After giving voice to Spider-Man Noir (or Spider-Noir for short) in the brilliant 2018 Into The Spider-Verse animated feature, Nicolas Cage now gets to give the role his (meta)physical all in a full-blown live-action series.
Described by the actor himself as part Humphrey Bogart and part Bugs Bunny, this particular spidery super-being plies his trade as a private detective in an alternate 1930s New York.
You have the option of watching this in "True Hue" full colour or "Authentic" black and white (I did a mix of both). The monochrome selection is in keeping with the show's film noir roots and numerous thematic elements – hard-boiled private eyes, femme fatales, betrayal, moral ambiguity, etc – recalling the beloved Hollywood crime dramas of yore.
Alas, as Spider-Noir the series opens, Cage's Ben Reilly (not Peter Parker, it should be noted) already relinquished his superhero identity as The Spider five years ago.
The reason: he failed to live up to the great responsibility bestowed by his great power (don't worry, there's a flashback for that, and no Uncle Bens were harmed in its telling).
Now reduced to stumbling from one sleazy low-rent case to another, Reilly is shocked to find that there are other super-powered beings running around the city.
Somehow, they're tied in to his latest case which involves sultry singer Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li, Sinners) and also leads him to cross paths with mob boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson).
Aided by his resourceful, seldom paid secretary Janet Ruiz (Karen Rodriguez) and freelance journalist Joe "Robbie" Robertson (Lamorne Morris, Fargo Season Five), Reilly navigates a dangerous cityscape of corruption, self-serving politicians, possibly insane super-villains, and his own fears and emotions, with all roads leading inevitably back to his abandoned masked persona.
Developed by Oren Uziel (whose writing credits include 22 Jump Street, The Cloverfield Paradox and The Lost City), Spider-Noir's first of hopefully multiple seasons is a mixed bag that is largely fun and easily binged, but could have benefitted from a little less padding.
Anyone who suffered through Neveldine/Taylor's execrable 2011 Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance (which actually made the first, pretty dire Ghost Rider movie look terrific in comparison) would remember that Cage's penchant for over-the-top shenanigans does not mesh well when it's overindulged by a perpetually twitchy, hyperkinetic filmmaking style.
It's a good thing that the quartet of directors sharing helming duties equally here, including Enola Holmes and Killing Eve veteran Harry Bradbeer, largely manage to complement the actor's multitude of tics and quirks by keeping a steady grip on the histrionics.
So much so that, even when Cage goes into spider-mime overdrive in Episode Five's "origin story" flashback, it comes across more sympathetic than ludicrous.
The show then takes a needlessly lengthy detour from its already-tangled central plot to introduce the MacGuffin that fuels the finale's big showdown – something that could have been easily written into the proceedings without killing off the momentum for a full episode.
Mostly, though, it's still hugely watchable for the banter and barbs from virtually every character with a significant speaking part (though actor-turned-electrified-villain Megawatt gets really grating in short order), and the slick superheroics when The Spider makes his inevitable return.
With Cage at the bat, Spider-Noir takes big swings, takes them often, and hits more than it misses.
The world was deprived of a Nic Cage Superman (that Flash fan-service bit doesn't count), Big Daddy from Kick-Ass was a one-off deal, and Ghost Rider... well, be off with ye.
Dare we hope that a lasting superheroic legacy has been established for the Cagester with this one? Well, there's no turning back now. The bunny's out of the box, and we demand more.
All eight episodes of Spider-Noir are available on Prime Video.
Summary:
Spider-Nic, Spider-Nic, does whatever ... he darn well pleases
