This article contains light spoilers for Spider-Noir.
As its name implies, the MGM+/Prime Video series Spider-Noir is many things. It is a story about Spider-Man, albeit as middle-aged private investigator Ben Reilly, who used to fight crime under the codename “the Spider.” It’s also a noir series, thanks to its postwar setting, its gangster baddies, and its nods toward classic films like Gilda.
But most of all, Spider-Noir is the ultimate highlight reel for its star, Nicolas Cage. As private dick Ben Reilly, Cage gets to take on all sorts of personas, little bits that his character adopts to sneak into a building or get past a secretary. These plot devices give Cage, an actor famous for his strong choices, the opportunity to try out different personalities, personalities that might not work for an entire movie, but are incredible in Spider-Noir‘s bitesize doses.
One of the best occurs in episode five, when a doctor finds Ben Reilly sneaking around her office. Without missing a beat, Cage slips into an impression of Peter Lorre, wrapping his hand around the back of his head to rub his scalp and speaking in smooth, unnerving tones. When the doctor informs him that the person he claims to be looking for is on the second floor, Ben casts a skeptical gaze, starts waving his hands, and demands, in a faux-Hungarian accent, “The second floor? The second floor!”
Lorre is hardly the only old-timey movie star that Cage mimics for Reilly’s shenanigans. The most obvious example occurs when Ben has to retrieve his Spider suit from his former apartment, now remodeled and rented to others. Spying a maintenance closet, Ben grabs a mop and a tool box, flips up his hat brim and dons a pair of thick glasses (a la Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep), and introduces himself to the occupants as maintenance man Pete. Pitching up his voice and taking on a slight tremble, Cage as Reilly plays Pete like a sweet old man who’s a bit too comfortable sticking his nose into other peoples’ business, a slightly annoying Jimmy Stewart charcter.
In the very next episode, Ben has to get past a nurse to question some injured cops, so he takes on the identity of Officer Batnick of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, who took “a slug 10 years ago” and was saved by the caretakers at the hospital. Here, Cage becomes a tall, dark Edward G. Robinson, replacing his natural drawl with a clipped accent and punctuating his statements with the word, “See?” Sometimes, he’s charming and clever, mirroring Robinson’s insurance investigator from Double Indemnity. Other times, he’s imperious and threatening, just like Robinson in Little Caesar.
Spider-Noir provides an in-universe explanation for Reilly’s impressions. Late in the series, we learn that he felt like he lost his humanity after gaining his spider-powers, and found his way back by watching the movies. The show even gives an example, with Ben going to the theater to see the James Cagney flick Great Guy, mimicking Jimmy’s delivery of the words, “Red hot!”
However, each of these bits feels like part of Cage’s Saturday Night Live reel. Or, more likely, they feel like moments that the director let Cage do whatever he wanted, knowing that the individual scenes could be clipped and shared online, turning the actor’s endless memeability into free advertising for the show.
Thus, the show frequently stops to let Cage just be weird. A late episode reveals that Ben’s secretary Janet (Karen Rodriguez) has always known that he was the Spider because she walked in on him wearing the costume when he was drunk. Cut to a short montage of Cage playing a drunken gumshoe in a superhero suit, babbling with the mask half over his face or giggling while playing with his goggles.
A more earned, but no less weird, scene occurs shortly after the aging Ben has a battle as the Spider, and returns home to rest for a moment. Before collapsing in his chair, Ben has to stretch and crack his joints, giving Cage an excuse to flail his hands and move his body in a staccato shudder.
To some, these scenes suggest poor direction on the part of showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, or extreme cynicism on the part of Prime Video and MGM+. One could argue that, instead of providing guidance for their star, the directors simply let Cage do whatever ridiculousness he wanted, running the risk of getting a big, sloppy performance like Joaquin Phoenix‘s nonsense in Joker. One could also argue that Nicolas Cage memes cannot be manufactured, and the attempt to do so is hack.
But, by this point, anyone who puts Nicolas Cage in a project knows that he’s going to get weird. That’s part of the deal when you watch him work. Moreover, Spider-Noir gives reasons for Cage to act these ways, whether it’s Ben’s recovered humanity via the movies or his need to put on a disguise.
Whatever the reason, Cage delights every time he gets a wacky new idea. And they’re short enough that they don’t distract from the show’s central mystery, making Spider-Noir a Spidey story, a hard-boiled detective story, and a Nicolas Cage highlight reel, all in equal measure.
Spider-Noir is now streaming on Amazon Prime and MGM+.
