Contemporary Initial reaction to the film was largely negative. Milian's heavy-handed performance was frequently derided, while the storyline was alternately viewed as derivative, or pandering and over-the-top.
Italy Aurora Santuari of
Paese Sera found "Tomas Milian at his worst, almost a caricature of himself" and added that "[n]either can the situations be considered typical (at least in Italy), nor does the fiction find its own internal logic in the mechanical conventions of spectacle, here more than ever trivialized by dialogue and other elements." R.P. of the
Corriere della sera acknowledged: "Brimming with statements of principle on
classism as a primary cause for delinquency, the film does not hide its moderate sociological ambitions, and focuses on sketching a gallery of characters that seem drawn from the seediest true crime pages. But verisimilitude does not always equate veracity, and good intentions end up lost in an orgy of gratuitous and tedious sadism, whose sole purpose is to justify the radical ending." Achille Valdata of
La Stampa sera wrote that "[t]he film has an undeniable grasp of the spectacular, but its credibility is eroded by repeated and leering excesses in cruelty. Even such commitment to truculence can become cause for laughter, especially when the actor tasked with playing the crazed brute acts so over the top." A staff review from
Il Messaggero was more positive, assessing: "Overflowing with violence and never at a loss for action, although built on conventional templates, Lenzi's work is a decent watch. Tomas Milian [is] a good embodiment of a paranoid gangster". Similarly, David Curow of
The Hamilton Spectator complained that "there is more to filmmaking than throwing together explicit scenes, foul language and a seemingly endless stream of blood and gore." He deemed the film "[s]o definitely a carbon copy (and a bad one at that) of the standard Hollywood kidnap story that it appears nothing short of laughable." Ted Mahar of
Portland's
Oregonian noted that
Almost Human "revels in detailing Milian's sadism, drawing [it] out in loud, red details. The message of the film, whether it is tacked on as a justification of the violence that preceded it or is a sincere statement of philosophy, is simply ludicrous. Many forces have contributed to what is called revolving door justice in many countries, but this film really shows sloppy and intuitive police work, and it is pure writer's contrivance that puts Milian back in circulation." Steve Millburg of the
Omaha World-Herald dimissed a "sordid story" and noted that "[o]n the few occasions the film tries to be funny, it isn't." He opined that "[t]he acting, dialogue and everything else about the film are terrible", and further suffer from being "ineptly dubbed". Lor. of
Variety found that the "[m]ain wonderment of the film is how scruffy, unappealing and hammy Tomas Milian ever became a local superstar on the basis of roles like this one", while "Silva gives a tired, poorly dubbed (with his own voice, however) walkthrough mouthing off
Dirty Harry platitudes." He assessed that "[t]echnical credits are standard for the chase and shoot genre." Don Guarisco of
AllMovie deemed that "[t]his sick yet slick entry in the Italian crime film cycle of the 1970's is an archetypal example of the form, mixing sleaze and action in a manner that is compelling and unnerving all at once. The script moves along at a snappy pace, punctuating its storyline with bursts of brutal, sometimes perverse violence, and Umberto Lenzi's direction gives the mayhem a crisp, clean visual style that one wouldn't necessarily expect from such a tale. [...] Milian gives an unforgettable performance [...] Silva is given less screen time but effectively utilizes his stark visage and world-weary quality to make his scenes count." Adrian Smith of
Cinema Retro deemed that the picture "may be derivative of the American cop thriller, but it is also an exciting and shocking political critique of Italian society [...] With a terrific heavy-rock score from none other than Ennio Morricone,
Almost Human is an exciting film from the golden period of Italian exploitation cinema". Manlio Gomarasca of Italian genre magazine
Nocturno wrote that it "has become a classic" of its genre and added that "Sacchi is probably the most chilling villain figure brought to the screen in an Italian
poliziesco/noir precisely because he is fundamentally weak, insecure and at the same time crazy, greedy and ruthless. Milian is superb as he descends into this whirlwind of depravation and doubts, building up on his face an imperceptible array of nervous tics, sweating profusely for the whole film and whimpering like a child when his character ends up in the clutches of the police." ==Soundtrack==