Chiwetel Ejiofor holds Showtime's The Man Who Fell to Earth's tonal whiplash together

The Hollywood Reporter

"Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman’s extension of the Walter Tevis novel and cult classic Nicolas Roeg film has too many allegorical things on its mind and not enough clarity on how to relay its various points about the desperate need for empathy, especially for the strangers in our midst," says Daniel Fienberg. "In just four episodes sent to critics, The Man Who Fell to Earth is at least two or three somewhat different shows, and there’s a tonal whiplash that can be perplexing. But thus far a delightful performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor holds the series together in ways that remain entertaining and full of potential." Fienberg adds: "You might need to go all the way back to Kinky Boots for the last time Ejiofor gave a performance that relied this heavily on physicality, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this funny before."

ALSO:

• The Man Who Fell to Earth is solid sci-fi: "Unlike the film, with its elastic time and changes of tone, the new series is a much more conventional work, a well-made mainstream science-fiction adventure, with a clear line between the good guys and the bad guys, each with a saucerful of secrets, and a character or two liable to fall either way as things progress," says Robert Lloyd. "That’s not a bad approach; getting arty might just seem imitative, and the noncanonical status of this new chapter allows it not to be too precious about what came before. If it lacks its predecessors’ satirical edge as regards American consumerism and self-sedation, it has other things to say about the way we are, and where we are going. (We are, after all, 60 years on from the novel and nearly 50 from the film.)"
• The Man Who Fell to Earth falls prey to one of current TV’s most tired clichés of opening in the future before flashing back to explain how it happened: "In fact, knowing that Farraday convinces the world that he’s an otherworldly genius before we understand how deflates a good deal of the tension out of the show before it even starts," says Caroline Framke. "It makes some sense that the Earth that Farraday fell to isn’t quite as peculiar as the one Newton did, but the series would be more memorable if it were even half as uncanny."
• The Man Who Fell to Earth pulls off something surprisingly hard to do: perfectly mixing science fiction with humor, heart, and a level of environmentalism that’s thought-provoking yet not overbearing
• The Man Who Fell to Earth is at its best when Naomie Harris’ Justin and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Faraday are front and center
• Whatever cracks and holes there are in The Man Who Fell to Earth are forgivable considering how well it is presented
• The Man Who Fell to Earth is more about people rectifying a past that has reemerged, facing questions that are not answered
• Chiwetel Ejiofor had all sorts of concerns about his lead role as a space alien with four stomachs and zero social skills: “There were big swings in the role," he says, adding: “It’s probably one of the biggest story arcs I’ve done, in terms of where the character starts, what that character’s energy is, and where that ultimately leads to."