Marvel’s Moon Knight

Wednesday’s Weekly Write-Up: 

Marvel’s Moon Knight streaming on Disney+

            Although I loved Marvel comics growing up as well as its many other blockbuster successes in film and on the small screen, Moon Knight is not one I read as a child and is most definitely not in the same caliber as Iron Man and Avengers. I am truly not a fan of this new series streaming on Disney+.

The opening scene of episode 1 is of a man, Arthur Harrow (played by Ethan Hawke), putting broken glass into his leather sandals before putting them on his feet and walking. The doctrine of mortification of the flesh is a tragic and disturbing practice and the show did not improve much from this very low starting point. With suicides and self-injury on the rise among our youth, I find this scene very disturbing and potentially harmful to those who are susceptible to its influence. Perhaps for the followers of this particular comic storyline, the initial episode in this new series makes sense. However, if you are coming to watch this series without any knowledge of the comic storyline and hoping to be entertained as with the previous Marvel shows, you will most likely be very disoriented and disappointed.

The second scene is the main character, Stephan Grant (aka Marc Spector/Moon Knight), waking up with one leg tied to a post, fresh sand around his bed, and tape around the front door of his one room loft. He obviously suffers from serious psychological problems including dissociative identity disorder with auditory and visual hallucinations. This feels more like the beginnings of how a villain becomes evil than the makings of a hero. More in common with a horror thriller than a Marvel movie.

            I suppose if you are a fan of horror, you may like this show. Otherwise, you may want to pass.