Okay, let’s be honest — when Sony and Prime Video first announced a live-action Spider-Noir series with Nicolas Cage, nobody quite knew how to feel. Excitement? Dread? Some weird mix of both? Now that it’s actually out, I can tell you: it’s not the disaster some people feared, but it’s not a masterpiece either. What it is, though, is a genuinely fun, ridiculously stylish show that’s absolutely worth clearing your Saturday for.
So here’s my take on what lands, what doesn’t, and why everyone online is still fighting about it.
Cage is doing Cage things, and it rules
The man is clearly having the time of his life. Watch closely and you’ll catch him cycling through an entire catalog of classic Hollywood icons — there’s Bogart, Cagney, a little Peter Lorre, even some Cary Grant tucked in there. It’s completely self-aware and somehow totally earned.
His character goes by Ben Reilly rather than Peter Parker (apparently a licensing workaround that also lets him smoke and drink on screen, which, honestly, respect). He’s a worn-out WWI vet dragged back into action against his better judgment. The show doesn’t try to hide that he’s older — he gets winded, he trips, he runs like someone’s dad trying to catch a bus. It’s funny and oddly endearing, and a real breath of fresh air compared to every other hyper-athletic Spider-Man we’ve seen.
Then there’s the format choice that’s genuinely split the internet: you can watch in black and white or full color. Both versions are worth your time for different reasons.
The B&W cut is probably what the creators intended. Heavy Dutch angles, deep shadows, strong Sin City energy — and as a bonus, it does a pretty convincing job of hiding some of the show’s shakier CGI moments.
The color version, though? Don’t write it off. It’s almost aggressively saturated — think old Technicolor, or a pulp comic cover, or that Dick Tracy movie from the ’90s. The fan consensus seems to be: watch it in B&W first, then revisit in color. Either way, it’s worth seeing both.
Where it falls apart
Here’s the thing — the budget was reportedly somewhere around $500 million, which makes some of the production choices genuinely baffling. The action choreography is sluggish in a way that feels less “intentional noir slow-burn” and more “they ran out of money.” Actual web-swinging is almost nowhere to be found, and the stunt work at times looks closer to a mid-budget network procedural than a prestige superhero show.
The writing is the other sticking point. If you’re coming in hoping for sharp, Chandler-esque dialogue dripping with period-accurate atmosphere, you’re probably going to be let down. The script leans more performative than genuine — some of the accents are pretty rough, and there are moments where characters sound like they wandered in from a completely different decade. His secretary, in particular, talks like she just stepped off a 2024 Instagram reel.
Tonally, the show can’t quite decide what it wants to be. The vibe lands somewhere between Old Man Logan and Adam West’s Batman — campy, fun, but not especially gritty. That works fine for the first handful of episodes, but around episode six it starts running out of steam and sliding into generic territory. The villain doesn’t help — Megawatt (this universe’s version of Electro) is meant to be menacing but ends up just being kind of annoying.
So, is it worth watching?
Yeah, it is. Spider-Noir isn’t going to change superhero TV, and it absolutely stumbles when it tries to do action. But as a weekend binge? It’s a lot of fun. The aesthetic is genuinely gorgeous, the banter keeps things moving, and Nicolas Cage wearing a fedora and complaining about his knees while fighting crime is a kind of joy that’s hard to put a price on.
Dim the lights, switch it to grayscale, and pour yourself something. You’ll have a good time.