Spider-Noir Review
If I had to boil down the absolute blockbusting show-stopping clock-rocking Spider-Noir into one word, it would be BOMBASTIC. I have always had such an affinity for the word, but even more so for what it represents to me. When something is bombastic, it’s larger than life in every way and is so unafraid to be so. Spider-Noir lives up to the word in essence because it’s larger-than-life in its acting, action, and use of the Spider-Man mythos. It’s everything one could have dreamed of after meeting this version of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Nicholas Cage brings all of his flamboyancy to the role to make an unforgettable noir detective with snappy one-liners and a voice you just can’t forget.
Nicolas Cage plays Ben Reilly, an aging, cynical private investigator in 1930s New York City. After a devastating personal tragedy, he walks away from his past as the city’s superhero—”The Spider”—only to be dragged back into the criminal underworld when a new, deadly case arises that entangles with his web in every walk of life.
Nicholas Cage was born for superhero acting, unafraid of the medium. There is no other human on Earth who can do what Nicholas Cage can do, which makes him perfect for a superhero adaptation that loves comics. There isn’t fear in the storytelling or the performance of ever looking goofy for being a superhero show. It’s why it lands so well for a noir that is already meant to be a larger-than-life mystery, but when you mix in the comedy and tropes of superheroes, it’s a Molotov cocktail of perfection.
Allowing Cage to do what Cage does is why this show sings like a choir of angels. Cage’s unique noir-focused voice for Ben is so much fun to listen to. There is a certain cadence to his line delivery that takes this from just a character piece to a “no one can ever play this character again” type performance. Even if he is extremely funny throughout the season, there is a heaviness to the entire character due to his personal tragedy. When we let the facade the character puts up wash away, Cage delivers some very broody, poignant moments of remorse, levity, and sorrow that will stick with you.
With any proper Spider-Man story, Spider-Noir brings its own crime grime wash to the typical rogue’s gallery. I won’t get too in the weeds because of spoilers, but the superpowered, mutated villains all have a tinge of body horror flair to them. One of the plot points is that these people’s powers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and how they got them is even more splintered. Their bodies undergo a transformation into something uncanny, unlike what humans typically are. They aren’t made to be costumed lunatics but as real people.
While the multiverse idea has been played to death since Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Noir still makes it interesting. Some other multiverse stories play it safe with the source material, but Spider-Noir plays fast and loose to strengthen its story. The ideas of a Spider-Man villain exist more as a storytelling device than fan service, which is why it never feels like cashing in on the universe it spun from. Getting to see a noir-colored retooling of iconic villains like Sandman with real depth and grit makes you yearn to see more of what this world has to offer, rather than a one-note, cool design.
Seeing Nicholas Cage swing around as The Spider was enough of a selling point for me on this show, but what it delivers is so much more. Spider-Noir captures the energy and bombastic nature of comics while still bringing depth and character to everything that inhabits its world. The Spider proves that he, too, can spin a web any size AND catch bad guys just like flies.
