops to play the MCU’s most complex hero. In the same way I had to rewind the episode to reflect on some of the more creative camerawork, I too had to rewind the scene where Steven misses his date for the beautiful, heart-wrenching, reaction Oscar Issac displays. Steven is holding back tears while ordering a steak, and not even Marvel’s buggy and persistent campy dialogue was able to screw up the emotional turmoil in this scene. Issac plays the character with a charismatic charm and a convincing confusion. A lesser actor would have been more outlandish with their characters concerns, playing someone lost in a world they thought they knew with an unconvincing melodrama that Issac chooses to neglect for a somewhat more subdued role. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of moments where Steven is pulling out one liners in typical Marvel style, but Issac’s performance grounded me in a character that I knew nothing about, and in only one episode nonetheless. Essentially, I feel for this character because of Issac’s layered performance, and I’m excited to see what the show does with his talents as more personalities are introduced.

However, the campy Marvel-ness that has soured the franchise for many viewers is not missing from this episode. In fact, it remained to be my least favorite part of this MCU project, much as it is with every other show or film I’ve seen produced by the company. I can’t describe the disappointment I felt when Steven wakes up from his personality change with blood on his hands and corpses at his feet only to spout a quip and ignore the civilians he murdered. I cannot imagine a single human that would have reacted to killing multiple people with no recollection in an unknown location after witnessing a cult leader kill another civilian and brush it off with a joke. It destroyed the moment for me, and in fact, the tone of this whole sequence felt unbalanced. Sure, driving a cupcake truck away from a bunch of cultists is good fun, but why would it take place in this show? Furthermore, why would Steven again under-react to blacking out and waking up to now dead cultists? Even worse, why have all of the violence be muffled by “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by spunky 80s pop duo Wham. I get the thematic purpose, haha, it’s saying “wake me up” because he’s falling asleep between personality shifts. However, this may be one of the only times you’ll hear me say the thematic purpose is not necessary, and works against the show in so many ways. I was significantly underwhelmed by what could have been an interesting chase because of Marvel’s obsession with light hearted fun.

In this way, it’s clear to see how I would be nervous for future Marvel projects. With the more mature Marvel shows now streaming on Disney+, Daredevil’s show confirmed to be canon and more, I am seriously worried with how the tone of these shows will be handled. There was rarely, if ever, a typical “fun Marvel moment” in Daredevil’s run, and I can wholeheartedly say the show was only better for it. I simply cannot imagine a version of Daredevil or Punisher with the MCU’s fear of significant violence. While I was surprised that Moon Knight showed blood and corpses, the tonal shifts were still signifiers of the MCU’s tainting comedic style that I can only hope does not make a return in Marvel’s mature projects.

All in all though, I have to say Moon Knight’s first episode was a pleasant surprise. More than that, it was something completely unexpected. I can’t say it’s revolutionary, but I will say that I didn’t think the Marvel of the past few years would have been capable of making a genuinely interesting show. It’s maybe the only pilot that convinced me to keep watching, and I hope the rest of the series can be as interesting as the first episode. Here’s hoping Marvel can capitalize on their potential, both in Moon Knight and future mature content to come.