Moon Knight Reviews Are In And The Critics Are Staggeringly One-Sided
The verdict is in!
This article is more than 2 years old
Most of us are going to have to wait until tomorrow morning to watch the premiere episode of Moon Knight on Disney+, but as usual a lot of the critics have gotten sneak previews of the bulk of the series. As far as the more heavily trafficked websites are concerned, the verdict is a good one. Reviewers are saying Moon Knight is good, and that it’s a steep departure from what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has offered us so far. It’s not perfect, but it’s something you should watch.
Perhaps one of the most telling comparisons made so far about Moon Knight is to one of the best Marvel TV shows to ever air. Richard Trenholm of CNET writes that “the fractured personalities and surreal tone recall Legion.” For those unfamiliar, for three seasons of FX’s Legion, Dan Stevens starred as the mentally ill and immensely powerful son of Professor X. Trenholm notes that “Moon Knight isn’t as confrontationally crazy as Legion… But there are strong indications that as the series progresses it will zoom off into further reaches of insanity.”
Another similarity between Moon Knight and FX’s Legion mentioned by reviewer after reviewer is that — at least in the first four episodes — Moon Knight doesn’t have any glaring ties to the rest of the MCU. Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist writes that the series “has no real connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe” and Alex Maidy of JoBlo loves “how un-MCU this series is.” Likewise, Moviefone‘s review — as you can see below — says the series “resembles the best of the Marvel movies without any overt connections to the MCU.”
Another thing the critics seem to agree on is that Oscar Isaac is fantastic. Even in the cases of reviewers who don’t like Moon Knight quite as much as everyone else, the consensus is that Isaac is in top form. In fact, some of the few negative reviews say Isaac carries the series on his back. For example Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter complains that the series is “an argument for Oscar Isaac, and not Moon Knight, to join the Avengers.” Comic Book calls Isaac a “perfect addition” to the Marvel narrative and IGN says that the actor’s “animated efforts, as the meeker half of a double-sided man, craft what could be a grim ride into a jovial romp.” The Playlist also praises Ethan Hawke’s portrayal of Arthur Harrow, expressing fascination with how the character’s “morally twisted perspective makes him the hero and savior of the story.”
What’s interesting about the less flattering reviews is that for the most part, when they do crop up, they don’t call Moon Knight a bad show. More than anything, they criticize it for not being the best, most revolutionary show ever. For example, Perez of The Playlist writes the show “is initially thought-provoking, but hardly the game changer that many devout fanboys will likely declare it.” Interestingly, THR says of the show that it “feels intended less as a TV show and more as an explanation for why viewers would want to watch the character eventually hobnob with Doctor Strange or Blade or whomever.” It seems like an almost bizarre take considering just about every other reviewer comments on the show’s disconnection from the MCU. Forbes‘ Scott Mendelson doesn’t like Moon Knight, but from what he writes at the end of his review he doesn’t seem to like much that comes out Disney+’s Marvel fare.
Here are some more brief glimpses at reviews of Moon Knight.
Overall, Moon Knight will clearly be worth checking out when it streams tomorrow morning on Disney+. That is, unless you’re expecting it to change everything forever, cure cancer, end all war, stop all disease, identify Jimmy Hoffa’s remains, and throw all of the nuclear weapons on Earth into the Sun. In which case you should instead watch Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. But it will hurt.
