Disclosure Day
Missed Steven Spielberg's aliens? They're already here.
Disclosure Day tells the story of Daniel Kellner, a young cybersecurity specialist who becomes a whistleblower after stealing classified information from a secret government organization that has spent decades hiding humanity's interactions with extraterrestrial civilizations. Convinced that people deserve to know the truth regardless of the consequences, Daniel sets out to expose everything, while the government does everything in its power to stop him. At the same time, we follow Margaret Fairchild, a weather presenter from Kansas who suddenly discovers that she possesses strange abilities and characteristics that seemingly should not exist in a human being. Eventually, these two storylines collide as the film builds toward the titular Disclosure Day.
Disclosure Day is surprisingly difficult to describe from a narrative standpoint because it often feels less like a coherent story and more like a collection of loosely connected scenes. There are numerous subplots and characters operating in their own separate worlds, and while the film attempts to tie everything together by the end, much of it gets lost along the way.
Spielberg delivers an inoffensive fairy tale that is beautifully shot, highly watchable, visually rich, and easy to consume. On the surface, it feels like classic Spielberg territory with its fascination with extraterrestrial life. Yet, somewhat ironically, the aliens themselves are mostly absent from the story, remaining little more than a distant concept hovering in the background.
Instead, much of the film functions as a chase thriller. Daniel, who is initially presented as a fairly ordinary tech nerd, somehow transforms into a superhero capable of outrunning, outsmarting, and repeatedly humiliating highly trained military personnel and government agents. The film also attempts to tackle questions of faith, religion, and public distrust in institutions through several supporting characters, but these ideas feel oddly inserted and never fully developed.
Many of the characters barely seem connected to one another, existing in isolated storylines that rarely intersect in meaningful ways. As a result, the film constantly raises questions that it has little interest in answering. Several scenes feel as though they exist purely because they look impressive rather than because they contribute anything substantial to the narrative. Daniel's sequence in the field is perhaps the best example — it is simply there without serving much of a purpose.
Unfortunately, there is also no real payoff waiting at the end. The big reveal is neither particularly big nor much of a reveal. While the final scene itself is undeniably dramatic, it never delivers the emotional or narrative impact that the film seems to be building toward.
There is also something oddly outdated about Disclosure Day. It feels like a movie that would have been far more effective fifteen years ago. The way it looks, the story it tells, and many of the creative decisions it makes all seem stuck in a different era. The CGI animals look strange by modern standards, while the film's reluctance to answer even the most harmless questions about its central mysteries makes the entire experience feel overly safe.
Because the screenplay struggles to hold everything together, the film's characters and cast ultimately suffer as well. Emily Blunt is great, Josh O'Connor is all right, Eve Hewson is just there, and Colman Domingo is Colman Domingo. Blunt's character, who unexpectedly shifts between Russian and Korean and is allowed to be considerably more over-the-top than everyone else, becomes the only truly vibrant presence in the entire film. Most of the remaining characters feel either underwritten or reduced to flat caricatures.
In the end, Disclosure Day is a glorified, straightforward UFO-themed movie designed for a perfectly ordinary trip to the cinema. It is visually appealing, pleasant enough to watch, and never offensive. The problem is that it leaves absolutely nothing behind once it is over.
6/10
