Ah, Spielberg,. Never one to refrain from going back to the well about extraterrestrials. Some might say it’s a cliche of his, or more along the lines of a metier at this point, but we’ll leave it to the general public to decide the case after the likes of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and War of the Worlds. Let’s discuss his latest docudrama on aliens, Disclosure Day.
The film zips two stories together, like DNA getting interwoven. On one side, you have a rogue governmental cybersecurity individual named Daniel Kellner (played by Josh O’Connor), who stole information from Wardex. While on the hunt by the top-secret organization led by obsessed Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), one of his colleagues, Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), another Wardex renegade, guides him to the right locations to stay out of the public eye. On the other side, we have Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a sunny Kansas City weathergirl who has an aptitude for perfectionism while trying to be swayed into staying still by her boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell). In their enviable loft, a red cardinal shows up, triggering some unknown superpowers on her end, from knowing multiple languages to psychic/telepathic abilities.
And in one of the film’s best scenes, as Blunt charges into the news station with commitment under one long take, her character suddenly stops short with metallic clacks and tongue clicks on air, triggering a chain of events that eventually leads her to finding Daniel by some intriguing fate. Spielberg is a master of suspense; he understands how to drive a story to the end while keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. And here, it’s an amalgamation of ideas from mind control and telepathy to religious mysticism to hidden government tales to how we choose cruelty over acts of kindness. Spielberg touches on each of them with his vintage prowess, leaving the audience to gauge how to question the reality we live in at times.
One gripe is that he forgets how to balance the tension here between paranoid-thriller cynicism and his common ways regarding an emotional uplift. This fact leads to a deflating revelation at the climax, as Margaret and Daniel converge to understand their interconnectedness. And pundits can lay a foundation that Spielberg is simply rehashing the rules he left in his previous masterpieces, while also having his trusted writer, David Koepp, borrow noticeable details/scenes from Signs, The X-Files, and even Independence Day.
But it’s a Spielberg work that lays its foundation on a testament to his action and wit, and other parts still radiate with goodwill. John Williams’ score is always a treat, and Emily Blunt shines in one of her career best performances with a whirlwind of emotions as she works on controlling her newfound abilities and making the gains to do so. Shout-outs to O’Connor’s vulnerability, Eve Hewson’s moral compass, and Firth’s fiercely intelligent demeanor for pushing the feature forthright.
A big swing of ideas and discussions, as Spielberg continues to ruminate over the discussions of aliens in our world. Disclosure Day may not be his best, but it’s probably one of his more discussion-based.
