The Tomb (Moon Knight)
"The Tomb" | |
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Moon Knight episode | |
Episode no. | Episode 4 |
Directed by |
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Written by |
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Produced by | Jeremy Slater |
Cinematography by | Andrew Droz Palermo |
Editing by | Ahmed Hafez |
Original release date | April 20, 2022 |
Running time | 53 minutes |
Cast | |
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"The Tomb" is the fourth episode of the American television
"The Tomb" was released on Disney+ on April 20, 2022. Critics praised the twist ending and the performances of Isaac and Calamawy.
Plot
Layla angrily confronts Spector who reveals that his partner killed Layla's father and shot Spector. Harrow arrives and shoots Spector, who wakes up in a psychiatric hospital populated by people from his life. After escaping from Harrow, who appears to be a therapist at the hospital, Spector finds Grant trapped in a sarcophagus. They also see a second sarcophagus with someone else trapped inside, before they are greeted by a hippopotamus-headed figure.
Production
Development
In August 2019,
Writing
For the mental hospital scene, Isaac called it "a total mind melt" when it presents the possibility that everything prior in the series "is not what you thought it was". Benson and Moorhead wanted to do the "least expected thing and completely disorient the audience", but also wanted to stay true to the character from the first four episodes, as well as paying homage to the run in the comics by
Casting
The episode stars Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector and Steven Grant,
: 49:07Design
External videos | |
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Marvel Studios' Moon Knight: End Credits Main On End Title Sequence – Episode 4 presents the episode's main-on-end title sequence, Perception 's channel |
When designing the tomb for Alexander the Great, production designer Stefania Cella researched his overall life, noting how his tomb was never found, and how he wanted to be considered a pharaoh, despite being Macedonian. As such, she chose to "combine the two cultures", in order to "give an homage to who he wanted to be portrayed in the future generation", when designing his tomb. She based the center altar around ancient Greek and Macedonian architecture, while the walls contained Egyptian hieroglyphs.[12]
For the asylum scene, costume designer Meghan Kasperlik wanted the character to not be wearing the exact same costumes, but having "a little Easter egg from the previous iteration of the character that we have seen". This included adding subtle Easter eggs, such as including a scarlet scarab on El-Faouly's bandaid in the scene. In designing Spector and Grant's outfits for the scene, she wanted Grant's pajamas from "The Goldfish Problem" to be kept, to "connote that he's fallen into this space", while Spector's outfit contained colors similar to his Moon Knight costume, in order to "emphasize the continuity of the universe that he's living in".[13]
The series' main-on-end title sequence was designed by
Filming and visual effects
Filming took place at Origo Studios in Budapest,[6]: 8 with Benson and Moorhead directing,[4] and Andrew Droz Palermo serving as cinematographer.[6]: 24–25 Location filming occurred in Wadi Rum, Jordan.[6]: 11 Isaac tried to stay "in that drugged mode" when he was filming the end of the episode with Spector waking up in the mental hospital in order to "feel like the audience is just as drugged as Marc is in that moment". The directors wanted to ensure there was a creepy factor to the mental facility scene and that it felt like it was underwater, using slow camera movements and shots meant to replicate Spector's point of view. Heading into filming, Benson and Moorhead felt the conversation between Harrow and Spector in the mental facility would center on Harrow, with a few cuts to Spector. However, after filming Isaac's coverage, they saw "what he was giving us and ... how active it was", including having a real fly land on his hand, and refocused how they planned to edit the sequence to make it more about Spector's experience. The final scene of Spector and Grant meeting Taweret had Salib filming her portion individually, followed by Isaac filming each of Spector and Grant's reactions, with the three takes composited together.[9]
Visual effects for the episode were created by Zoic Studios, Method Studios, Union FX, Crafty Apes, Keep Me Posted, Framestore, Soho VFX, and Mammal Studios.[16][11]: 50:15–50:34
Marketing
Scanning a
Release
"The Tomb" was released on Disney+ on April 20, 2022.[19] The episode, along with the rest of Moon Knight, will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on April 30, 2024.[20]
Reception
Audience viewership
According to Nielsen Media Research who measure the number of minutes watched by United States audiences on television sets, Moon Knight was the fourth-most watched original series across streaming services for the week of April 18–24 with 630 million minutes watched,[21] which was a 1.25% decrease from the previous week.[22]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 94% approval rating with an average rating of 8.60/10, based on 16 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Moon Knight is at its best in "The Tomb," a rollicking adventure that tantalizingly reframes the story going forward."[23]
Maggie Boccella of Collider gave the episode an "A+", saying "the show is officially ramping up in a way that Marvel never has before, opening the door for something new and dangerous that once again threatens the universe as we know it". However, she felt that including Alexander the Great felt like a cheap way to incorporate history into the series for the sake of it due to Alexander being closer to Cleopatra and the Roman Empire. Boccella praised the horror aspects of the episode and felt like the episode reached its greatest potential after Spector's death. In conclusion, she was impressed with the psychedelic aspects of the psychiatric hospital and compared it to something that Legion would do, as it was something new for the MCU to feature.[24] Writing for IGN, Matt Fowler gave the episode a 9 out of 10, saying that structure is everything for TV season and that "The Tomb" was the perfect episode at the perfect time. He praised the psychiatric hospital scenes, crediting the show for not just making it a cliffhanger or a post credit scene. He called the direction the episode took as what was best for the season with only two episodes left. Fowler felt emotions "ran rampant" as a result of the love triangle forming between Layla with Spector and Grant. Fowler thought that the emotional aspect worked out well because of the time and care out into the three characters. In conclusion Fowler said "Moon Knight pulls from the pages of one of our hero's craziest comic arcs to drop a much-needed bomb on the adventure".[25]
References
- ^ Couch, Aaron (August 23, 2019). "Marvel Unveils 3 New Disney+ Shows Including 'She-Hulk' and 'Moon Knight'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (September 3, 2021). "How Egyptian Filmmaker Mohamed Diab Went From Cairo to Marvel (Via Palestine)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
- ^ Kit, Borys (January 8, 2021). "Marvel's 'Moon Knight': Indie Auteurs Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead Board as Directors (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ^ a b Vary, Adam B. (March 30, 2022). "How 'Moon Knight' Sends Marvel Studios Into the Unknown: 'We're Creating a Whole New Thing'". Variety. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- ^ Ettenhoffer, Valerie (March 21, 2022). "Moon Knight Holds The Record For The Least Amount Of Additional Photography Required For A Marvel Production". /Film. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Moon Knight Production Brief" (PDF). Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution. March 16, 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Betancourt, Manuel (April 20, 2022). "Moon Knight reveals a big plot twist in a solid outing". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ "Moon Knight WGA Directory". Writers Guild of America West. February 23, 2022. Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
- ^ a b c Coggan, Devan (April 20, 2022). "Moon Knight directors break down that mind-bending hospital sequence and Indiana Jones homage". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ a b Hood, Cooper (April 27, 2022). "Moon Knight Cast Guide: Every Marvel Character & Who Plays Them". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
- ^ a b c Meenehan, Alex; Cameron, Peter; Pirzada, Sabir (April 20, 2022). "The Tomb". Moon Knight. Season 1. Episode 4. Disney+. End credits begin at 46:44.
- ^ Ryan, Danielle (April 26, 2022). "Moon Knight Production Designer Stefania Cella Hid References To Egypt Everywhere [Interview]". /Film. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
- ^ Zorrilla, Mónica Marie (April 26, 2022). "Moon Knight Costume Designer Reveals The Brilliant Easter Eggs You Missed". Inverse. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
- Perception. Archivedfrom the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
- ^ West, Amy (April 14, 2022). "Moon Knight's end credits are subtly changing with every episode". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ Frei, Vincent (March 11, 2022). "Moon Knight". Art of VFX. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
- Marvel.com. Archivedfrom the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
- Marvel.com. Archivedfrom the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
- ^ "(#104) "The Tomb"". The Futon Critic. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
- ^ Gilchrist, Todd (March 5, 2024). "'Andor,' 'Moon Knight,' 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' and 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' to Bow on Blu-ray With Deleted Scenes, Featurettes". Variety. Archived from the original on March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (May 19, 2022). "'Better Call Saul' Leads Quiet Week, But Streaming Makes Noise With New Record Share Of Total TV Viewing In April, Nielsen Says". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 19, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (May 12, 2022). "'The Ultimatum: Marry Or Move On' Dethrones 'Bridgerton' Atop Nielsen's Weekly Streaming Chart". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
- ^ "The Tomb". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Boccella, Maggie (April 20, 2022). "'Moon Knight' Episode 4 Embraces Horror as the MCU Expands Like Never Before | Review". Collider. Archived from the original on May 3, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
- ^ Fowler, Matt (April 20, 2022). "Moon Knight Episode 4 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
- ^ Howard, Kirsten (April 20, 2022). "Moon Knight Episode 4 Review: The Tomb". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
External links
- "The Tomb" at IMDb
- Episode recap at Marvel.com