Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
Apple TV+ | Release Date: November 13, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistChristian GallichioNov 15, 2020
For those willing to spend ninety-plus minutes with Herzog as he riffs on the wonders of space, “Fireball” is a heartfelt tribute to scientific exploration. Read full review
90
The New York TimesGlenn KennyNov 12, 2020
This film rests on the fact that Mother Earth is always being called on by other worlds in the forms of comets, meteorites and asteroids — and it’s about as transportive as documentaries get. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 12, 2020
Herzog and Oppenheimer are back (and Oppenheimer gets a co-directing credit) with another nimbly curious and fascinating film on a similar topic: meteorites. This is a rare example of modern documentary film-making that uses voiceover – that inimitable Herzog growl. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSep 19, 2020
Fireball delivers the cosmic goods. Read full review
80
TheWrapSteve PondSep 19, 2020
If it may be a return to familiar pleasures rather than an excursion into anything new, that’s hardly a problem when those familiar pleasures include Herzog dropping bon mots. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoNov 13, 2020
The result is a film that can be a bit dry when Oppenheimer leads the scientific discussion but that comes springing back to life when Herzog the filmmaker allows his awe to come through the camera. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 12, 2020
The totality of human existence might be summed up in the forlorn, inquisitive and sometimes playful narrations of the great German filmmaker, that keen-eyed observer of humanity Werner Herzog. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloNov 10, 2020
If it’s strictly information that you want, that’s what the Discovery Channel is for. The pleasures of a Herzog doc are unique to him. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineBudd WilkinsSep 19, 2020
One of the most striking effects here occurs whenever Herzog and Oppenheimer slow down the film’s often-hectic pace to let viewers ponder the sheer beauty of the imagery, whether that’s painterly rendered details of landscape or the natural splendor of closely observed crystals and minerals. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlex SavelievOct 26, 2020
A bit more pragmatic, rambling, less lyrical, and not as laser-focused as Herzog's previous documentaries. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanOct 20, 2020
“Fireball” is a documentary about meteorites, but what makes it a Herzog film is that it’s in love with meteorites. Read full review
70
SlashfilmJason GorberOct 1, 2020
While the film as a whole is slightly haphazard, and the revelations are relatively few, there’s still a strong sense of engagement and excitement that illustrates better than most the thrill of discovery and the scope of what these humble rocks represent. Read full review
67
The Film StageMatt CipollaNov 12, 2020
If anything, Fireball works best as a personification of its own themes. The textbook feeds the truncated, the truncated the tactile. Its own interests and understandings don’t always seem to exist on the same plane, but perhaps that’s okay. They’re still shining. They’ll sort themselves out eventually. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 19, 2020
Fireball splinters into so many scattered pieces as it hurtles into our atmosphere that it almost seems as if the movie is trying to ignore any of the harder truths that might hold it together. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeSep 19, 2020
This film is charming and educational enough, but it’s not especially profound; it flirts with big ideas about the origins of life and the twin cycles of creation and destruction but doesn’t really let them sink in. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 14, 2020
The humour doesn’t go nearly as deep as the science of “looking eternity in the eye,” resulting in a neat-enough educational experience, if not a fulfilling work of documentary cinema. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinNov 12, 2020
Fascinating stuff is at play here amid the heady theorizing and arcane references (panspermia, anyone?). But it’s blunted by Herzog’s clipped, Bavarian-tinged narration that’s by turns logy, deadpan and florid. Maybe his trademark voice-overs have simply worked better in the past. Read full review
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