[1] Ken Jaworowski's The New York Times review agreed, saying the documentary "extols the wonders of science and of all that's yet to discover", but a drawback is that with 10 minute episodes, it is difficult to grasp the concepts, and the scientists are less skilled as interviewers.
"[4] Film Journal International said, Cheney places viewers in each setting with sweeping, sparkling vistas of strange beauty that would make David Attenborough weep.
"Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times identifies two disarming motifs expressed in the film: "a thirst for knowledge and a belief that there's so much more to learn about what makes us and our world", and "The collegial awe that accompanies a proud nerd's introduction to another's elaborate measuring machines".
A lot of this science is taking place in extreme locations, which bring with them a beauty and wonder of their own.Movie Nation's reviewer Roger Moore writes, "The Most Unknown mashes up scientists from widely divergent fields for intellectual, scientific, social and even comic effect...
They talk of how no one genius making a breakthrough alters human knowledge, but of scientific scholarship, building on tradition, earlier proofs, a wall of What We Know built one brick at a time.
The Hollywood Reporter says although the film "seeks intellectual common ground between researchers in a slew of scientific fields", it "goes in rather the opposite direction: diving into the mysteries of the cosmos, but finding itself stuck in the shallow end of the pool".
[5] Similarly, Anupam Kant Verma of Firstpost.com writes, "The Most Unknown, Netflix's latest documentary, is a scientific adventure that never really launches into infinity and beyond... while it occasionally provides glimpses of the possibilities that keep emerging before the human race, perhaps bogged down by its short runtime and format, it fails to elicit the sense of wonder that keeps our mouths open.
"[2] Verma says the film "traipses across the razor's edge of understanding, too little for those with an interest in the subjects and sometimes way too much jargon for those unaware of the disciplines... the massive amounts of information that needs to be condensed to sustain the narrative often strips it of its wonderment.