Disclosure Day

Margaret (Emily Blunt) tries to forecast the weather in Disclosure Day (Distributed by Universal Pictures)

Steven Spielberg knows how to make blockbuster spectacles like nobody else. He changed the game in 1975 with Jaws, creating a demand for exciting genre movies that changed the industry. Over the ensuing fifty years, he has gone back and forth between prestige pictures and popcorn movies. The last of those that he made was 2018’s Ready Player One, an adaptation that improved on the shoddy writing of the nostalgia-soaked book. Eight years later, he returns to sci-fi with a project that isn’t about nostalgia, but is certainly reminiscent of some of his previous work, specifically Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Disclosure Day is an adventure about knowledge and discovery. This contains so many Spielberg hallmarks: ordinary people unexpectedly caught up in something extraordinary, alien life, shadowy operatives trying to keep our heroes quiet, impressive set-pieces, actions motivated by emotion, etc. This is much less of a thriller, though there are a couple of very entertaining suspenseful sequences. It is a mystery focusing on identity, in the sense of what proving the existence of life on other planets means for humans in general. It is quite enjoyable and shows that the aging master still knows how to hit all the right notes.

Daniel has obtained a strange artifact and is on the run from an organization that will do anything to get it back. Margaret is a meteorologist who suddenly, inexplicably, has knowledge she should definitely not have. Though previously unaware of each other, they are now drawn together, putting them on a collision course that will change the entire world.

Disclosure Day (139 minutes, minus the end credits) begins with the action already underway, throwing the audience right into the conspiracy. By not letting us get our bearings first, Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp force us to share in the confusion of their main characters, thrusting us into something nobody understands. The whole thing feels bigger than any one person, which is sort of the point. Thankfully, the plot isn’t as complicated as it initially appears, making it fairly easy to engage with.

Daniel (Josh O'Connor) tries to discover the truth

The focus is mostly on Daniel and Margaret, but what is going on will affect everyone on the planet. Sometimes, unfortunately, that scope is lost a bit, with a little too much time given over to the villains and their evil plans. That is when the movie does feel like it is just about the people directly involved in the story, which takes away from its overall impact. However, the ending, including seemingly everyone on Earth, is suitably dramatic, concluding things on a massive note. Spielberg comes through when it really matters.

While people tend to remember the action and suspense from Steven Spielberg’s work, it is his interest in character, showing people learning or growing from the crazy situation they are dragged into, that makes him stand out as a filmmaker. That is the case here, too. He gives his performers the space they need to craft characters the audience can actually care about. Emily Blunt is very good as Margaret, a woman whose life is instantly derailed when bizarre things start happening to her.

Josh O’Connor, generally the best part of anything he is in, has a tougher task as Daniel. He is more of a pawn of the plot, yet he still gives a good performance. They each have to establish personality and complex histories quickly, so they don’t get swallowed up by the spectacle. Casting those two was a smart decision, as was the addition of Colman Domingo as a mysterious colleague of Daniel’s, Eve Hewson as Daniel’s girlfriend and Colin Firth as the main bad guy.

People will undoubtedly compare it to other entries in Steven Spielberg’s filmography. It is not elite, but it is still high-level entertainment. He knows what he is doing. It is fun to just sit back, relax and watch him do what he does as well as anyone.

4 out of 5

Cast:

Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild

Josh O’Connor as Dr. Daniel Kellner

Eve Hewson as Jane Blankenship

Colin Firth as Noah Scanlon

Colman Domingo as Hugo Wakefield

Wyatt Russell as Jackson

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Screenplay by David Koepp