“Disclosure Day” Film Review

Disclosure Day Review

Dir. Steven Spielberg

Written by David Koepp & Steven Spielberg

Significant spoilers throughout

Ultimately, I found this film disappointing given the director. The movie begins promising for the first forty minutes with much potential for intrigue and suspense - yet the more it goes on, the more underwhelming I found it. Particularly, the final third as I found this to be too contrived and lacked punch right where it needed power. Many elements are quite intriguing, while others just feel rehashed out of other films or The X Files where their stories were overall presented more successfully.

I try to avoid trailers these days (I think they show way too much) and it’s better to get a bite sized taste and then be surprised by the content of the movie. Thus, I didn’t know what to expect from this film. What we received was less sci-fi (in my opinion) and more of an espionage drama/thriller (albeit with some mild supernatural scenes). Nothing wrong with that, so I enjoyed that throwback, X Files style genre, yet wished the film was more even and carried off more successfully. I kept waiting for the tension to really kick into gear and be in state of extended suspense, instead the film simmers along, not reaching those heights. Perhaps, it’s trying to be too many things at the same time.

We learn early on that newsreader Margaret (Emily Blunt) and Dr Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) appear to have developed some unexplained supernatural abilities. The two finally meet in the aim of taking down the corporation Wardex, of which Noah Scanlon (played by Colin Firth) is the CEO, to disclose to public the decades long truth of the existence of extraterrestrials and the experimentation on them since the 1940’s. Emily Blunt is the standout. She provides a strong performance for the majority of the movie.

I won’t spoil too much, yet it’s the final third of the film which should really land, yet instead becomes increasingly cheesy and visually some things don’t work (such as the use of the animals) - you’ll know those scenes when you see these. I realise there are themes of empathy throughout, yet these are not fully explored, while the final line, which I presume is supposed to connect to this theme and somehow inspire the world to unite, feels underwhelming and contrived. Perhaps cutting before Margaret relays the alien’s message may have been more effective. A twist or surprise at the end would have been welcome. For instance, maybe Margaret would have relayed the full message from the alien and this could have had the potential to blow audience’s minds.

Spielberg still finds time for some slick camerawork, such as superimposing one’s face on another through a glass wall. I also enjoyed the earlier humour in the movie, so while this is not a total misfire it could have been so much more. If a little more time was spent on the script and the ‘villains’ were frequently more threatening then this would have built more suspense and allowed for more of a cohesive whole.

I would have loved to have seen some tid bits of how ‘we’ worked with these aliens to help create a better world.

It’s still worth seeing and there are some elements that make it a fun throwback thriller.

I am giving Disclosure Day ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ out of five.

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