Steven Spielberg and aliens go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Some of his most iconic films, like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “War of the Worlds” have all offered speculations about humans and intelligent life from other planets bumping into each other.
It’s clearly a subject the famed filmmaker feels he hasn’t explored enough because he has returned to the well with “Disclosure Day” a movie that ponders the existence of extraterrestrial life through the lens of a conspiratorial thriller.
This is a film that is fixated on the power of concealed information on both a global scale and an interpersonal scale. Grand conspiracies are at play involving governments and multinational corporations while individual characters closely guard secrets from their past from those around them.
One of the heroes of our tale is Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), who is on the run with stolen information and his unsuspecting girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) in tow.
Hot on his heels are shadowy corporate henchmen led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth, effectively playing against type).
This is the part of the movie where Spielberg is cooking, especially during the chase sequences where he shows the skill of one of the greatest action filmmakers of all time.
The screenplay by longtime Spielberg collaborator David Koepp does a good job of holding back any major reveals and the plot thickens when the action switches from Daniel to Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a flighty, local-television meteorologist in Kansas City.
Margaret starts to experience inexplicable episodes that baffle her as much as they confound her dopey boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell).
Paths converge as Spielberg occasionally pauses the action to have characters debate the movie’s central theme, mainly, is holding back information for the “greater good” ever justifiable and who gets to make those decisions for everyone else?
There’s an urgency to “Disclosure Day” as Spielberg dispenses with subtlety to get his point across, sacrificing some cohesion in the film’s third act.
“Disclosure Day” is still a very entertaining movie with a clear point of view, even if the seams are clearly visible.
With this movie, Spielberg is letting us know that he truly believes that the truth is out there and, even in these divisive, media-saturated times, it just might set us free. “Disclosure Day” is a hopeful wish for the human race that we probably don’t deserve. We should take whatever we can get.
“Disclosure Day” is rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language.
