Spider-Noir

Spider-Noir dropped May 27 on Amazon Prime, an eight-episode original built on Marvel’s Spider-Noir. Nicolas Cage reprises his Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse take in live action as Ben Reilly, super-powered PI stuck between criminal boss Silvermane and the mayor as they claw for control of the city.

It plays in an alternate 1930s New York. Ben is a burned-out private investigator one unpaid job away from shutting the office. He hung up the mask as “The Spider” over five years ago after failing to save his would-be wife, Ruby. A simple tail job turns out to involve a super-powered target, and Ben gets pulled into a conspiracy with strands tied to Silvermane, City Hall, and his own wartime past. Secretary Janet and reporter Robbie help him dig while the plot tangles around Cat Hardy.

I am not deep in Spider-Noir comics. I vaguely remember Vulture was a cannibal or something. I know Spider-Man characters. So I cannot swear to adaptation accuracy. As a twist on the mythos, this is a fun rendition.

Spider-Noir is good. Probably the second-best streaming show I have seen this year; I still put One Piece live-action season 2 above it. Not the best thing ever made. I enjoyed it. Actually good, not “everything else sucks so this wins by default” good.

Well acted, well shot, a clean fusion of comic-book and noir detective. The noir grounds it; the lighter, goofier comic beats mostly do not overstay. Marketing lets you watch in black and white or color. I ran black and white and recommend the same. It sells the aesthetic they wanted. Dynamic camera work and fight scenes keep the series visually impressive.

Cage is a blast as Ben Reilly. He and Brendan Gleeson carry the show; you want to know what happens to these people. The rest of the ensemble holds up. Nobody jarred me out. Weird compliment: things actually happen. Episode one, Ben is no longer The Spider. By the end of episode two, the suit is back on. Other series would park that reveal in episode six or seven while they tour side characters you do not care about. Here the plot moves episode to episode. Alliances form and break. Setups pay off. You do not leave the finale thinking, “Now the story really begins, tune in next season.”

The beginning is stronger than the end. Episodes one through four had me hooked. Five through seven drag. Not a boring crawl, but you feel it, and episode eight then speeds through. The close fizzles a little. I wanted those finale beats restructured so the tension had room to breathe.

Some of the show asks you not to think too hard, just go along.

Spoiler (episode 1): Ben and Flint Marko fight atop a construction site. Ben falls, then uses his powers to swing back up. Flint never sees the powers, so he does not clock him as The Spider, but he also never gets suspicious for the rest of the run about how Ben suddenly made it back to the roof. In that same fight, Ben clocks Flint with a plank and Flint starts shifting into sand. Staging suggests his face should be losing cohesion, sand falling as he fights to stay solid. The sand-falling effect feels incomplete. Elsewhere you can tell when CGI is CGI. Shotty at times, not jarring enough to yank me out.

I also wanted more Cage actually being The Spider. The angle on how the powers act on him is interesting. I wanted more of it.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller developed and produced this, and they are three for three this year. I would still rank Project Hail Mary and The Sheep Detectives above Spider-Noir. Minor tweaks and this tips from good to great.