Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by David Koepp

Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Eve Hewson, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Elizabeth Marvel, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, and Courtney Grace

As clunky and sluggishly paced as this can be, it’s got some real emotional heft that keeps me seated up till the deeply impactful ending. Oh dear, though, before that point, we’re having to tread through quite a few ups and downs that leave me thinking that I’ll probably give this three stars—hell, maybe even 2.5 stars. I’d already been aware of other people’s issues with the pacing beforehand, so I was ready for that, and for a lot of the first act, I do think it rolls along smoothly enough, particularly while it’s introducing me to the unusual abilities that Kansas City meteorologist Margaret Fairchild is exhibiting all of a sudden. After that act is when things get rocky. This is when the movie struggles to weave its way through the plot and the multiple character POVs, leaving me wrestling with quite a few times where my mind is wondering how much time we’ve got left. Sure, I’m resisting the temptation to check the clock, but that question still lingers around as I watch Wardex, a defense corporation that conducts extraterrestrial research on behalf of the U.S. government, hunt down its targets in a determined mission to silence the truth. I’m certain David Koepp’s script and Sarah Broshar’s editing could have found several spots to trim down this cat-and-mouse game during its more repetitive points. For what it’s worth, pretty much anything to do with Margaret and her exploration of this mystery that’s occupying her life is compelling in my eyes. When we hop over to cybersecurity specialist Daniel Kellner and his girlfriend Jane Blakenship, though, those parts are where things can get inconsistent. No criticism is going towards Josh O’Connor and Eve Hewson, to be clear, because I’ve got plenty of appreciation for them. I particularly think O’Connor shares riveting chemistry with Emily Blunt, and then Hewson succeeds at using her performance to escalate the tension, especially during her beats with Colin Firth while he’s taking on an unusual gig by playing the antagonist in the form of Wardex CEO Noah Scanlon. But this doesn’t prevent the aforementioned inconsistency from dragging down the film and making me think that this needs to significantly tighten up the plotting and the pacing.

Once Margaret and Daniel eventually meet up, that’s when the movie does a smoother job of engaging me. We’ve even building up their bond all this time, and now finally, finally, they’re pursuing their quest together. Then the third act amps up the stakes all the way to a conclusion that straight-up has me shedding a tear because I’m so emotionally overwhelmed by the daunting nature of what’s happening. Yes, it’s not an unpredictable path, but that doesn’t detract from the gravity of these circumstances. Kudos to news anchor-turned-actor Courtney Grace for further fleshing out the affecting weight of this ending, because hot damn, it’s captivating to witness what she does to authentically convey the state of a reporter who’s doing her best to cover breaking news while she’s simultaneously processing the world-altering meaning of what’s being revealed. I may not be clicking with good-sized chunks of this movie, but it’s a payoff like this that motivates me to emotionally lock in with the story on a deeper level. I’ve already seen awards chatter about the possibility that she could snag an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and I’d wholeheartedly be all for that. The conclusion simply wouldn’t rise up as high without a performance like hers to ground it.

Speaking of great performances, Blunt turns in her own fantastic work, and it’s safe to say that this is one of the best performances I’ve seen from her. There’s such a natural charisma that she channels through Margaret, who has to deal with a whole lot of mystifying shit getting hurled at her, but she somehow manages to keep striding forward with a growing confidence and an open-minded curiosity that drives her to uncover what’s really happening. There’s one specific beat where she’s marching onto the scene with an air of complete self-assuredness, and it’s amusing to watch how everyone else in the space reacts to that by immediately letting her pass by them with her commanding presence in tow. And by the way, it’s entertaining to hear her dish out a slight Southern twang that suits her very well. It’s a funny little thing to watch when I’d recently seen her deploy her British accent in The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Now, I know about the conversation surrounding this movie in regard to its tone and its messaging—elements that some have brushed off as being outdated, as being things that could have fit in with our world a few decades ago, but are currently striking some people as a pair of rose-colored glasses that don’t have the guts to confront the cynicism of this era. To be honest, a big part of me does sympathize with this section of the audience. Look at the bloodthirsty, bigoted, and increasingly right-wing state of our society. Look at the fact that we’ve got all of this information out in the open about Jeffrey Epstein and his associates in his pedophilic rape trafficking ring, and yet justice hasn’t been delivered on that front. So it can be reasonable to look at Disclosure Day, at its tale of proving to the world that extraterrestrials exist, and feel so empty and bleak towards the perspective that says this info would majorly change things. It can be reasonable to feel like aliens are small potatoes compared to everything else we’ve got going on. It can be reasonable to send pessimism towards the movie’s choice to hammer home the importance of empathy and how much that can resonate with us humans in the biggest and smallest of ways. But while I have issues with this narrative dragging along sometimes and while that can contribute to dampening the thematic substance… I don’t know, call me a sentimentalist, but I still think there’s valuable meat to chew over in this movie that’s communicating a deeply familiar message to us. Even when you put that aside, I’m also engaging with the lens that this directs towards religion and the ways in which people utilize that in order to make sense of their mortal place in this daunting universe and to hang up a lantern for themselves in the darkness. Again, that’s also familiar territory, but it remains intriguing for this movie to carry that out in its execution.

Besides, I’m simply not going to expect Steven Spielberg to step outside of his wide-eyed and optimistic niche. I’m not expecting him to revert to the post-9/11 era of his career. You’re free to claim he’s a naive boomer, and hell, I’d be willing to join in. I certainly arch an eyebrow at, for example, the depiction of North Korea as being a crucial factor for why WWIII is on the horizon in the story. Yes, it’s an ultimately minor detail in the grand scheme of things, but that minor detail still offers up insight into Spielberg’s American liberal viewpoint. This could have shown the US as the country that people are scared of kicking off WWIII, not North Korea, but nope, it has to go with the incredibly Western perspective. I can criticize a decision like this, I can criticize the parts where Spielberg comes off like he’s out of touch with the rest of the world, and at the same time, I can summon up genuine appreciation for his overarching attitude of hopefulness. There’s so much hate and violence that plenty of us humans are spreading around, and it’s pulling us deeper and deeper into a swamp of white supremacy. And being able to connect together with hope and empathy—these qualities can remind us to place ourselves in other people’s shoes, to become emotionally communicative with ourselves and others, to build up entire communities that are rooted in trust, and to fight back against all of that spite and pessimism.

To wrap up my thoughts and feelings on Disclosure Day, I want to shower praise over Janusz Kamiński’s gorgeous cinematography, including one tracking shot that follows Margaret as she’s moving around the news station in the first act and then another tracking shot that keeps us with Daniel while he’s sneaking around some Wardex agents. The cold and bright lighting can really add a ton to the visuals, too. There’s a reason why Kamiński has collaborated with Spielberg many times by now. Then I’ll give props to Colman Domingo, Elizabeth Marvel, and Wyatt Russell, who don’t get the biggest amount of screentime to work with, but they make it all count. I do think there could have been some revisions for Russell’s character so that he could benefit from a more fully developed arc, but perhaps that would have been too much material for the movie to juggle. The narrative already gets burdensome, which is evidenced by those pesky pacing problems. Oh hey, and as a Hannibal fan, I’m happy to see Hettienne Park show up as one of the Wardex minions (I also remember her from Bride Wars, which was on the TV a lot when I was a kid). And now, I’m interested to see how Disclosure Day will age down the line. I’m not holding this up as one of my favorite Spielberg films, no, and it’s definitely not matching up to something as recent as The Fabelmans. But I’m not dismissing it as a flop, either. It compels me in spite of its flaws. Plus, this has the spot of being the first time I’ve ever seen a Spielberg movie in theaters, which is neat.

My final rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars