Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day feels more at home in the 80's than in the 2020's, a throwback piece of entertainment made for an audience I'm not sure exists anymore.
Which is a shame considering the premise is pretty fun: disgruntled employees of an ominous top secret government group called Wardex Corporation splinter off into a clandestine cadre with a mission—to release to the public undeniable proof that aliens, and Wardex's abuses of them, are real. We follow Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) as he is hunted by Wardex head Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth in a relentlessly menacing performance) for the sensitive files he carries. Daniel is not alone, aided Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo) and other Wardex defectors, who are preparing for "disclosure day," the day when every single evidence of extraterrestrial life is broadcast.
Meanwhile, Kansas City TV weather woman Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is having the worst day of her life, as a visit from a red cardinal bird awakens her psychic abilities that turn her into the ultimate empath. Together with Daniel, they must race against time to disclose the truth that humankind is not alone.
Blunt is a standout, able to go from funny to maternal to otherworldly and everything in between with ease, and there are moments when I wish the movie was more about her than anything else. Because while actors like Colman Domingo and Colin Firth are dramatic powerhouses on screen, their exertions don't exactly elevate the material.
However, Spielberg, now almost 80 years old, still has it, directing with the vivacity of an up-and-comer with something to prove. Pulling every trick in his formidable arsenal and then some, Spielberg transforms what is otherwise a rote action thriller into a visually engaging experience.
Screenwriter David Koepp keeps the story zippy and exciting throughout, even though it doesn't quite reach the heights it imagines it achieves. Because nuance is not Disclosure Day's strongest suit here. The movie isn't interested in answering the intriguing questions it poses—how would the truth change the world? Is the world ready for empathy being the solution to our myriads of problems? —and is rather content to tell the story of lucky good guys, bad guys being bumbling buffoons, and the unknown being not a source of fear but one of hope. Sure, it makes for a good time at the movies, but Disclosure Day makes you leave the theater feeling empty.
This is such a weird movie to judge, as it looks better than most modern movies and yet feels like it was made two decades too late. Spielbergian earnestness and whimsy have a place in cinema, surely, but this big-budget X-Files episode is an ill fit.
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