Written by Cameron Geiser

Steven Spielberg’s thirty-fifth film has hit theatres featuring his return to science fiction, and more importantly, Aliens. Disclosure Day comes highly anticipated, not just for fans of cinema, but for me personally. Not only is Steven Spielberg my favorite filmmaker of all time, he’s the reason I’m here writing about film in the first place. I also find the topic of Aliens and the current discussion about actual disclosure from the United States’ Government to be a fascinating one. I’ve even had my own short UAP sighting in late 2024 that lasted about thirty seconds and was itself an awe inspiring thing to witness. Warp Speed is, apparently, not fiction. All that context is to say that I went into this film wanting to love it, but after the credits rolled I found myself only enjoying the film quite a lot, but not loving it outright.

There’s a few aspects to this. Despite the combination of Steven Spielberg, John Williams, David Koepp, and Janusz Kaminski- the result is a film that almost lands all of its punches, but ultimately misses the knockout. There are scenes and moments when the Spielberg magic does return miraculously reminding you that a master is behind the camera- but it is not a sustained sensation for the duration of the film. The chase sequence involving a train is a highlight of the film and exhibits a commanding level of thrilling tension here that still puts a lot of other working directors to shame but again this is not constant throughout the film. There’s also John Williams' score. It is very well done but there is no theme or tune that stands out, it’s of high quality but without as much personality as we’re used to with a Spielberg/Williams pairing.

What is great however are the performances from this all star cast. The two leads, Josh O'Connor as Daniel Kellner and Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild get the most focus and the two actors do commendable work but Emily Blunt is the showstealer of this film. She is asked to do a lot within her role and she does great work that should be remembered come awards season, a nomination is at the very least within her sights. Josh O’Connor plays the Spielberg protagonist quite well. He is very dependable as the everyman archetype and while his character can feel a bit limited or two dimensional as a whole, O’Connor makes the role his even if it’s not as memorable as his recent role in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. The other two major players are Colin Firth as the antagonist running the shadowy Government contracted cyber security firm WARDEX, and Colman Domingo as Hugo, the ex-WARDEX employee running a resistance program that’s guiding Daniel and Margaret to their destinies.

*Disclosure Day* may not measure up with Steven Spielberg’s greatest films, but it is a solid return to the sci-fi genre by one of its greatest artists.

The most glaring issue in the film however lies with the writing. It is acceptable, but not spectacular. The script poses questions to the audience, then it ruminates on the ideas inherent in said questions, but it does not go far enough in examining what the deeper meaning of those questions are. Or what the answers could mean to begin with. The film’s thesis lies more in the emotional response though, and in that way it could theoretically sidestep the details but there are enough moments throughout the film where similar hand waving away a more analytical response also happens. For example there are several chase sequences or beats where instead of cleverly escaping from danger characters either simply turn around and walk away from “the bad guys” who simply did not see them exiting the scene. Or on the flip side there are moments when characters just waltz into danger and stumble their way to safety despite the dozens of federal agents seemingly unable to capture them while also having terrible aim. There’s also the Alien technology that several characters utilize that isn’t clearly defined verbally or visually and therefore gets used for whatever convenience the script requires at that time.

Disclosure Day is a well crafted film, and a return to a topic that Spielberg clearly finds interesting. While the runtime is slightly overlong and the writing has gaps; the performances, well executed scenes of genre pulp, and the merits of seeing a master filmmaker at work outweighs the lesser parts of an otherwise stellar movie. I definitely recommend checking out.

Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.