After creating The Fabelmans, a more mundane movie that was loosely based on his own life, Steven Spielberg has decided to go back to what he’s best known for, and that’s sci-fi films that look a little deeper into the unknown outer space. Spielberg has made countless films about aliens, from the classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but this time with Disclosure Day, he asks a new question that he’s never asked before: How would the world react to news of another life form different from their own? This film fills itself with conspiracy theories and many questions of the unknown that it’ll leave you questioning your own thoughts of another life form and if we’re truly alone in this world.
Disclosure Day follows Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), a cybersecurity expert who becomes a whistleblower, holding onto secrets that will reveal the truth about aliens, which puts him on the run from Wardex, a corporation that wants to keep these secrets away from the public. Meanwhile, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a meteorologist, is experiencing a strange phenomenon and must find her way to Daniel to figure out what’s going on.
Steven Spielberg Asks New Questions in Disclosure Day
Disclosure Day keeps Daniel and Margaret on the run. Image Credit: Universal Pictures
There are hundreds of movies that focus on aliens, but only a few of them focus on how we’d react to knowing about their existence. To have Disclosure Day likely be one of Spielberg’s final sci-fi films that explores the unknown is a blessing. There are going to be many people that might find themselves bored with how Disclosure Day chooses to tackle this topic, but from the literal second the film started, I knew it was going to be a ride worth sticking around for.
When Disclosure Day begins, we don’t find ourselves at the start of the story but in the middle of it. Daniel has something that Wardex wants, and he’s playing hard to get. There’s not much else to know except that Daniel believes that these secrets belong to the world, while Wardex believes that we’re not yet ready to handle what they’ve been hiding for decades. Personally, what makes Daniel’s side of the story so captivating isn’t exactly him, although Josh O’Connor manages to deliver a fantastic performance that helps keep you on this chase, but it’s actually Daniel’s girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson), that begins to make this movie interesting from the first act.
There’s A Strong Focus of Religion and Belief in Disclosure Day
Jane brigns religion and belief into Disclosure Day. Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Jane means a lot to Daniel, and we know this straight away, as Wardex has kidnapped her and used her as a bargaining chip to retrieve the sensitive information that they require. It’s not soon after when we discover that Jane used to be a nun when they go to her old convent. A lot of people are going to be turned away from the huge talk of religion that this movie brings, but Spielberg is just as fascinated with religion and its beliefs as he is with extraterrestrial life.
Disclosure Day asks interesting questions about how people will react to finding out about aliens when the majority of humans have already given themselves to a superior being. What happens when they discover life that’s superior to them? Jane asks later in the film, “Does God love only us?” and it was this sequence and line that really started to make my brain think about how we can’t possibly be the only living creatures that have been allowed to enjoy this vast, beautiful universe. No matter what your beliefs are in reality, Spielberg and his long-time writing partner David Koepp do an excellent job of grounding a movie that’s about aliens.
Steven Spielberg, David Koepp, and John Williams Make Disclosure Day Feel Like An Instant Classic
The action is thrilling in Disclosure Day. Image Credit: Universal Credit
There’s so much mystery and suspense in Disclosure Day from start to end, and it lures you in without any hope of letting go. It’s a lot to take in, but Spielberg manages to capture Koepp’s script perfectly on screen, dodging any pacing issues despite the length of the movie and giving every character their space to breathe with the story. If Disclosure Day ever begins to get confusing, Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), a defected Wardex worker, will ensure you that it will all make sense when it needs to, and indeed it does.
Steven Spielberg has always excelled in bringing that childlike wonder into his films, and even with Disclosure Day, a movie that starts off as a conspiracy thriller, he still manages to deliver that feeling but in an eerie and creepy way as we get our first look at the aliens and what they’ve been put through. It’s a scene that sends you through a wave of emotions and at the same time makes you uneasy. With John Williams also returning to score Disclosure Day, his 30th collaboration with Spielberg, we get a score that feels like a celebration of Spielberg’s filmography, but it’s also a breathtaking, epic score that leaves the audience on the edge of their seats with the decades-long conspiracy that’s just seconds away from being revealed at any moment.
Disclosure Day Delivers Strong Performances
Emily Blunt delivers her career-best performance in Disclosure Day. Image Credit: Universal Pictures
I could praise every single actor in Disclosure Day for their performances, from Colin Firth to Wyatt Russell, but there are two performances that stand out as some of the best performances from this year alone for various reasons. Emily Blunt is phenomenal as Margaret, delivering a career-best performance as we watch her go from this clueless weather woman who’s experiencing strange changes with herself to a woman that tackles her childhood trauma and manages to give it a new purpose that helps her take charge and lead by the film’s final closing moments.
The last 30 minutes of Disclosure Day will go down as one of the best third acts in all of cinema, and that isn’t only thanks to Blunt but also Courtney Grace, who portrays an NBC anchor and helps to create those final moments of Disclosure Day as the most chilling part of the film. With such a small role, she carries those final minutes and delivers such a powerful and meaningful performance that makes this grand reveal feel authentic and worth the wait.
Disclosure Day – Final Thoughts
Disclosure Day is a movie which sends you on a chase that’s full of action, mystery, suspense and intrigue. Steven Spielberg takes the most simple question of whether life outside of our own is real and, if it is, how that changes the beliefs, whether they are religious or not. It’s not a film that will easily give you those answers, and instead, even when the credits roll, Spielberg and Koepp still leave enough questions for the audience to question their own beliefs.
Disclosure Day is everything that makes a great sci-fi movie, and if you’re expecting this to be your average movie about aliens, then you’ve expected wrong. While the big-eyed creatures make an appearance, this is a film that’s about whether we as the human race deserve to know the truth. It’s about humanity, and that’s what makes Disclosure Day one of Steven Spielberg’s best films yet. If this is his final outing with the sci-fi genre, then it’s an outstanding one with masterful storytelling.
4.5/5