Steven Spielberg’s fervent populism never shines brighter than in his alien movies. Beginning with 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Spielberg went against the common wisdom of most popular science fiction and dared to ask, ‘What if they really do come in peace?’. This empathetic approach crescendoed in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, possibly Spielberg’s signature film (if far from his greatest), though Spielberg hasn’t really approached these themes in a science fiction film since then. His other alien film, 2005’s War of the Worlds, is, much like its source material, a more classical human survivalist tale where the aliens are clear predators. E.T. benefitted from a 1980’s optimism, a communal response to the cynical paranoia of the late 60’s and 70’s. In 2026, America feels more in peril than ever, so it’s unclear how this flavor of Spielberg will go down. But one thing that’s clear: this is the message that Spielberg wants us to receive.
The film stars Josh O’Connor, the incredibly busy English actor. This is his ninth screen credit since 2023, and he still has another film coming out later this year (Joel Coen’s Jack of Spades). O’Connor plays Daniel Kellner, a cybersecurity expert working for the Wardex Corporation. In the film’s opening, he steals a backpack’s worth of sensitive material, and manages to escape despite Wardex CEO Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) and a flurry of armed officers trying to stop him. Daniel is now on the run with his new-ish girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), who, despite herself being the victim of Wardex intimidation, decides to stand by Daniel’s side. What has Daniel stolen? The first act keeps it a secret, but Daniel explains to Jane that it’s important information that the world deserves to know.
Meanwhile, in Kansas City, the local meteorologist, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), awakens anxious and uncertain. Her boyfriend, Jackson (Wyatt Russell), is already fatigued by her unplaceable doubts, her needs to move cities at all times. He asks her directly what she’s looking for, and she enigmatically states she’ll know it when she finds it. When a cardinal flies into their loft apartment, Margaret is suddenly struck with the ability to speak several languages. Furthermore, as she heads to work, she learns she has the ability to know the lives of complete strangers just by looking at them. In the studio she speaks to individuals and gives them advice on things she couldn’t possibly know about. Stranger still, when Margaret goes on the air, she freezes completely before speaking in an unknown language and collapsing. Margaret seems to have little control over everything that’s happening to her, but she does know that it points to a purpose she never felt she had before.
The first half of Disclosure Day is the parallel stories of Daniel and Margaret. Daniel is being led by Hugo (Colman Domingo), another defecting Wardex employee. When the clip of Margaret speaking strangely on the news goes viral, Hugo knows that he must place Daniel and Margaret together to complete his ultimate plan. The details of this plan reveal themselves slowly over the course of the film, while Scanlon and his agents attempt to thwart it by using otherworldly technology to hack into various people’s minds, and discover their whereabouts. Hugo and Daniel’s goal is clear: to reveal the secrets that Wardex so desperately wants to keep from the human population. How Margaret factors into accomplishing that goal is the meat of Disclosure Day‘s second half.
The script is written by David Koepp, the veteran screenwriter with many credits of a wide variance of quality. For every Jurassic Park, there is an Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. His mastery of structure is so second hand, he sometimes forgets to hide the strings. His recent lo-fi work with Steven Soderbergh covers the map from great (Black Bag), to not so great (Presence), to somewhere in between (Kimi). Disclosure Day is something much bigger than those three films, and while Koepp is no stranger to a Hollywood blockbuster, this is one of the few solo writing credits that he has on something this large. Spielberg himself gets a solo ‘Story by’ credit, which means he obviously had major input on the script, and Koepp’s brilliance has always been his ability to take another’s vision and compute it into an easy-to-swallow narrative. Koepp is leaning in here, taking to the assignment of recreating the spirit of an E.T., but that proves to be too high an expectation to set.
Too often Disclosure Day tries to wave away the over-complication of its story choices. Koepp puts so many pieces on the chess board but runs out of space to play them all to fruition. Small **SPOILER ALERT**. If it’s not already obvious, the sensitive information that Daniel and Hugo wish to disclose is proof of extra-terrestrial life, information that they believe belongs to everyone, but those in power worry will destabilize an already teetering world. Oh that’s right, did I mention that this film is set during the onset of World War III? There are the slightest allusions to political strife in Korea, and widespread panic in the streets. This is mostly unspecific background noise, as it appears to matter little to the main characters of the story. The suggestion being that proof of alien life suggests a larger context to life itself, and the reveal of said proof would give humanity a sense of perspective, perhaps ending the need for war after all.
It’s a lofty premise and one that Disclosure Day doesn’t really land. These days it’s hard to buy into the concept of anything that could bring actual communion between the factionalized human race, no matter how noble the intention. The bright spots of Disclosure Day lie in the enthusiasm of Spielberg’s direction and the spryness of Janusz Kaminski’s camera, both of which are on full display throughout the movie’s action set pieces, which are few, but pack a real punch. And while I’m sure there’s plenty of CGI to be had in this film, Spielberg is masterful enough to make it feel incredibly authentic. Another bright spot is Blunt, who’s asked to tackle a character who is incredibly complex emotionally and technically. Its a performance where the sweat equity is high and so is the catharsis. A reminder that Blunt – a performer more skilled in precision than depth – is an incredible asset to a film that needs conversation to feel like an adventure.
Spielberg’s previous film, 2022’s The Fabelmans, was a autobiographical masterpiece that restructured our thoughts on many of his greatest works. It makes sense that, after being so vulnerable, he would immediately retreat to another world. By comparison, Disclosure Day feels less like a work of art than a planned escape. Koepp’s script states explicitly that empathy is the key to saving humanity, a sentiment that aligns with Spielberg’s greatest films. Selling that concept is one of the things that Spielberg is best at, even while his biggest critics decry it as sentimentality. Disclosure Day does not feel like a sentimental movie, but it falls short of selling its product of innate human goodness. Koepp’s script is too preoccupied with over-complicated characterization, small gadgets of large consequence, and cybersecurity mumbo jumbo. It’s up to Spielberg to connect the dots, but much still feels left astray.
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Directed by Steven Spielberg