Spiderman has been seen in several films and TV shows, swinging over New York on his web, dressed in a red and blue superhero costume. When out of the suit, he is a reporter, Peter Parker.
Spider-Noir, the eight-episode Amazon Prime Video series, does away with that ‘friendly neighbourhood Spiderman’ image and takes the webslinger into world inhabited by hard-bitten private detectives – if Bogart, Cagney and Edward G. Robinson don’t spring to mind, a line in the show reminds the clueless viewer. Developed by showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, and helmed by multiple directors, the live-action series reimagines the moody variant of the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The show is an atmospheric, brilliantly designed and shot work that seamlessly fuses Marvel mythology with classic Hollywood detective lore.
Set in Depression hit 1930s New York, the protagonist here is Ben Reilly (Nicholas Cage), who gave up his crusading ways when his girlfriend was murdered, and is now a not very successful private eye, who does not even make enough to pay his grumbling office assistant, Janet (Karen Rodriguez) her salary.
Five years before the events of the series, Ben operated as the city’s lone vigilante, “The Spider,”—somerhing only his reporter buddy. Robbie (Lamorne Morris) knows. After Ben retires, the city is exploding with crime under the Irish mob boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson). Ben is jolted out of his cynical, who-cares attitude when an unbelievable wave of superpowered ‘freaks’ appears. As he starts to investigate, he discovers that these grotesque humans–including a crumbling Sandman/Flint Marko (Jack Huston) and a dying Tombstone/Lonnie Lincoln (Abraham Popoola)—are linked to the dark military experiments that gave him his own arachnid superpowers.
The plot unspools not like a traditional Marvel spectacular, but as a deliberate, slow-burning whodunnit. Instead of extravagant action set-pieces, the series follows the trench-coated hero into rain-slicked alleys, and smoky, Prohibition era night clubs.
If there’s a 30s gumshoe, there has to be a femme fatale too, and she appears in the form of a singer, Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li), whose motives and loyalties are always suspect.
In this hyper stylized period piece, Nicolas Cage delivers a perfectly-pitched performance that expands on his voice work from Into the Spider-Verse. Cage could have turned Ben Reilly into a Bogie caricature, but he gives the character his own touches and sharp sense of humour.
Brendan Gleeson with his lined face and bulldog expression makes for a worthy antagonist; and Lamorne Morris steps out of typical Black comic sidekick mode to give his ambitious journalist a stylish appearance and courage under fire, in times when racial segregation was still being practiced..
The show offers viewers two distinct formats: “True Hue Full Color” and “Authentic Black and White.” While the colour version looks stunning with its saturated boldness, the monochrome presentation is the definitive experience, when the light and shadows bring real menace to the screen.
There are some pacing flaws, but Spider-Noir is eminently, satisfyingly binge worthy.
Spider-Noir
Directed by Harry Bradbeer
Cast: Nicholas Cage, Brendan Gleeson, Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li and others
On Amazon Prime Video
