Steven Spielberg returns to the science-fiction genre with another optimistic and curious approach to the question of: Are we alone in the universe? It is a film that fights back against today’s weary and darkened worldview. Disclosure Day is a heavy, grandiose, sweeping film if you let the emotional ride take you on its journey. It’s asking the big questions about our place in the world and what it would look like if it were completely upended. The film also explores our ability to handle and/or learn the truth.
At the center is an extraordinary Emily Blunt as Margaret, a meteorologist who gets caught up in a sweeping conspiracy. Josh O’Connor is Daniel, a whistleblower at a company that has been withholding secrets about aliens for several decades.
We start the film already underway, with secrets about extraterrestrial life on the brink of being leaked to the public. It’s presented as your typical X-Files or science-fiction conspiracy-theory film or show, with Colin Firth leading the charge as Noah, the head of the company. O’Connor plays the wiry, once-hacker, desk jockey-turned field agent, with only a few droplets of information about what’s happening. There are a lot of mystery boxes, keeping characters at arm’s length that give the first act a dry spell of investment when it’s not focused on the strange and magnetic Margaret.
Starting with a cardinal appearing, Blunt’s performance becomes a kaleidoscope of stages that have her flow from an evolving being, through fear, and a mix of the two throughout. I found Disclosure Day at its best when we’re following her faith-based journey and seeing what these strange new “powers” and her range looked like over time.
Elsewhere, Daniel and his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), handle the more challenging part of Disclosure Day. Jane was previously a nun, having been abducted by Wardex before the film began to get to Daniel. She eventually learns the truth. Serving as the religious angle once she and Daniel have a moment to breathe, I could have taken more of what David Koepp’s screenplay primed for, which stretches to the antagonists as well. Spielberg positions Jane’s character as another voice for Daniel to reconsider, given the weight of the information. We’re treated to an extended conversation that leaves us, as an audience, without a clear answer on which side could ultimately be right, depending on your point of view. There’s more of that conflicting point of view in Disclosure Day that adds to its soul-stirring emotional scenes.
Elizabeth Marvel has one of my favorite pieces of dialogue in the film about someone who views alien life through a religion-first lens. Colin Firth makes his presence known with an inventive way to be a threat, but the film doesn’t make much use of it, and by extension, his position of trying to keep the alien existence in the dark. Spielberg packs the film with these opposing views before ultimately providing his answer by the end, leaving some discussion on the table for us rather than his characters as the dominoes line up.
The action in Disclosure Day is complemented by slick, inventive camerawork (the tracking shots!) and cinematography from his longtime collaborator, Janusz Kamiński, which gives the world a realistic atmosphere even when things become otherworldly. The third act could have easily given way to an effects-heavy mess, but Spielberg’s charm and humor keep the story from veering off the rails.
Speaking of Spielberg’s heart and emotion, when Blunt and O’Connor finally connect and attempt to make sense of this strange situation, their performances sell me on the magic and unique sense of faith that they’re carrying. The film got a few tears out of me in the third act, which makes its promise on an unveiling for the ages. I don’t think it’s a surprise to say that it’s a disclosure for a film with the title, and the scene itself definitely made me a believer. Even when Disclosure Day is acting fairly routine in the sci-fi thriller space, Spielberg still finds a way to invigorate the screen with wonder and awe, capturing our attention with what he’s trying to express and put an answer to.
Check out the trailer for Universal Pictures’ Disclosure Day:
