- Network: FOX
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 17, 2013
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Critic Reviews
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This late entry in the fall season is one of the best. [25 Nov 2013, p.43]
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[Creator J.H. Wyman] peppers what really is a police procedural with enough not-so-distant science to make Almost Human a sci-fi thriller, and enough humor to make it a buddy cop comedy.
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The pilot--part of two night, two episode premiere event--is a slick, polished formulation of familiar dystopian future tropes elevated by an unusual and central relationship, well played by Urban and co-star Michael Ealy.
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While its premise isn’t new--anyone remember “Total Recall 2070” or “Mann and Machine”?--the show’s ambition, solid cast and pure production values make it a worthwhile diversion.
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Some of the life forms in Almost Human are artificial. The intelligence is genuine.
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Luckily, nobody overdoes the modernity angle in their acting and so Almost Human feels grounded -- dark, dirty and lived-in, almost like Blade Runner.
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Beyond profundities laced with humor, the action drama from J.J. Abrams, created by “Fringe’s” J.H. Wyman and starring Karl Urban and Michael Ealy, is a visual feast.
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The pilot (only the first hour was sent for review) is well made with strong leads and several intriguing hooks. Almost Human is almost there.
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Lively pilot, with plenty of pop--but you've seen it all before.
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Karl Urban is the main draw as an emotionally and physically damaged detective in Fox’s sci-fi police procedural with a heavy “Fringe” pedigree.
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It captures the teeming bleakness of the future world and establishes winning chemistry between Kennex and Dorian.
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The show is derivative but passionate, verging on corny. It means what it’s telling us and showing us, and there’s a sense of curiosity and commitment in every frame.
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Because for all of the show's high-octane action trappings, the human connection between these buddy cops is what ultimately will make Almost Human compute.
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Urban and Ealy quickly establish a familiar rhythm that will hopefully deepen over time, grounding the fantastical elements of the future in the universals of interpersonal interaction.
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I've only seen one episode, which is enough to feel hopeful about the chemistry between Karl Urban (playing an angry, damaged human cop) and Michael Ealy (his possibly misprogrammed android partner) but not quite enough to tell why Lili Taylor would sign on to play the captain in a sci-fi buddy-cop show.
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If you can look past a few disquieting flaws and get past that odd feeling that you've seen it all before, you'll find the bones of a potentially entertaining series in Almost Human.
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The sci-fi here is easily digestible, so for fans of cop dramas, Almost Human is worth a look.
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Urban and Ealy are competent in their roles, damaged spirits destined to become brothers of a sort, not if, but only when.... While some viewers will be oblivious to the show’s racial politics, others will struggle to find a point. Somebody at Fox short-circuited.
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Generic cop heroes aren’t always a problem if the show around them boasts other interesting characters or an intriguing premise. Almost Human has both, but, sadly, everything else in the show’s universe takes more after the Urban side of things than the Ealy.
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Urban is usually a likable presence, and in time Kennex might calm down and start feeling like a person rather than a cliché, at which point Almost Human could settle into being an acceptable spin on buddy cop tropes. Right now, though, it's Ealy or bust.
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The Kennex-Dorian combo is the best part of Almost Human, which otherwise keeps twisting and turning itself into a series of unwieldy plot knots.
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It's hard to fall in love with a world that feels...borrowed.
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Almost Human isn't terrible, it's just not terribly interesting, at least in the first hour.
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Dorian has potential, but Kennex, at least in the pilot, is as grim and humorless as they come. He needs to loosen up.
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It is mostly humorless, grave sci-fi, but in the pilot the best moments are the most human.
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Coming from J.J. Abrams's aptly-titled Bad Robot Productions, Almost Human certainly has the means to develop into something more innovative, but as it hardly makes an effort to differentiate from the material it habitually duplicates, it's a series that repeatedly finds itself on the fritz.
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Almost Human is a tolerably silly sci-fi action show set in a Blade Runner-ish future where human cops are paired with robots to battle the high-tech gangs that have the run of the seedy streets.
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Urban is perfectly fine as this futuristic Dirty Harry, but Ealy never hits anything approximating a rhythm as his eager-to-please partner. Then again, neither is helped much by the tin-eared dialogue.
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If the premise intrigues you, watch or rewatch Blade Runner instead, and offer Almost Human the all-too-human body swerve.
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Another dull example of the manufacturing of sci-fi factory goods with the (increasingly devalued) J.J. Abrams label slapped on.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 280 out of 314
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Mixed: 22 out of 314
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Negative: 12 out of 314
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Nov 18, 2013
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Nov 17, 2013
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Dec 12, 2013