Disclosure Day Review
Spielberg returns to one of his favorite subjects with a conspiracy thriller about a decades-old alien secret and the people determined to expose it.
Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild and Josh O’Connor as Daniel Kellner in Disclosure Day. Credit: Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
Disclosure Day marks Steven Spielberg’s return to alien-focused science fiction, working once again with screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, The Lost World, War of the Worlds). Spielberg has explored the topic several times across his career, from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. to War of the Worlds. This latest effort asks a different question than those films: what happens after the secret gets out?
Unusual for a Spielberg movie, the film opens in the middle of action, with Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) exchanging data he stole from his employers, Wardex, for his kidnapped girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson). They manage to escape while keeping the stolen goods, and Wardex boss Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) immediately mobilizes the company's frankly frightening surveillance apparatus to get them back. Daniel and Jane can barely stay one step ahead. Wardex has been keeping the existence of aliens secret since Roswell in the 1940s, and Daniel believes that information belongs to the world. Scanlon disagrees, and will stop at nothing to prevent the leak.
Meanwhile, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) mysteriously develops the ability to speak any language, then collapses after delivering a speech in an alien tongue during a weather forecast. She wakes up able to read minds and becomes convinced she must find Daniel Kellner despite having no apparent connection to him. Wardex sees the broadcast and starts hunting her too. The film follows their separate journeys until they eventually converge.
Colin Firth as Noah Scanlon in Disclosure Day. Credit: Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
Meanwhile, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) mysteriously develops the ability to speak any language, then collapses after delivering a speech in an alien tongue during a weather forecast. She wakes up able to read minds and becomes convinced she must find Daniel Kellner despite having no apparent connection to him. Wardex sees the broadcast and starts hunting her too. The film follows their separate journeys until they eventually converge.
Spielberg’s central question is simple. What would happen if humanity learned, unequivocally, that we aren’t alone in the universe? One character believes religion would collapse, and people’s faith in God would be shattered. Scanlon sincerely believes society itself would fall apart. If you've seen enough Spielberg movies, you can probably guess where he lands.
The film recalls Minority Report, Spielberg’s virtuoso feature-length chase sequence, where a guy (Tom Cruise) must escape from The Man to expose the truth about a flawed system. Disclosure Day is similarly interested in speaking truth to power and the cost of forcing uncomfortable information into the open. Spielberg is clearly skeptical of authority working in your best interest. Don’t trust the government.
Disclosure Day. Credit: Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
It is also a film about empathy, connection, and wonder. Spielberg recognized that we’re increasingly isolated on a personal and global level. Scanlon can use alien technology to enter another person’s mind, yet remains incapable of understanding them. Margaret’s sudden, overwhelming radical empathy stands starkly in contrast. Spielberg suggests that understanding one another is more powerful than fearing what we might learn.
All that aside, Disclosure Day is a great time at the movies. Spielberg is still the master of the blockbuster. Emily Blunt brings warmth and humor to punctuate the movie’s seriousness, and we get one major set piece likely to join the list of Spielberg’s most memorable action sequences. The trailer did its job spoiling it. My jaw still dropped. It’s no less impressive and immaculately constructed.
The cynical part of me thinks Spielberg’s message is naive for our day and age. Whether it is or not, I admire Spielberg’s hope, his faith in humanity, whether we deserve it or not. Disclosure Day doesn’t rank among the likes of Jaws, Raiders, or Jurassic Park. That’s not an indictment of the movie; it’s a reminder of the absurdly high standard Spielberg sets. Even mid-tier Spielberg is better than most movies, and you shouldn’t miss seeing this one on the big screen. I saw it in IMAX, and already have plans to see it again in 70mm.
Disclosure Day
Disclosure Day may not belong alongside Spielberg’s masterpieces, but it remains a thrilling, thoughtful science-fiction adventure from a filmmaker still operating at an extraordinarily high level.
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