Spider-Noir: Inside Nicolas Cage’s dark, nihilistic take on Ben Reilly 

We welcome Nicolas Cage back to the Spiderverse as he reprises his role as The Spider, first seen in Sony's animated movie Into The Spider-Verse, returning now on Amazon Prime's recently released 'Spider-Noir'. The streaming platform made the intriguing decision to release two versions of the series, one in black and white, the other in true colour, adding some extra immersive steps into the narrative.

The narrative itself begins with an introduction to Ben Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, catching cheating spouses with his assistant Janet Ruiz (Karen Rodriguez) for whatever pennies they get, occasionally sharing a coffee and a cigarette with his best friend Robbie Robertson (Lamorne Morris), a reporter with The Bugle. 

Once New York city's only superhero and saving grace, The Spider, Reilly has now left behind that life as he settles into a less-dangerous environment: one where no one else will be hurt. An ordinary man, an ordinary life. 

But that takes a turn for the worse when a commission comes in to investigate Cat Hardy (Li Jun Li), a lounge singer, and unofficially one of the Mafia's people. Hardy, fondly yet precariously taken care of by the mafia head Finbar Byrne, nicknamed Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson), has confusing movements and even more baffling ulterior motives. Reilly must now figure out how to untangle these webs without getting caught up in them himself. How hard can it really be? 

What follows is a series of entanglements with the city's corrupt Mayor, dangerous run-ins with the Mafia boss and his men, and fleeting glances shared with the enigmatic singer herself. 

The show is an excellent narrative driver; theme-wise, the plot manages to introduce multiple conflict points and antagonists without one overshadowing the other as well as minimal plot-holes which fans may try to patch up with fan-theories and headcanons. 

Subsequently, the narrative is also driven forward by the characters themselves. Nicolas Cage brings his decades of experience onto set and proves his abilities beyond a shadow of a doubt in Spider-Noir, with excellent bodily control over his movements, microexpressions, and even vocal tone. The veteran actor brings to life a once-animated character, adding depth and layers that exist beyond a script. 

It is not however as dark and as grim as noir productions usually are; instead it's sharp, biting, sarcastic, and absurd; in simple words it's brilliantly unhinged. Nicolas Cage has inhabited Reilly entirely, becoming inseparable from the comic-book character, and delivered a man so nihilistic and resigned and yet so foolishly hopeful that we can't help but root for him. 

Paired with the actor's witticisms is the old-timey dialogue, delivered perfectly by characters from all sorts of backgrounds. New York has always been a melting pot of cultures and people, and the effort taken into curating each character's mannerisms highlights that fact further.

Furthermore, the decision to frame Reilly's backstory in a way so invariably unfamiliar to the other super-spiders we're used to is a bold choice– a gritty life that fits in perfectly with this Noir universe. Ben Reilly is a coward, built-in with an innate desire to run away in the face of danger, a polar opposite to any superhero one might expect on the screen. In other words, he's just a man, one who is determined to run from his arachnid past. As the saying goes, with no power comes no responsibility.  

But what makes him interesting is his unconscious inability to ignore the injustice in front of his eyes. No matter how much he tries to stay away from danger, he himself is the one running back into it to try and fix the situation. 

Cage's Spider is, in and of itself, a brilliant thematic concept: he was bitten not by the usual radioactive spider but a mutated "man-spider". This caused him to not only develop spider-like abilities but also the inability to retain his humanity, becoming more spider than man. To regain normalcy, he studies characters in movies to remember how it was like to be ordinary and is in a constant battle with himself to stay in control. An extremely disturbing take on the spider-hero concept but at the same time, incredibly unique and impossibly tragic. 

What cannot be overstated is the show's dedication to immersion and accuracy. Set in 1930s New York city, the population is living through the Great Depression. Crime and corruption is rampant, the poor are getting poorer, and to make things worse, the city's superhero is nowhere to be seen in this time of crisis. 

Emphasising the general cynicism is black and white version of the show. Incredible cinematography with angled shots, highlighted faces, lingering shadows, and old-fashioned, long, panning shots, all give the show a gritty texture which plunges you into a romantic yet dangerous, labyrinthine, New York city. 

On the other hand, the true colour version gives audiences a more lively experience with vivid outfits and an evoking colour-grade, providing an intriguing mix of pigments that make the production reminiscent of an old Hollywood movie. 

Certain shots recur throughout the show, such as the use of a mirror to show the turned-away side of a character when two are speaking, as well as close-ups of one character's face during a monologue besides other characters shot from a distance.

The show plays around a lot especially with light and shadow, remaining consistent with the inconsistency of the characters framed. This allows the audience to draw their own conclusions about certain characters and their actions, as no one is truly blameless in the grand scheme of things. 

It is a truly noir production, with directing greats such as Harry Bradbeer, Alethea Jones, Nzingha Stewart, and Greg Yaitanes, with Darran Tiernan as the show's cinematographer, executing the anarchic ambience masterfully.

All in all, Spider-Noir is a show for an altogether different, if not new, audience entirely. Fans looking for their friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man may not find what they expected, however they will not leave disappointed as Reilly captures the audience in a manner unprecedented to Super-Spider fans.

 Cage fans, on the other hand, will be delighted at the return of the actor's chaotic absurdism, as the show manages to expertly marry the sardonicism of the Noir genre with the subtle humour of Spider-Man productions.