The next chapter in Marvel’s struggle of bringing the MCU formula to television.
It sounds simple enough in concept, as their entire business model revolves around making simple, unpretentious, linear, streamlined stories with good characters and big spectacle.
I think they consistently check the character box, television shows included, and this thing is no different. It helps a lot that they got Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke, both of whom are phenomenal actors. They’re capable of adding so much life and colour to these characters, some of which probably isn’t even written on the page (could’ve done without the accent, though).
However, for as consistent as they are with nailing their characters, they’re becoming about as consistent with messing up in the story and spectacle department for these shows.
Marvel’s probably aware that they need to add some bells and whistles to their usual storytelling for a 6 hour miniseries, but so far the results have been mostly convoluted and messy (_Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Loki_). _Moon Knight_ appears to be a lot more streamlined and simple, with the complexity instead coming from its focus on mental health issues. Great idea, but that’s never going to work in the tame, kid friendly confines of the MCU. You need to go the route of _The Batman_ or _Daredevil/Jessica Jones_ if you genuinely want it to feel like an authentic exploration of mental health issues, and we know that Marvel Studios won’t commit to going there. Seriously, if they’re planning something similar for that _Daredevil_ revival show, don’t even bother making it.
As for the spectacle, yeah it’s pretty bad. Scale has nothing to do with how impressive an action sequence is, as even evidenced by the best moments in the MCU (for my money, the absolute highlight is still the highway shootout in _The Winter Soldier_ ). So, you really don’t need to do a crazy car chase with CGI trucks, trees, George Michael and a plethora of green screen if your show can’t afford it. You don’t need to attempt fancy mirror visuals I’ve seen in countless horror films. Scale it down, focus on the choreography and make sure everything looks good. Again, taking a page out of the Marvel Netflix book would work a lot better for this character. Furthermore, the Moon Knight suit has the exact same problem as the MCU Spider-man suits. It looks like animation, not a man in a suit.
Add the usual uninspired filmmaking, flat lighting, boring shot/reverse shot framing and general lack of colour/style, and I’m seeing nothing but another boring, by the numbers show. Its only appeal are the two main actors, both of whom are way too good for this shit and deserve a lot better.