‘Disclosure Day’ Review: Has Spielberg Crafted A Modern Sci-Fi Classic?

The mastermind behind Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War of the Worlds, and more has returned with yet another mammoth, which goes under the label of Disclosure Day. As usual, Spielberg manages to craft a sentimental story relating to family, love, and belonging hiding under the cover of alien invasion.

Disclosure Day follows Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), a cybersecurity expert who becomes a whistleblower to reveal secrets about extraterrestrial life, putting him on the run from Colin Firth’s Noah Scanlon, who runs the Wardex Corporation, whilst being in touch with Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), helping him unveil the truth to the world. Meanwhile Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a meteorologist, begins experiencing strange phenomena, which makes her join forces with Kellner to prove there’s life beyond our knowledge.

The film opens with the plot already set into motion, with Kellner being on the hunt by Scanlon and Wardex, giving you the hint that there is some secrecy to the matter but it’s still unrevealed, eventually once everything is revealed regarding the matter of extraterrestrial life, the film takes on a specific religious route, making the characters question their faith akin to the fact that there is life out there, this specifically occurs with Kellner’s girlfriend, Jane (Ewe Hewson) and Sister Maura (Elizabeth Marvel).

Whilst it takes this religious route, it still feels like it’s not fleshed out enough, even if it is already significant in the film. One could say it’s similar to Shyamalan’s Signs. Most of the issue here though comes from the screenplay, which is penned by David Koepp, who had also collaborated with Spielberg multiple times before, most famously Jurassic Park. I do think that Koepp has his highs and lows and that his highs are really high, but I did think while Disclosure Day’s screenplay was more on the greater scale in terms of Koepp’s filmography, there were some slight issues with it. For instance, there’s a scene where Fairchild yells that she’ll not be anyone’s religion after she has gained a supernatural power where she can communicate with extraterrestrials.

While others may feel conflicted towards this sci-fi blockbuster, I do think that it’s surprisingly one of Spielberg’s better sci-fi films here, even though I did not really have the highest expectations for it after having seen these trailers, it does have a lot of merits. As soon as the first act of the film is over, the film turns into a non-stop rollercoaster of keeping you on the edge of your seat, there are moments that feel like they came out of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, except it’s with our main characters on the run from Scanlon. Funny enough, while watching some of these energetic car chase scenes featured in Disclosure Day, I couldn’t stop thinking about when Steven had plans to direct a Frank Bullitt remake, starring Bradley Cooper, right after The Fabelmans.

Spielberg really hasn’t lost his sauce at all but what’s more important to be mentioned is how great most of the cast’s performances were here. It’s very safe to say that this is Blunt’s best work since A Quiet Place and that she’s the powerhouse of the film here. O’Connor has to be shining after this film, because if he doesn’t receive any offers from other auteurs then I don’t know what I’m going to do. Eve Hewson, is very good here as well. I didn’t think her role would be major in the film but if anything, she was more than great here. When it comes back to the screenplay, though, I feel a character like Jackson (Wyatt Russell) didn’t really have any use in this film and just ended up being just an annoying filler character.

It’s a little difficult to tell at the moment if Disclosure Day will be getting any recognition at the next awards season or not, but I personally do think that Janusz Kamiński does deserve recognition for his work here as the director of photography even if he wasn’t bringing in his 1A game of lens-flare mania. I do think it’s possible that John Williams also does secure a nomination for Best Score even if his score here wasn’t that memorable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad score by any means, but it’s also not iconic like the rest of his scores are.

Before wrapping up, it’s a necessity to be mentioning how top-notch the last thirty minutes of Disclosure Day were, it’s what you would be calling a masterclass of classic Hollywood filmmaking and the definition of the word “engaging”. By the end of it all, I think that Disclosure Day was a very fun time in theaters and if anything it’ll make you leaving the theater optimistic for the future of cinema. Maybe I’m biased here when I say that I did enjoy it more than Close Encounters, but it’s difficult to call this film bad. If anything, it can be flawed, which honestly makes me wish it had been rewritten by Tony Kushner, famously known for penning The Fabelmans and West Side Story, especially when these two have been named amongst Spielberg’s greatest films. Hopefully one does get to see his western soon.

Disclosure Day was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, Wyatt Russell, and more.

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