'Spider-Noir' is the best TV superhero series since 'The Penguin'

A new Prime Video series imagines Spiderman as a gumshoe of the 1930s — but with superpowers. Spider-Noir represents one of the boldest performances of Nicolas Cage's entire risk-taking career.

Transcript

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. The Spider-Man character was introduced in a Marvel comics book in 1962. Since then, he's been the center of several live action superhero movies over the decades, some well-received animated features and has been reimagined in stories set in different times, even in different universes. One comic book series that began in 2008, "Spider-Man Noir," imagined the hero as a gumshoe of the 1930s but with superpowers. Now Prime Video has brought that concept to television as "Spider-Noir," starring Nicolas Cage. Our TV critic David Bianculli says everything about the series is unexpectedly enjoyable.

DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: In this universe, I'm pretty much tired of superhero films and TV series and random multiverses and don't approach any new one with much enthusiasm. When I heard about "Spider-Noir" and that Nicolas Cage was starring, I couldn't imagine why he'd choose a superhero story for his first TV starring role. Then I watched the eight-episode first season and realized it probably represents one of the best and boldest Nicolas Cage performances of his entire risk-taking career.

From the very start, "Spider-Noir" takes the noir part seriously. It's set in the Depression-era New York of the 1930s, and Cage plays a superpowered masked character known as The Spider. When we meet him, he's loved and lost a woman, a story he recounts in the rain over her grave. He's gone on a multi-year bender and now has an office as a private eye. His name is Ben Reilly.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SPIDER-NOIR")

NICOLAS CAGE: (As Ben Reilly) We were going to be married in the spring. I even bought a ring to make it official, a ring I never had the chance to give her.

(SOUNDBITE OF THUNDER CRACKING)

CAGE: (As Ben Reilly) Ruby once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. Well, she was the greatest responsibility I ever had. And I failed her. The Spider failed her. After that, I didn't want the power or the responsibility.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CAGE: (As Ben Reilly) So I went back to being just an ordinary man. That was five years ago.

BIANCULLI: If that opening narration sounds as though Cage is channeling a bit of bogey, well, he is. But the imaginative conceit of "Spider-Noir" is that the bite that gave The Spider superpowers also made him more spidery than human. Ben Reilly, in order to blend in and do his job, really does have to act like a human and like a private eye. So he goes to the movies and watches the latest Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney films and imitates them a bit. But there also are scenes where Ben Reilly, the gumshoe, like James Garner's Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files," hands out fake business cards and adopts different accents and dialects.

Cage has enormous fun with all of this but also establishes that his character sometimes is primarily a spider and physicalizes that in a way that's just a riot. If you saw him in "Vampire's Kiss," you're familiar with his brand of unbridled acting. And he's not acting alone. Lamorne Morris, who won a well-deserved Emmy as the deputy on Season 5 of FX's "Fargo," plays a reporter who works with The Spider and keeps his secret. It's a rich role, and Morris delivers, and so do the show's other costars.

The always commanding Brendan Gleeson plays the ruthless power broker Silvermane, who tracks down superpowered mutants to persuade them to join his gang. As always with this genre, the villains have a lot of the fun. Gleeson, as Silvermane, veers easily between playful and menacing, as when he captures a mutant played by Andrew Lewis Caldwell and introduces himself. Caldwell, for his part, is great fun, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SPIDER-NOIR")

BRENDAN GLEESON: (As Finbar Byrne) Well, I assume you know who I am.

ANDREW LEWIS CALDWELL: (As Dirk Leyden) The man with the mane of silver, born from nothing, built his empire through gut and guile, purveyor of the finest spirited potions, king of the five buroughs, Mr. Finbar Byrne himself.

GLEESON: (As Finbar Byrne) I see you like to talk. Think you could listen for a second?

CALDWELL: (As Dirk Leyden) Oh, I am like a Nebraskan cornfield - all ears.

BIANCULLI: Of course, every classic noir, even a "Spider-Noir," has to have a femme fatale. This one is a chanteuse and heartbreaker played by Li Jun Li, who played Grace in "Sinners" and was a star of the 2008 Lincoln Center revival of "South Pacific." She gets to show off her musical talent when Cage's Ben Reilly first sees and hears her at Silvermane's nightclub.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SPIDER-NOIR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Ladies and gentlemen, Cat Hardy.

(APPLAUSE)

LI JUN LI: (As Cat Hardy, singing) Stars shining bright, above you. Night breezes seem to whisper I love you. Birds singing in the sycamore trees. Dream a little dream of me.

BIANCULLI: She sounds beautiful and looks dazzling, too, outfitted in stylish costumes with vibrant colors. Well, they're vibrant and in color, depending upon how you choose to watch "Spider-Noir." Oren Uziel, who developed this series for TV is presenting it in an unprecedented manner. On Prime Video, you can decide to watch in what it calls either true hue color or authentic black-and-white, or toggle between the two. I found it fun to keep switching, especially to learn the colors of sets or costumes in the color-saturated versions. But both versions are exciting to watch.

There are loads of allusions to classic films. The fight scenes explode with energy, and the various writers and directors work as a coherent team, whether they're presenting intimate scenes between characters or wildly hallucinatory dream sequences. No matter which way you watch it, "Spider-Noir" is the best TV superhero series since "The Penguin."

DAVIES: TV critic David Bianculli reviewed "Spider-Noir," starring Nicolas Cage. On tomorrow's show, New Yorker staff writer Ben Taub gives us an inside look at Donald Trump's campaign to acquire Greenland. While it's faded from the headlines, Taub says there are ongoing influence operations at Trump's direction to keep the possibility alive. In a new article, Taub reveals some key players in the effort and its impact on Greenland and our European allies. I hope you can join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram, @nprfreshair.

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DAVIES: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley. I'm Dave Davies.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.