Moon Knight: TV Series review

It's a given that a Marvel series or film will have impressive fight sequences, and slick production values.

But in amongst the recent TV series outings on Disney+, it has to be said there's been a degree of storytelling complacency and a lack of surprises as each episode unfolds, following relatively known properties.

However, Moon Knight upends most of those traditions, turning a short run event series into an unpredictable ride that is utterly compelling to watch, thrilling to enjoy and filled with intrigue as its mysteries unfold.

Oscar Isaac is Steven Grant, a would-be museum tour guide who finds himself confined to the gift shop, selling trinkets and critiquing posters on the Egyptian gods, much to the displeasure of his boss. Grant is a loner, but one who hopes to find a connection - from non-talking statues in the centre of London to potential dates, Grant is hopeful of some kind of life.

But he's hiding a secret. Back at his pad, Grant has to shackle himself to his bed nightly, and seal the doors, given he's had a predilection for simply disappearing and waking up elsewhere with no recollection of what's transpired.

However, when Grant awakes on one of these sojourns to find a mysterious man named Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke, in a reflective, sinister and manipulative turn) seemingly killing people in the name of judgement of an ancient Egyptian god he's keen to resurrect, he finds his world completely upended and himself central to a race against time...

Combining elements of The Mummy series with a splash of Indiana Jones as well as Split, and an utterly mesmerising turn from Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight is finally the Marvel property the small screen medium was made for.

From a perfectly paced opening couple of episodes that carefully construct a web of mystery without losing sight of Marvel core values, Moon Knight benefits from being cut loose from the Marvel canon and the absolute adherence to aeons of backstory.

While the original Moon Knight character deals with dissociative identity disorder and made some missteps with schizophrenia labels, the TV series seems to place no foot wrong in its handling of the split personality issue, turning it more into an inner conflict that's cleverly reflected in the outside world. It helps that all the characters involved are treated with empathy and that Isaac plays the roles sympathetically.

At its heart though, Moon Knight is a mismatched buddy drama, with the different personalities squabbling for superiority and with each trying to find an uneasy co-existence and acceptance of the other.

Moon Knight is not a series of pomp and bluster, it's a carefully constructed organically-led tale of conflict and belief as well as timely themes on the mass manipulation of those seeking other ways - Hawke makes for a muted menace, one that's perfectly pitted against the protagonist.

But make no mistake, it's the first essential Marvel series - one that revels in its unpredictability and frees itself from the usual shackles of the Marvel conventions. At its heart, it never loses sight of its story's desire for intelligently set up adventures with a stunning turn from a lead that ensures you never look away.

Moon Knight is streaming on Disney+, with new episodes on Wednesdays. Episodes 1-4 of the series were made available by Marvel for the purposes of this review.