Directed by Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark; Schindler’s List) — Screenplay by David Koepp (Black Bag).
No one does major motion picture pop blockbusters quite like Steven Spielberg. The septuagenarian (soon-to-be octogenarian) star filmmaker is one of cinema history’s greatest science-fiction storytellers, having made science-fiction greats such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Minority Report, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and War of the Worlds. So, when it was announced that he would be returning to a cinematic genre, our understanding of which he has helped to sculpt, the ears of cinephiles around the world pricked up, their appetites were whetted, and their excitement built up. That new feature is Disclosure Day, a film that aims to grapple with the question of how we would all react to finding out that we are not alone in the universe. For the legendary director, it is thus a return to concepts that are definitely not alien to his oeuvre. While the new film is not without blemishes, it is nonetheless a strong genre effort that speaks to our current moment with a humanist spirit and plea. It also shows, for all to see, that Steven Spielberg still has what it takes to tap into the incredible sense of wonder with which he has become synonymous.
Like several of his films before this one, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day begins in medias res — in the middle of the action — as we meet whistleblower-hopeful cybersecurity specialist Daniel Kellner (played by Josh O’Connor) at a professional wrestling event. He’s not there for the entertainment. Rather, he’s there to make a trade with the shady government-adjacent Wardex Corporation, which has taken his girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (played by Eve Hewson), hostage and is willing to release her to him in exchange for the technology and files that he has stolen. After Daniel makes it out of the confrontation with both his girlfriend and the items, they flee with the hope of reaching Hugo (played by Colman Domingo), another defector from the Wardex Corporation, and revealing the contents of the files he has procured to the world. They believe that these files prove the existence of alien life and how humanity has covered it up. While Wardex, spearheaded by Noah Scanlon (played by Colin Firth), follows in pursuit, something strange happens in Kansas City. After an incident with an animal, Kansas City-based television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (played by Emily Blunt) displays sudden psychic and linguistic abilities, including speaking in a mysterious, possibly extraterrestrial language that only Daniel can understand. As our central characters race to each other with the hope of revealing to the entire world what has been covered up for several decades, Scanlon uses possibly extraterrestrial technology in an effort to stop them.
Although Spielberg himself has story credit, the screenplay itself is credited to David Koepp. Disclosure Day thus reunites Spielberg with the writer (or co-writer) of Jurassic Park, The Lost World, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Koepp is thus a key collaborator for Spielberg historically, but Koepp has been a bit hit or miss with his screenplays. For every Black Bag, Spider-Man, and Jurassic Park, there’s also a Jurassic World: Rebirth, Inferno, and The Mummy. So, the prolific writer, who has written many of my favorite films, doesn’t always get it right. Even though there are great things about it, Disclosure Day isn’t his finest screenplay. The film is structurally somewhat clunky, the dialogue is sometimes too direct or expository, and there is an imbalance in the characterizations of the main characters, with many of them being thinly drawn. Wyatt Russell, in particular, is underserved and doesn’t come across well. Josh O’Connor is given surprisingly little to work with compared to Emily Blunt. At the same time, though, it juggles alien-centric science fiction tropes in fun ways, and it builds up to an emotional final act to which Spielberg maximizes the potential. As a sidenote, I was surprised by just how much this film reminded me of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, as certain narrative elements are surprisingly similar, given both films’ focus on a dyad of characters needing to come together over the course of the film. But also for how, in both films, magical powers allow certain characters to communicate and see each other in their own space despite being many, many miles away from each other (thankfully, Disclosure Day is a much better film).
In general, it is quite fascinating to see just how much this film feels related to Spielberg’s oeuvre. You don’t just see it in its humanist and hopeful approach to the concept of the human race encountering aliens. You also see it in, for example, one of the central action sequences centered around an oncoming train, which is just one of the quite clear connections to Spielberg’s beautiful, deeply personal, and almost autobiographical film The Fabelmans. Another connection is the protagonist dyad of characters in the film, with one, a man, being the logical and mathematical expert, and the other, a woman, being an empathetic soul who is fearful of having a mental illness. This is similar to the parental figures in The Fabelmans and their dichotomous relationship. His latest film is an earnest and optimistic one, in which he makes it clear that the common sci-fi phrase “we are not alone” is a hopeful one and not a scary one. He thinks humans are ready to know and tries to make the complex link that alien life doesn’t ruin earthly religions; rather, he thinks, it would add to them. Disclosure Day makes several links to Christianity, in addition to having more than one character discuss the relationship between science and religion. For instance, a former novitiate suffers stigmata-like wounds following a confrontation with an antagonist, while another character blurts out that they will not be someone’s religion.
No one will be surprised to know that a new Spielberg film is technically assured. There are several memorable sequences in the film, two of which are quite dazzling long-takes. In one sequence, we see Emily Blunt’s character move through her place of employment, insert herself into the lives of coworkers and guests, and speak in different languages. In another, we see Josh O’Connor’s character hide in plain sight from the antagonists that have found him, and during this sequence, Spielberg has the camera move in exciting ways (including, if I’m not mistaken, through a fence). There’s also some fun action revolving around invisibility. In addition to employing some of the best people in the industry — like Koepp and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, but also costume designer Paul Tazewell — he also reunites with John Williams, now at the age of 94, for their 30th collaboration. This film proves that not only does Steven Spielberg work at an incredibly high level, but John Williams still does as well. The legendary composer’s melodies in Disclosure Day help give the film not only an appropriate genre mood that elevates the narrative, but also a nostalgic quality I immediately warmed to. Regarding Kaminski and Spielberg’s work together here, the film looks terrific and uses reflective surfaces in interesting ways, e.g., to show what is both in front of and behind the camera, made visible through window reflection, especially in early scenes. I will say that I was thrown off by the excessive use of lens flare here, and that, even though the film largely looks great, the CGI animals in the film don’t look particularly realistic, which is somewhat distracting.
Spielberg often brings great performances from his cast, and this film is no different; only, exactly who stands out is somewhat surprising. Josh O’Connor and Eve Hewson carry a great portion of the early scenes (before, it feels like, Hewson’s character disappears from the film for long stretches), but while their work here is perfectly fine, they don’t stand out as Emily Blunt does. Blunt’s part is much showier, and she makes good use of the opportunity to show off. Whether it’s seeing her go through various emotional modes, as she grapples with her sudden new abilities and the sense that she may be losing her mind, or seeing her speak different languages and stun the people around her, her performance is really compelling. She’s also fantastic in these great little one-to-one scenes with supporting characters deeply affected by her remarks. The film also has a secret weapon in the form of the mostly unknown actress Courtney Grace, who plays a news anchor whose emotional and quite believable reaction to events in the final act is really effective.
One of the things that I keep thinking about ever since I saw the film on Saturday is how the first and final images in Disclosure Day reveal a great deal about Steven Spielberg’s aim with the film, but also his worldview. The film opens with images of professional wrestling and ends with a plea, essentially, to the camera. Through these bookending images, Spielberg stresses that we need to move away from performative fighting and start to listen to each other. That’s my reading of the contrasting first and last images of a film that, though ostensibly about extraterrestrials, is really about us and the world we live in. It works as a rumination on the consequences of the titular disclosure, but it’s also a 79-year-old director who, I think, is making a film in response to the post-factual era, with the hope that we may be able to return to a collective understanding of truth and rediscovery of faith in our fellow man. As such, it is quite an optimistic late-career work from a filmmaker who here very clearly and consciously pits protagonist whistleblowers against antagonist government-adjacent corporations, i.e., those who seek to warp, control, and obfuscate information. To paraphrase the film, information is like air; no one owns it, and everyone should be privy to it. The final act of the film makes it very clear just how important Spielberg believes authoritative information sources are (this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who saw Spielberg’s The Post), and the film thus must be understood in the context of our broken, cynical world. Spielberg wants us to embrace empathy and reject deceitful, obfuscatory fearmongering. Disclosure Day makes these arguments fairly clearly, but not in a way that I think will lead people to criticize it for feeling overly didactic. I found the earnest and humanist message at the heart of the film to be quite affecting, and, even though this is certainly not a film without certain issues, I thought there was more than enough Spielbergian wonder and magic present here to offset the film’s blemishes.
8 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
