Moon Knight: The Complete First Season (4K UHD Blu-ray Steelbook Review)
Marvel has made a big splash on Disney+ over the years. Hard to believe I’m saying years there. Moon Knight premiered in spring 2022 and the critical reception was a lot better than the audience response that I read. So how does it stack up to me? Is the quality of the 4K UHD Blu-ray better than the actual show itself? Does the star power of Oscar Issac and Ethan Hawke carry the series or bog it down? Read on below and see how everything looks and sounds along with my critical view and click the cover art to access a paid Amazon link to order a copy of the Steelbook set!
Series 
When Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a mild-mannered gift shop employee, becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life, he discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.
Steven Grant is the type of character that makes you laugh or cringe. He is so awkward that you want to root for him. His dissociative identity, Marc Spector just wants to do his job and get out of Steven’s body. But poor Steven just can’t let that go. As he’s chased mercilessly by Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and his goons he constantly reminds everyone he doesn’t know who Marc is. It doesn’t help that Marc’s wife, Scarlet (May Calamawy) can’t figure out why Marc has an accent and is acting so strangely. She knows his secret — Marc is the Moon Knight. We also have Khonshu, the Egyptian Moon God telling Steven to run, and controlling his moves in tandem with Spector. In all this twisty turn-y logic, Marc and Steven converge, one being Moon Knight, one being Mr. Knight, and then finally, Jake Lockley, a third identity, who seems to have more cutthroat intentions.
Don’t worry if these descriptions seem confusing. After finishing half of the series, I felt confused beyond reproach. I am still not sure how to feel following the viewing of the remaining episodes. The repetition of the action sequences, and the slower scenes of Hawke’s Arthur Harrow testing people’s goodness were all confusing and not so entertaining either. Picking up on the Egyptian lore of the character is the most interesting aspect of Moon Knight. The overall tone of the show is one meant to be fun, but it’s so confusing, I found it hard to focus and worse still, I began with each episode to care less and less about the central character. Unfortunately, I can’t see this being a show I would repeatedly watch, but I know there are fans of the character and the show that would argue their reasons with me. To them, I will say I’m glad that Marvel saw fit to release a miniseries on the Moon Knight character, but I can’t really say I got much from watching the show.
Quality wise, I think this Marvel series is in line with the rest of the shows released over the last few years. There seems to be genuine love put into these series with connections to other Marvel properties and the shared universe to keep mega fans coming back for more. There is something admirable to note about the continuity of the shows, even if in the case of Moon Knight, I can’t really recommend them all. For fans of the show, this new set will be a must own, but for casual viewers, a Disney+ stream is strongly recommended.
Video
Stills are for promotional use only and not from the 4K UHD Blu-ray
Encoding: HEVC/H.265
Resolution: 4K
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
HDR: HDR10
Layers: BD-66 (2 Discs in set)
Clarity/Detail: Regardless of my opinion of the show itself, Moon Knight comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray looking overall fantastic. A lot of the show is filmed in the dark, and so this could pose a problem for some, as quite a bit of the show can get very hard to see at times. I looked at both the 4K disc and also the Disney+ stream and didn’t see a big change in the dark quotient. Scenes in the daylight look excellent and detail even in the darkness looks wonderful overall.
Depth: No shots appear out of focus during the duration of each episode. Foreground and background shots are given the same amount of love. Some special effects shots will have a blurry look but that would seemingly be to mask the fact that the quality is on a different budget than a Marvel film would have.
Color Reproduction: Colors are surprisingly natural for Moon Knight. Blacks, greys, sandy beiges are seen more than more primary colors, and those colors look just as they should. When a splash of color pops up it too is rendered the right way.
Black Levels: Blacks are important to Moon Knight in that so much of the episodes take place in dark spaces. Whether Steven is being chased around in the museum or escaping a storage space, there is darkness in abundance. Unlike the Disney+ stream, there is no crushing or degradation, so it’s nice to see that uptick here.
Flesh Tones: If there is no computer-generated content around the actors, flesh tones look exacting and excellent on the actors.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean.
Audio
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos and 2.0 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Dynamics: Dolby Atmos adds immersive depth to Moon Knight. Music and action effects put you right in the middle of it all, while bass heft comes in hot whenever it’s called to.
Height: Overhead, we hear lots of museum and city ambience. As we travel through time with Steven, Marc or Jacob, depending on where we are, we are right with them. Khonshu’s voice booms from overhead also.
Low-Frequency Extension: Car crashes, explosions, gun shots and weapons all make for good work of the subwoofer with deep extension in moments of action.
Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds carry the ear level ambience, background noise and echoes as they should!
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is clean and easy to hear at all times.
Extras
Extras for Moon Knight include an extensive documentary, deleted scenes, a gag reel and a featurette on Egyptology.
Featurette:
- Egyptology – Join Egyptologist Ramy Romany, Oscar Isaac and more, as they further explore the ancient Egyptian mythology that helped inspire the Moon Knight series.
Documentary:
- Assembled: The Making of Moon Knight – Pull back the curtain with Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, and the rest of the cast and crew in ASSEMBLED as they reveal how MOON KNIGHT was brought to life.
Deleted Scenes:
- Don’t Go There – While walking in the streets of Egypt, Layla questions Marc’s state of mind and motivations.
- Breaking the Cycle – Arthur delivers a prompting speech to his crew, urging them to take action alongside him.
Gag Reel: Watch some hilarious outtakes on set with the cast and crew.
Summary
While it may not be my cup of Marvel tea, I’m sure Moon Knight has its fans. The show offers a different kind of Marvel hero, and a new type of villain too. I personally wasn’t sold on the show, but it’s technical merits are pretty great save for some dodgy CGI. The picture quality, Atmos soundtrack and lovely looking steelbook and art cards make this one an easy sell for Marvel fans and Steelbook collectors alike. Worth a look, and if you’re curious, definitely stream the show first before buying the set.
