DISCLOSURE DAY
- Colin Fraser
- Jun 11
- 2 min read
TWO STARS A well funded agency has been covering up proof that aliens have landed. The government is implicit. The people are about to learn the truth.
SF THRILLER US English #DISCLOSUREDAY Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor
Steven Spielberg has spent half a century teaching us to believe the impossible. Flying bicycles, glowing motherships, dinosaurs resurrected from amber. The trick was never the spectacle. It was the wonder. You bought the absurd because Spielberg made you want to. Unfortunately DISCLOSURE DAY mistakes recalling classic Spielberg for actually being classic Spielberg.
The film follows weather girl Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and cyber-whistleblower Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) as they stumble into a sprawling conspiracy involving hidden extraterrestrial contact, government secrecy and a race to reveal the truth before powerful interests shut them down. A jaw-clenching Colin Firths is in charge, so you know they’re serious. Psychic episodes, mysterious artefacts and pursuit by shadowy operatives keep the plot in motion, even when the story itself struggles to do likewise.
At 2½ hours, Spielberg's latest feels every bit the retread that it is. We've been here and not just with alien visitation stories, but with Spielberg himself. The film continually gestures toward CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and E.T. without ever rediscovering the qualities that made those films endure. Wonder is replaced by recognition, awe with déjà vu.
Blunt throws herself into the role with admirable commitment, but commitment is not credibility. Her character's increasingly bizarre behaviour never feels remotely grounded. O'Connor fares no better, saddled with a protagonist whose decisions often seem dictated by screenplay necessity rather than human logic. Why does he drive towards danger only to flee in a car chase straight out of THELMA AND LOUISE? This constant tussle between the serious and flippant virtually pushes the film over a cliff.
Then there are the aliens. Why do aliens always look like aliens? Long limbs, oversized heads, familiar silhouettes. Across a supposedly infinite universe, imagination apparently remains in short supply. Yes Spielberg can still stage action and a handful of chase sequences crackle with energy. But he increasingly feels like a director spinning his wheels, revisiting old territory without finding a fresh route through it. Even the climax fizzles when it should soar, building toward revelations that land with a shrug rather than a gasp.
The biggest problem is that DISCLOSURE DAY doesn't seem to have much purpose. I can do silly when there's a point to it. Here, the film circles ideas about truth, empathy and extraterrestrial contact without saying anything CLOSE ENCOUNTERS didn’t nearly fifty years ago. By the time the credits roll, what's left is a disappointing, and forgettable, exercise in self-homage. Some say that’s the point. But for a filmmaker who once made audiences leap willingly over sharks and onto flying bicycles, this is a surprisingly earthbound approach.
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