The Man Who Fell to Earth Early Review: Chiwetel Ejiofor & Naomie Harris' show starts on a curious, witty note

The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Man Who Fell to Earth Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Bill Nighy

The Man Who Fell to Earth Creators: Jenny Lumet, Alex Kurtzman

Streaming Platform: Voot Select

In spite of its iconic standing and cult following in the sci-fi universe, not everyone might be familiar with Walter Trevis' 1963 novel and Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film starring David Bowie. In an inspired continuation to the book and movie, we have The Man Who Fell to Earth attempting to reimagine that world with a 2022 spin. But does it work? Let's find out!

In The Man Who Fell to Earth, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays an alien, with roots from the same planet, Althea, where Bowie's Thomas Jerome Newton (played now by Bill Nighy) originated from. Decades after the events of the 1976 film, the alien lands in New Mexico, and is a man on a mission to save his species from becoming extinct. His mission could also help save Earth, simultaneously. For this, he's in search of scientist Justin Falls (Naomie Harris), who is on the downslide and doing odd jobs to cater to her family's expenses with her sick father Josiah Falls (Clarke Peters) and teenage daughter Molly Falls (Annelle Olaleye). Initially unwilling towards the alien, now known as Faraday (after a hilarious encounter with a police officer named K. Faraday!), Justin realises how his mission is quite literally to save his world and even her own, and that they'll only be able to do it together. The mission being in a tiny box, pertaining to powers for quantum fusion, something which Justin came the closest to achieving herself.

Eventually joining them is Hatch Flood (Rob Delaney), disgraced son of Origins' (a tech conglomerate) late owner, whose curiousity over what happened to Thomas Jerome Newton has him readily join the "save the worlds" squad. However, when it comes to cinematic aliens, there has to be government interference sniffing around. Here, we have the nasty CIA agent Spencer Clay (Jimmi Simpson) - with Drew Finch (Kate Mulgrew) and Lisa Dominguez (Joana Ribiero) in tow - who is hot on the trail of Faraday. We also have Hatch's stoic sister Edie Flood (Sonya Cassidy), who now owns Origins and is firm on her own set of principles.

I was given access to review the first four of The Man Who Fell to Earth's 10 episodes, and from the get-go, I was definitely intrigued by the dual perspective of Chiwetel Ejiofor's character as both the alien and Faraday. Chiwetel has time and again proven his acting prowess with some delectable performances and his spectacular act in The Man Who Fell to Earth is no different. There is a sense of delightful innocence in how he balances his genius mind, hell-bent on his mission, to finding human emotions and mannerisms peculiar. In the first five minutes of the introductory episode, we're shown the clear distinction between the alien and Faraday; on the one hand, we see the alien landing on Earth, with zero understanding of humanity at large and immediately getting arrested after being found with a garden hose down his throat, drinking gallons worth of water, and on the other hand, we see Faraday as a charismatic tech genius giving a Ted Talk-esque presentation about his latest creation, wrapped neatly in a shiny box, while having the audience at the palm of his hand.

In tandem with Ejiofor is the talented Naomie Harris as Justin Falls, who matches step by step to Faraday's eccentricities and reacts like any of us would when coming in contact with an alien. However, there's also an emotional family arc surrounding Justin, as she battles with a traumatic past and failure which kept her away from science all these years. It's not instantly that Justin comes aboard Faraday's "save the worlds" mission, but it's over time that Faraday helps reinvigorate Justin's brainiac side and they come together, not without going through many hurdles before that. Chiwetel and Naomie's complicated chemistry is the charming highlight in the earlier episodes of The Man Who Fell to Earth.

However, the scene-stealer with his maniacal antagonist personality is Jimmi Simpsons as Spencer Clay, who is as vicious as vicious gets. You're immediately repulsed by him and that's an indication of a job well done! In parallel, Clarke Peters is absolutely loveable as Justin's affirmative dad. Bill Nighy is tasked with the heavy lifting of playing Thomas Jerome Newton, a character immortalised by David Bowie, and in spite of less screen time in the first four episodes, the veteran actor does a fine, remarkable job in embodying the crazy mannerisms of a clearly broken man.

The Man Who Fell to Earth creators Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman take their own sweet time when it comes to the screenplay in establishing the intensity of just what's at stake for Faraday and Falls and how it's more than just them, but the entire world's existence that lies on their mission's success. Whether or not you're a fan of the original source materials, you're most likely to be entranced by the series nevertheless and will want to come back for more, maybe even going all the way to the end. What's pleasantly surprising is how comedy is infused through and through such a grave matter, in the form of dry, sarcastic humour (Like when Faraday's explanation for why he drinks so much water is, "I have four stomachs!"), but with finesse and not overtly over the top. Moreover, with the alien constantly referring to himself as "an immigrant," social commentary (climate change, refugee crisis, racial discrimination, sexism) is sprinkled underlying but is yet to be explored more thoroughly.

ALSO READ: The Man Who Fell to Earth EXCLUSIVE: Chiwetel Ejiofor decodes 'overarching journey' from the alien to Faraday

While the CGI is unevenly sketchy in certain sequences in The Man Who Fell to Earth, Adam Gillham's cinematography is breathtaking at parts, especially when it comes to the alien's stimuli sensitivity, where every tick is visually showcased. Furthermore, the ensemble's balanced performance contributes highly to the technical aspects of The Man Who Fell to Earth. How the story continues, in terms of narrative and visual aesthetics, we'll have to wait and watch with the remaining six episodes!

In finality, The Man Who Fell to Earth kicks off on a curious, witty note and immediately builds intrigue for how things are going to end; if Faraday and Justin Falls are successful in their mission or if the former is punished with the same ill fate as the one who came before him, Thomas Jerome Newton?