With two international superstars hitting the headlines, Marvel's new streaming series screams "worth your attention."+
Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke star in Marvel's latest streaming series, Moon Knight.
Marvel Studios pumps out a lot of movies and TV shows. You can't swing a cat without killing one.
Just when you thought fatigue and nostalgia set in for all but the most superhero-inclined, it rolls out a title starring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke.
If you want to declare that every project deserves your attention, cast you screen luminaries like Isaac and Hawk. Especially with someone like Hawke, it's not like he's a storied actor with big projects on his resume, but he's someone who always makes interesting choices, even if they don't always stick to the landing. .
So if Hawk is also surrendering to the Marvel Machine, then something must be going on in him.
There is. Moon Knight, adapted from one of the more obscure characters from the comic book house's teaming archives, is a departure from most of Marvel's standard fare.
For a studio behemoth that's usually content with a tonal consistency throughout its release, Moon Knight is less cheeky, less earnest, and less expected.
It has a tragic, disjointed vibe that puts the audience on the head of its confused protagonist, a character with a somewhat dissociative identity disorder.
It's so balanced between keeping you aloof and interested as to put you off, especially for a series that's slow to reveal its hand.
The first person the audience meets is Steven Grant, a gentle British man who works in a museum gift shop. His boss treats him with contempt and the closest thing he has to a friend is a finned goldfish.
Steven is nervous, a ball of anxious energy that always seems to be a stimulus away from the unconscious. But social anxiety isn't her main problem — it's that she has to brace herself in her bed at night. Steven blacks out and has vivid, terrifying dreams.
This is because Steven is an alternate personality to Mark Spector, an American mercenary who becomes an earthly incarnation for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu (voice of F. Murray Abraham).
And Khonshu is pitted in battle against another deity, Ammit, who is served by the charismatic and dangerous cult leader Arthur Harrow (Hawk). Harrow is about to remake the world through mass murder, so he and Ammit need to stop.
Moon Knight is a charmingly dark series that manages to be eerie and shady and full of hijinks. As the series progresses, there are more Indiana Jones-style romps thanks to the show's Egyptian archeology sandbox.
Wild and bonkers at times, Moon Knight is elevated by its two superstar leads, along with Isaac and Hawk, who bring their A-game commitment to roles that could have been silly. Even if they're clearly enjoying it, you never feel like they think their characters are weird or dumb.