Directed By Steven Spielberg; Screenplay By David Koepp; Story By Steven Spielberg; Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo.
Disclosure Day follows two parallel storylines. Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is a cybersecurity expert who becomes a whistleblower to reveal secrets about aliens. Meanwhile, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is a meteorologist in Kansas City who experiences some strange phenomena. Together, they join forces to prove to the world that we are not alone in the universe.
At the beginning of his career, Steven Spielberg made a name for himself with blockbuster hits such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, and E.T. As he has lately been directing more Oscar bait fare such as Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story, and The Fabelmans, he hasn't done as many genre films. Although there are occasional exceptions such as Minority Report, War of the Worlds, The Adventures of Tintin, and Ready Player One. Now, he’s returned to the world of science fiction with Disclosure Day.
Right from the start, Spielberg immediately grabs your attention and never lets go. He, along with screenwriter David Koepp, wisely takes time to tell the story. There’s so much intrigue to dissect throughout the two and a half hour runtime. Speaking of which, for his first film since E.T. way back in 1982 to not be edited by one of his longtime collaborators Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar manages to keep pace flow very well. The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski has to be some of the most effervescent work he’s done for Spielberg in a while. The soaring musical score by the great John Williams truly feels evocative of some of his earlier work.
This may be no high octane action thriller, but emotionally, it still leaves you on the edge of your seat. David Koepp’s screenplay no doubt plays a large part in that. Although what Spielberg often does well in each of his genre films is give them quite a bit of heart. This one sequence in particular, which I won’t spoil, perfectly demonstrates that. Not to mention that the more time we spend with the main characters, the more humanized they feel by the end.
Each of the main principals give excellent performances. Emily Blunt probably has the biggest highwire act of everyone. Her character, Margaret, is trying to figure out what the hell is going on with her over the course of the film. Especially when it comes to all these sudden psychic abilities and talking in different languages. Blunt successfully manages to make everything work. Josh O’Connor’s character, Daniel, has the biggest rooting in the whole movie as he’ll stop at nothing to release the top secret alien files to the public. Through O’Connor’s performance, he really gets you on his side. Colin Firth makes for quite a charismatic antagonist as Noah Scanlon, the government agent doing everything he can to prevent the files from going public. Eve Hewson does well as Daniel’s girlfriend, Jane Blankenship, who is arguably the most grounded character we meet. Colman Domingo as Hugo Wakefield, the lead whistleblower, pulls off making his expositional lines of dialogue feel digestible.
When people say “they don’t make them like they used to,” they sometimes hope a film’s legacy sequel can help harken back to those days. Yet with a completely original movie like this, it proves that it doesn’t need to be a sequel at all. All you really need is a master filmmaker taking on a genre they haven’t tackled in a while, and shows everyone how its done. Spielberg has given us several compelling dramas within the last 15 years. But with science fiction, he’s still got it!
Rating: 4.5/5
Disclosure Day follows two parallel storylines. Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is a cybersecurity expert who becomes a whistleblower to reveal secrets about aliens. Meanwhile, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is a meteorologist in Kansas City who experiences some strange phenomena. Together, they join forces to prove to the world that we are not alone in the universe.
At the beginning of his career, Steven Spielberg made a name for himself with blockbuster hits such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, and E.T. As he has lately been directing more Oscar bait fare such as Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story, and The Fabelmans, he hasn't done as many genre films. Although there are occasional exceptions such as Minority Report, War of the Worlds, The Adventures of Tintin, and Ready Player One. Now, he’s returned to the world of science fiction with Disclosure Day.
Right from the start, Spielberg immediately grabs your attention and never lets go. He, along with screenwriter David Koepp, wisely takes time to tell the story. There’s so much intrigue to dissect throughout the two and a half hour runtime. Speaking of which, for his first film since E.T. way back in 1982 to not be edited by one of his longtime collaborators Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar manages to keep pace flow very well. The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski has to be some of the most effervescent work he’s done for Spielberg in a while. The soaring musical score by the great John Williams truly feels evocative of some of his earlier work.
This may be no high octane action thriller, but emotionally, it still leaves you on the edge of your seat. David Koepp’s screenplay no doubt plays a large part in that. Although what Spielberg often does well in each of his genre films is give them quite a bit of heart. This one sequence in particular, which I won’t spoil, perfectly demonstrates that. Not to mention that the more time we spend with the main characters, the more humanized they feel by the end.
Each of the main principals give excellent performances. Emily Blunt probably has the biggest highwire act of everyone. Her character, Margaret, is trying to figure out what the hell is going on with her over the course of the film. Especially when it comes to all these sudden psychic abilities and talking in different languages. Blunt successfully manages to make everything work. Josh O’Connor’s character, Daniel, has the biggest rooting in the whole movie as he’ll stop at nothing to release the top secret alien files to the public. Through O’Connor’s performance, he really gets you on his side. Colin Firth makes for quite a charismatic antagonist as Noah Scanlon, the government agent doing everything he can to prevent the files from going public. Eve Hewson does well as Daniel’s girlfriend, Jane Blankenship, who is arguably the most grounded character we meet. Colman Domingo as Hugo Wakefield, the lead whistleblower, pulls off making his expositional lines of dialogue feel digestible.
When people say “they don’t make them like they used to,” they sometimes hope a film’s legacy sequel can help harken back to those days. Yet with a completely original movie like this, it proves that it doesn’t need to be a sequel at all. All you really need is a master filmmaker taking on a genre they haven’t tackled in a while, and shows everyone how its done. Spielberg has given us several compelling dramas within the last 15 years. But with science fiction, he’s still got it!
Rating: 4.5/5