You could argue that Charli XCX has captured the mood of the moment with her new single SS26, with a chorus that goes: ‘The world is gonna end, no hope for any of it // Yeah, we’re walking on a runway that goes straight to hell // Nothing’s going to save us, not music, fashion or film.’
But, as the release of Disclosure Day proves, legendary filmmaker Stephen Spielberg would disagree. Because despite being set in the year 2026 amidst an imminent third world war, it is ultimately a film about hope, unity, empathy — and aliens. Spielberg is widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in Hollywood. He is father of the blockbuster and the mastermind behind films like Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jurassic Park and more.
So, when Spielberg premieres a new film, it is a pretty big deal. Especially when you consider that his last project, the semi-autobiographical Fabelmans, came out in 2022. Four years on, are audiences still interested in what the man who gave us A.I. has to say?
A New Dawn
The 79-year-old has a long documented fascination with aliens. His first-ever amateur film was a sci-fi called Firelight, which he made at just 17. Since then, Elliott and his extraterrestrial pal riding their bicycle in front of a full moon have become one of the most iconic images in cinema history. Spielberg is no stranger to constructing films about Greys, then. But this project was different. As screenwriter David Koepp explained during the run-up to the film’s release, this story was ‘something [Spielberg] carried around in his head for decades.’ Disclosure Day marks their 30th film collaboration, which has largely consisted of retellings of books, such as H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. However, as Disclosure Day was an original concept, the pair ‘felt a particular obligation not to f*** it up.’
The movie comes at a time when the world is once again falling head over heels for little green men. For example, TV shows such as ‘Alien: Earth and Invasion’ have become hugely popular over the past year. But this is hardly surprising. Reports of UFOs have featured in the media for decades. Authors like Adrian Tchaikovsky and filmmakers like Ridley Scott have built their careers on pondering whether aliens might be out there. Even the much-derided series ‘Ancient Aliens,’ which features Ancient Astronaut Theorists with questionable, meme-worthy hairdos, encouraged the public’s fascination with extraterrestrials in the 2000s. Now, Trump’s recent release of the UFO Files, aka the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, has similarly triggered renewed interest in the promise of discovering alien intelligence.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the film itself. Disclosure Day opens with a cybersecurity specialist, Daniel Kellner (Wake Up Dead Man’s Josh O’Connor), stealing alien technology and incriminating files from a secret arm of the US Government called Wardex. He successfully escapes and now has definitive proof that extraterrestrials are real, which he plans on sharing with the world. But when Wardex’s CEO Scanlon (Colin Firth) discovers this ploy, he has Kellner branded a foreign spy, forcing our heroic fugitive and his girlfriend Jane to go into hiding. The story then cuts to our second protagonist, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), who is a Kansas City journalist and meteorologist.
Strange things are happening to Margaret. Firstly, an odd-looking bird somehow makes its way into her home, observes her for a few seconds and then flies away again. The incident unearths psychic abilities that she never knew she had, such as being able to interpret people’s thoughts and emotions and converse in languages she has never even learned. Slightly perplexed by her newfound abilities, Margaret attempts to plough ahead with her schedule as usual. But an on-air blunder changes the trajectory of her life. During the weather forecast, her regular speech begins to give way to an eerie, extraterrestrial language. It is the first of many examples of Blunt’s stellar performance, which some critics have already hailed as ‘Oscar-worthy.’ For this four-minute-long scene, shot in one take, Blunt rejected Spielberg’s offer of AI assistance and developed the alien lingo herself by ‘making some weird noises’ whilst ‘experimenting alone in [her] bathroom.’
‘I was sending him voice memos of me clicking, humming … mixed with Morse code sounds,’ she said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
Having a microphone attached to her mouth and the base of her throat captured her voice in a ‘really weird way,’ explained Blunt, and contributed to the sense of distortion without making the noises sound ‘too terrifying.’ Margaret’s mishap catches the attention of Wardex, forcing her to become a fugitive to evade capture.
Meandering Plot
While Blunt’s dedication to the performance is palpable, unfortunately, the film goes downhill from then on. Much like its characters, the plot begins to meander. Scanlon uses alien technology to form a psychic bond with Jane and ascertain her boyfriend’s location. Meanwhile, Margaret starts having visions of the pair whilst she is on the run and, without rhyme or reason, tracks them down too. What ensues is meant to be viewed as a daring rescue: Margaret finds Jane and Daniel being held captive, uses her abilities to manipulate the guards into releasing them and, to top it all off, there’s even a car chase that ends with our protagonists finding safety in a group of Wardex whistleblowers, headed by Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo). But despite the action, it all feels rather flat and low-stakes. When the bad guys repeatedly give up the chase at the slightest inconvenience, any sense of conflict or urgency vanishes almost instantly. With a runtime of 145 minutes and a middle section that drags rather than keeps you on the edge of your seat, the film’s lack of suspense is hard to ignore. For someone who wielded the power of nail-biting anticipation in films like Jaws and Jurassic Park, Spielberg does make an amateurish mistake in his lax take on Wardex’s employees, particularly Scanlon. Firth attempts to make the most of his bland part, but it’s clear from the start that his talents are hardly utilised beyond the bare minimum.
Sign of the Times
Where the film excels is in its musical score, which is hardly a surprise, given that it was composed by John Williams (the man behind the iconic melodies in Star Wars and Indiana Jones). Instead of leaning into his usual drama, Williams ingeniously decided to create something ‘more subtle’ to give the film ‘a slight nudge forward.’ As for the film’s use of CG effects, well, all I can say is that these look a tad unpolished at times, and I’ll leave the rest for you to decide.
I shan’t give away any major spoilers for the final half hour of the film. However, it is arguably the most satisfying section to watch and, paradoxically, the most infuriating part to review. Essentially, our team of fugitives successfully broadcast to the entire world the definitive proof of extraterrestrial life that Daniel stole. Except that it is hardly definitive. It is just a montage of Greys, yet no one doubts the footage they’re watching. The globe is enraptured. Some people even hug each other and weep. But two questions keep playing in my mind. Firstly, when we know that AI can generate ridiculously lifelike videos, why does everyone believe that the content they’re viewing is real? Secondly, why would the discovery of aliens suddenly halt WWIII and solve all of the planet’s problems? It simply doesn’t make sense.
In the end, despite the film’s memorable score and a supremely talented cast, the plot feels simultaneously too safe and too far-fetched. I also have to agree with the critic who wrote that Disclosure Day offers us ‘no ideas about aliens that we haven’t heard before.’ Viewers who try to compare this film to Spielberg’s previous alien-inspired projects, such as the groundbreaking Close Encounters, may come away feeling disappointed. But those who are less familiar with his work will likely enjoy this latest adventure.
For me, Disclosure Day is a film about the pursuit of truth, the power of empathy, and the importance of trying to understand each other, regardless of our differences. In this sense, it is exactly the type of movie that we need right now. As Koepp puts it: ‘[the world] feels so terribly precarious right now and divisions are so sharp.’ But perhaps, as Charli XCX argues, we are already too far gone. Spielberg hopes for a better future, yet in an era of conflict, climate catastrophes and toxic content creation, this message comes across as a little naive. Can the legendary director really expect his audience to share his radical optimism? We’ll see. Of course, if the film’s impressive $93m (£69m) opening weekend is anything to go by, then maybe filmgoers are searching for hope — or just some cracking extraterrestrial entertainment.
Spielberg asks one thing of us: To listen. So, will you? The choice is ultimately yours.
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