Disclosure Day

One of the things that can be challenging when you try to compare Spielberg films to other films, is that there usually is no comparison. If there is a Mount Rushmore of filmmakers, Spielberg would be South Dakota. I can be called biased for this opinion, but you have to remember, I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. And came of age in the 90’s. Movies like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Saving Private Ryan are in my Mr. DNA. A new Spielberg film is not just an event, it is another piece of a great tapestry that has been woven into the very fabric of Hollywood for over the last half century. Maybe it’s unfair to put him on that kind of pedestal, but on a pedestal is where some people are. His latest film goes back to familiar territory, into the world of humankind’s encounter with life outside this world. However it’s main focus is the inhabitants of our world in present day.

We open with possible whistle-blower Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Conner) in the middle of a thrilling hostage transfer. He is trading the information he’s acquired in exchange for his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) who is being held by his former employer, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) the head of an organization determined to keep the knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life secret from the public. After things go a bit sideways, Daniel and Jane try to stay of Scanlon’s radar with the help of Hugo (Colman Domingo) who has secrets of his own.

We switch to the life of weather girl, Margret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and her boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell) on a typical morning in Wichita. Margret has dreams of becoming a serious news anchor, but while running late to work, she begins to experience unknown abilities to reach into random strangers heads and reveal their deepest secrets and even taking to them in their own languages. When she is finally in front of the camera she begins to speak in a weird language that goes viral. Once she realizes what she is capable of and has no way to control it, she searches for answers which lead her to Daniel. Together they attempt to reveal the truth to the world and in the process learn the truth about themselves.

Disclose Day is Steven Spielberg’s critique on our contemporary world told in the form of his strongest language: Cinema. It certainly also feels like this is the culmination of his decades in film and the type of storytelling he has been gifted with while collaborating with equally gifted people over the years. People like cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, Editor Sarah Broshar, and legendary composer John Williams, who delivers an excellent score reminiscent of 70’s conspiracy thrillers. The script also by legendary screenwriter David Koepp evokes the same vibes, even through modern car chases, mind invasion, and a train sequence that brings back memories of 2022’s The Fabelmans.

This leads me to the only real weakness of the film. The story is written by Spielberg and there are so many elements and ideas he wanted to include covering the 80 year history of aliens, sightings, abductions, and coverups, that Koepp did his best to include it all and it feels overstuffed. There is mystery on top of mystery, even some of the mysteries have secrets from other mysteries. The character of Jane is given such short shrift, we know very little about her relationship to Daniel. And her past with the church seems only there so we can have a religious angle in the mix. Colin Firth is the bad guy because the script says so, and he could have easily been pulled out of The X-Files as one of the mysterious syndicate which employed the Cigarette-Smoking Man.

Aside from the scripts shortcomings, everything else is stellar Spielberg. The visuals, the set-pieces, the humor-laden action. It’s all present and accounted for. But the real crowning achievement in the film belongs solely to Emily Blunt. She has always been a fantastic actress, but here she takes it to another level. She is funny, grim, serious, silly, dramatic and emotionally charged, sometimes all in the same scene. She starts off moving at light speed, but when she slows down she gives the performance of her career. She is simply astounding here, and it worth seeing the film for her, but you still get the wonder and spectacle of a classic Spielberg film throughout.

I wouldn’t place Disclosure Day above his other classic alien-centric films like Close Encounters, E.T., and War of the Worlds, this is less of a what if aliens were real and more of what if aliens were real and how would the people in 2026 react to it? This film has the ever-present Spielberg optimism about humanity and the drive to always do good, even in the face of opposing forces. I still love that he sees the world this way, and that he bravely can bring it to the us in a climate that views the world not on a 45 x 20 foot screen, but on screen that is 6 inches, and is always on. That is the real truth that I hope people come away from with this and all his films. To continue to look to the skies, and believe.

Robert L. Castillo