A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Nicolas Cage has a comeback story that really deserves more attention. Lest we forget that the one-time Oscar winner spent several years churning out a pungent slurry of cheap films that went straight to DVD (or some niche streamer), attracting derision from even his most sympathetic viewers?
His career jolted back to life with 2018’s one-two punch of surreal horror flick Mandy and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where he took a small-yet-impactful voice role as an alternate version of the Marvel superhero.
Cage’s turn as a hard-boiled 1930s-era private investigator, who moonlights as New York City vigilante The Spider, proved so evocative that it’s landed him a starring vehicle of his own. Enter: Spider-Noir – a flagrantly unnecessary but nonetheless enjoyable spin-off.
Wisely, the series does away with the ‘homework’ so frequently required of modern franchise fare, and instead draws a firm line between itself and the Spider-Verse films that eliminates the need for prior viewing. It also allows the concept to evolve beyond comic relief, imbuing it with enough substance to sustain eight episodes.
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We meet Ben Reilly (Cage) years after he retired as The Spider under the worst of circumstances. Now scraping a living as a PI, he winds up in the tangled web of secrets surrounding mob boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson), his lounge singer Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li) and a sudden influx of super-powered individuals.
Presented in the style of a classic Hollywood film noir, the show could be accused of being gimmicky – but the effect is so well-realised that it’s hard to begrudge it. Shot in black-and-white on lively practical sets (the series is also available to watch in colour), with scripts that honour the heightened reality of the genre, there can be little doubt that Spider-Noir is a labour of love.
Indeed, there are periods where you forget that it’s a Marvel project altogether, with Cage spending more time as Reilly than his vigilante alter-ego. Cage gives the role his all, oozing charisma as the cynical sleuth with a sharp word for everyone (including, on multiple occasions, himself). The tragic, if deliberately clichéd, backstory roots him firmly in a harsh reality, but the role still offers moments for Cage’s more eccentric tendencies to shine.
Although he takes to this stylised piece like a duck to water (or a fedora to a head of slicked-back hair), others take time to find their footing. Lamorne Morris (Fargo) and Li Jun Li (Sinners) do eventually settle in as journalist Robbie Robertson and performer Cat Hardy, respectively.
Alas, Gleeson never quite catches up, playing Silvermane in a manner that largely ignores the outlandish scenery (think Michael Caine’s Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol). While imposing enough at first, the performance ends up looking comparatively small by the halfway mark. Not ideal for Spider-Noir’s big bad.
Similarly, for a show that is essentially a mystery drama with some bells and whistles, the central conspiracy is surprisingly unfocused. The investigation meanders and is at times rudderless, particularly around Silvermane and his associates (some of whom are loosely based off classic Spider-Man villains but are only fractionally as memorable).
Fortunately, there’s enough to the show’s plucky protagonists and rich sense of style to make up for its storytelling shortcomings. In fact, Spider-Noir is far better than such a frivolous spin-off has any right to be, with Cage deserving of high praise as the lynchpin that holds it all together.
Spider-Noir is available to stream on Prime Video from Wednesday 27 May 2026. Sign up for Amazon Prime for £8.99 a month.
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