Nicolas Cage reprises his Spider-Verse role for this superheroic film noir throwback.
Nicolas Cage is back as Spider-Man! Well, sort of; he’s actually Ben Reilly, formerly known as The Spider, a web-slinging superhero who used to patrol the mean streets of 1920s New York City. Ben gave up his vigilante gig after the murder of his fiancée, and a decade or thereabouts later is working as private detective in full Bogart mode (for real – he watches crime films to polish his patter).
Naturally, he’ll be back in hero mode before long, otherwise what are we doing here? The impetus behind his return are the machinations of crime lord Finbar “Silvermane” Byrne (Brendan Gleeson having a ball), whose power on the street is now enforced by a trio of superpowered henchmen.
You’re probably familiar with Cage’s Spidey from his appearances in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse, where his gravelly tones and lurid pulp dialogue almost stole the show. This Spider-Cage isn’t that Spider-Cage, technically (it’s Multiverse nonsense – don’t worry about it), but the concept is too sweet to let lie dormant: a noir-inflected take on the Spider-Man mythos, with familiar characters reinterpreted through a hard-boiled lens – think a less brutal Sin City on you’re on the right page. Just to commit to the bit, the eight episode first season is available in both colour and black and white. I watched the black the white version – I dig that aesthetic.
And I dig Spider-Noir all up. It’s pastiche, of course, throwing up familiar tropes and compositions (venetian blind shadows and chiaroscuro abound), giving its cast tough, snapper dialogue to fire back and forth, and settling on a tone that’s balanced between zippy and brooding. And while its very nature means its packed full of references and Easter eggs, it doesn’t demand much in the way of homework from the casual viewer. It’s fun to know that Jack Huston’s Flint Marko is the Sandman, the same villain played by Thomas Haden Church in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, but it’s not essential. Similarly, take a bow if you know that Li Jun Li’s nightclub chanteuse Cat Hardy is a version of recurring Spidey frenemy the Black Cat, but given this is her first real live screen appearance (she was retroactively added to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but nothing came if it), but you won’t miss anything if you don’t.
The whole thing is anchored by a committed, dynamic performance from Nicolas Cage, who clearly revels in both playing up the character’s stereotypical hard-boiled detective traits and slyly undercutting the clichés. It’s a really fun turn that stops short of overt gimmickry. The fun thing about Cage’s Spidey is that he’s heroic, but he’s not a tough guy. Sure, he can hold his own in a fight if it comes to that, and he has those nifty powers, but in true gumshoe style he lives by his wits rather than his fists, and spends much more time getting the crap kicked out of him than delivering righteous beatdowns.
Spider-Noir is a blast. It’s a twisty noir mystery, a genuinely heroic super-hero story, and a loving homage to film noir as a whole. Let’s hope it gets a second season – I’d happily spend more time in this world.
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